Other engine problem on the 1997 Ford Taurus
4 fires 4 of the 93 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 1997 Ford Taurus report other engine problem at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 124,126 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,274 miles | 63,941 miles | 108,000 miles | 124,851 miles | 158,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 4 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 1996 carries the most reports, with 126; the 1997 has 93. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
"service engine soon" light came on (2nd time) first time ford dealership did full transmission flush($125) to see if corrected problem. Two months later (on long drive), warning came on again. Took to dealership and said it was a transmission code that needed the transmission dropped to determine cause ($300). They told me that (even though the transmission was working ok) that the transmission was having a complete and total failure. All parts and components were either scorched or failed when tested and recommended a total rebuild ($2862) or purchase a ford rebuilt one ($2756). I said this was unacceptable for a car with 39,400 miles on it. They said they could do nothing and I contacted ford motor company. They sounded interested but would not back up their product due to being out of warranty. (so much for the quality one - customer care moto). Reading other complaints this is a very common problem in the ford taurus over the years. We had a 1994 taurus that had transmission problems to the tune of $1,100. Needless to say this is my last ford product and they wonder why people by foreign vehicles!. When I told the dealership…
While driving 15 MPH consumer heard a noise coming from the engine compartment. Consumer took vehicle to an independent shop ,who could not find the cause of the problem. Consumer checked the vehicle, and determined that the motor mount bolts sheared off. *ak *la
When consumer was exiting the freeway engine check light came on and vehicle stopped. Then, smoke started to come from under the hood, and vehicle started to make a noise. From that point on each time vehicle cut off, restarted, and moved a bit. Afterwards, vehicle cut off and consumer restarted it until he got home. Then, had it towed to a private mechanic, who told him that the sprocket came loose. Mechanic attempted to repair the vehicle, but could not because the labor and parts would cost about $6000.00 - $8000.00. Consumer told mechanic not to bother because he could not afford it. He had the vehicle towed back to his home. *ak the cam shaft was broken, 2 cylinders went bad, the transmission was affected, the vehicle would stall possibly due to the coil packs and the struts went bad. *sc
Also reported on the 1997 Ford Taurus
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Complete transmission failure
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 93 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 1997 Ford Taurus?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 1997 Ford Taurus?
93 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed