Two problems related to engine head gasket failure have been reported for the 1997 Ford Taurus. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The frost plugs in the engine block failed catastrophically due to internal corrosion. This caused rapid loss of nearly all coolant from the engine. The loss of coolant caused the engine to overheat, the head gasket to fail, and the heads to crack. Within ninety seconds, the engine shut down and consumer was left without power.
Car is in shop having 2 cracked heads replaced. Mechanic was advised to keep all parts for further investigation. The Ford Taurus 3. 8 engine has an extended warranty because of head gasket failure. The Ford company told me that the 3. 0 engine was built in atlanta GA. And there were no recalls on it. The alldata service bulletin 97-24-16 issued 11-24-94 said to simply extrapolate the 3. 8l engine for the warranty extension on the 3. 0. We almost had a bad accident because the engine died with no warning on a busy freeway. If it is a ingition modular problem also I don't know at this time. I feel this veh engine should have lasted more than 91,334 miles. If Ford has a problem with the engine it should be acknowledged before anymore breakdowns occur.