I'm a young driver and had received the Taurus as a birthday gift from my parents at 150k miles. I had the brake lines and a few other things fixed up that had gone bad from sitting in the weather for a year, then drove it for six months. Had the serpentine belt and rear brake cylinders and shoes replaced. It had a small coolant leak but the mechanic told me it would take a timing cover replacement to pinpoint the leak if that wasn't it. Drove it for another five months. Then, at 155k while it snowed in October and I ran around doing errands, the engine started smoking at the stop light. Not just a little - quite a plume. I got home without overheating, but realized the coolant was actually streaming out, and it made a puddle in the driveway. My dad thought it was the water pump but the mechanic said it was definitely the timing cover this time - at least a $1000 bill, if not more, which is more than the car's worth - and I had already spent a grand to get it running in the first place.

The interesting thing is that it didn't leak when the engine was cool, only when hot. Must have been expansion of a metal part. I really enjoyed the car when it was driving, though, because it had a zippy transmission and was both my dad's and granddad's. In any case, it's time for a new one.

I knew there was a problem when I could smell coolant in the car when driving on the highway and started finding coolant under the car in the mornings.

After a close inspection, it turned out the coolant bottle was cracked and leaking. I took it to an A/C shop, and he found the problem in just a few minutes. I bought a bottle from eBy, and that cracked too. Then I bought a bottle from Autozone (be careful, they have no warranty on those!) and that cracked too. So finally, I bought a bottle from the dealership, and that is holding up well. Apparently, cheap-o bottles can't stand the pressure, so you're much better off buying an OEM one from the dealership.

The Engine coolant has been leaking for quite a long time first we found a leak behind the engine and fire wall The whole pipe assembly had to be replaced. Now Its December 2009 and our heat quit working then we checked the engine coolant it was low we filled it up and the next day the Temperature needle started sky rocketing all the way up to the H when it should be between the H and C. So we took it to a shop that for 8 straight hours worked on and said the thermostat stuck and caused a hose to blow out so they fixed it or so we thought untill the next day December,19th The needle sky rocketed again! 2 Stupid repairs and still losing coolant We were driving and the engine was makeing a loud knocking sound like it was about ready to blow luckil it didn,t but it was getting real hot smoke was comming out by the radiator overflow. What is the deal the only other thing could be a bad water pump or over flow tank.