Purchased pre-owned 2011 Ford Taurus w/39K miles, in Aug 2012. Comfortable, good looking, and up to recently, a very dependable car. Routine maintenance always completed. During a recent trip from Pittsburgh to St Louis, in the middle of three lanes on west bound I-70, at highway speeds, engine gave off a grinding metal sound, and shut down completely. With no power steering, struggled to get to the shoulder w/o causing an accident. Had vehicle towed to the nearest Ford dealership. "Your oil looks like banana pudding!" Diagnosis was failed water pump, which caused timing chain failure, which caused catastrophic engine failure. After 164K trouble free miles, awaiting a new engine. Up to this point, have had absolutely no issues at all. Brakes, tires, regular maintenance, that was it. Very unfortunate.

2011 Ford Taurus with 85,000 miles which I am still making payments on. Without warning the vehicle stalled and had to pull over to the shoulder. The water pump failed and was eventually replaced. Vehicle ran ok for about a month an then suffered engine failure. I was told that because the water pump is contained internally within the engine that the damage was probably done when the water pump failed which caused antifreeze and water to circulate throughout the engine causing the damage. I still owe $5000 on the car and feel it's not worth fixing.

This is a horrible design of the water pump system.