2005 Ford Taurus SEL (DOHC) 4-wheel ABS?

The rear wheel hub/bearings are very noisy and need to be replaced. I'd like to order the parts and have them on hand at the start of the job. There is only one auto parts store in my town, and it does not carry all the parts variants for this car/repair. However, getting the correct part requires that I know whether the car has 4-wheel ABS or not, and I have to specify whether the rears are drum or disc. The latter question is easy, there are drums on the rears. However, how can I know whether the rears have ABS or not without having to pull the drum ahead of time so i can order the correct parts? I have tried checking online build sheets using the VIN, (1fahp56s85a213192), but have not gotten a definitive answer. I know the car *HAS* ABS because I see an ABS light flash on start-up diag. But I do not know if all four wheels have ABS. The parts listings seem to make this distinction, which I find weird because I had always thought that if a car had ABS it HAD to be on all four wheels. But apparently not, at least in the case of this car. So guys, is there a way to find out online somewhere whether this particular car has ABS on all four wheels? Thanks, Pop

I'll do some digging? But I've seen a LOT of those Taurus's, and if one had ABS, it was four wheel ABS. Never seen one with front ABS, or front + some kind of RABS combination.

If you have an ABS light, that's good enough for me. I'm surprised no one asked if it has traction control or not? That question always comes up for me whenever I look up parts on those, especially master cylinders.

Also, where do you live, and who's been driving this thing? :silly: I have NEVER seen a bug eyed Taurus/Sable with a bad wheel bearing or hub. Ever. I keep checking them anyway, thinking one day I'll find one...

If the front has it the rear should (at least on your Taurus).
To be double sure you can look in the rear wheel well for a wire. Right around the brake line, if it has abs there will also be a black wire to connect the abs sensor.

We are in the hills of central Virginia. My son drives this car, and believe it or not he drives pretty conservatively. I bought it from the original owner (they had all up to date maint records. A good car they sold me for $500 because as they disclosed it needed motor mounts and a clock spring, which I fixed shortly after purchase. its run like a top since then) about six months ago with 173,000 miles on it. I didn't hear any bearing or other noise when I bought it. It is very noisy now. The right rear wheel makes a slight rubbing noise. The left rear makes a heavier rubbing noise and that wheel is even kind of hard to spin. I guess it is entirely possible that it could be rear brake shoes out of adjustment. Won't know until I get into it. But if it does turn out that the bearing is contributing to it, I'd like to have the correct ones on hand. Not having the correct parts on hand is too convenient an excuse to quit the repair job for the day! Pop

popoften wrote: We are in the hills of central Virginia. My son drives this car, and believe it or not he drives pretty conservatively.

Sorry sir, no insult meant there. :blush: More just jealous that you actually had one go bad.

But if it does turn out that the bearing is contributing to it, I'd like to have the correct ones on hand. Not having the correct parts on hand is too convenient an excuse to quit the repair job for the day!

Thinking ahead.

No offense taken. And as I said, it is entirely possible I could be wrong. It might be the rear brakes dragging or something.

I'll keep you guys informed as to what the problem/solution turns out to be. ` Pop

Finally had a chance to pull the wheel and look at this car. Yes, it does have ABS so I was able to order with confidence the correct parts. Interestingly, I noticed this zig zag wear pattern all over the tire. Wow, I have seen scalloping before, but the wear regions extend from the deep scallops on the inter tread, to all the way across the tire. Am I correct to assume this is a result of the bad bearing? (See pic) In any case my son is going to need a new tire...

I usually see that associated with blown shocks/struts, or severe lack of tire rotation. As in, the new tire went on and never got rotated in 30K miles.

Bearings usually don't result in tire wear unless they're excessively loose, causing negative camber.

Hmmm. Well before “firing the parts cannon” I guess I better make sure the tires are not the whole problem. As I said before I am not completely sure that the noise I heard before was not a bit of brake drag.

Thank you Tyler!

No problem! I'd be tempted to have those tires replaced first, or while you're doing other work. They look pretty thin on tread where the cupping was worst.

The wheel bearing test I've used for years has been to lift the car and spin the wheel while keeping one hand on the coil spring. A truly noisy bearing will resonate through the coil spring. With this method, bad bearings are obvious compared to good ones.

Thank you Tyler! Yes I am having my son pick up some new tires in the morning and we will install those and then reassess.

Thank you for the great tip on testing the bearing noise through the coil spring. What a great idea!

those tires have to be making a rumbling noise that can be misinterpreted as a wheel bearing and i agree check the shocks/struts on the rear if a problem is not found i would check the alignment i have seen that cause wearing on just the inside but the scalloping seems to be from shocks/struts.

Another vote for rear shocks. All the Taurus sedans need them, lol

Also with tyres and rear shocks first

Yes, the noise is almost deafening.

How can I test the shocks? I have heard conflicting advice about the bounce test. Some say it is useless on modern cars, others disagree. Some say you really can’t tell as a diyer, you need special equipment.

What say ye?

Honestly, the wear pattern on the tires tells the story. That's all the evidence I need to condemn the struts.
Sometimes you can judge by bouncing the car. Some say they should be changed every 50k regardless. Sometimes you can just look at the car say "wow, the tire is stuffed all the way up in the wheel well!" If the cartridge is sticky, oily, covered in dirt then it's been leaking and needs to be changed. You can inspect the coil spring for a broken section. If you follow the spiral of the spring with your hand, it should end in a recess designed to hold the spring at the bottom of the strut. If the end of the spring is sharp or jagged then it's broken.
For what it's worth I've seen more broken rear springs on Taurus struts than probably just about anything. If it was my car I would change the strut assembly including the springs and not just the cartridges.

I'm also pretty sure you have a Taurus sedan? The wagons don't have struts. But you said it was a DOHC with drum brakes. I'm pretty sure there DOHC wagons came with disk brakes.

There's 2 types of struts for the sedan: with our without rear sway bar. The difference is a tab welded on the strut for the sway bar links, so the strut for the car with a rear sway bar will fit both cars but the one without is only good for the one without.
If you do have a rear sway bar it would probably be a good time to change the rear links

Noah, First off let me express my sincere appreciation to you and all the guys who so kindly offer others including myself your wisdom. I really, really appreciate the benefit of your hard-earned experience. It is because of guys like you that I believe this is the best automotive website on the internet. At least in the English language! If tomorrow Paul Danner said he was gonna start charging $20/ month for access to this site, I WOULD PAY IT. And I mean that. you guys ROCK.

I will advise my son that he needs to, uh, “spring” for some shocks. Yes, this is the sedan. I will check for the sway bar.

Again, a huge THANK YOU to each of you guys. You are so generous with your time. This not only helps me and my ten children save money, but I enjoy working on my cars and trucks. It’s “therapy”.

There's special equipment to test struts/shocks? :huh: Not saying that isn't true, but I've never seen it. Most strut/shock replacement I've seen comes from leaking fluid, broken coil springs or tire wear like you observed. The rest comes from noisy mounts or poor ride quality (with no other visual defects).

Speaking of hard earned experience, be careful with those rear strut pinch bolts if you go to swap them. They like to break off in the knuckle. Heat is your friend, if you have it available.

Well we put the new tires in this morning, and took her for a test drive. The noise is gone. The car is nice and quiet now. Needless to say my son is cancelling his parts order for t he bearings. The strut spring assemblies look original, (Motorcraft) but springs intact. Time for new shock/springs. I am not sure about te sway bar. I see two control arms that extend to the wheel area from the center of the car to the wheel area. There is another arm that goes parallel to the side of the car to a mounting point ahead of the rear wheel area. Are any of these the sway bar, or does it sound like this car is a non sway bar model? Thanks,guys.