Flat towing 2014 Ford Taurus
I recently purchased a 2014 Ford Taurus SEL with the 3.5L engine. The manual indicates it can be flat towed. I do not have the 7" display or the keyless ignition options. However, the manual is inc...
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Update on my towing situation. After buying my Taurus, my mom rode in it and apparently forgot what a new car felt like, so she ended up buying a new Ford Focus. So I ended up buying her 2002 Pontiac Grand Am, which although is 12yr old, only had 38K miles on it.
The Grand Am (with automatic transmission) is also towable as it uses the same transmission that many Saturn sedans use. And it is 1,000lbs lighter than the Taurus, which is also a good thing. Since the 12yr old car was "fully depreciated" I didn't have as much reluctance to rip off the front fascia and install a baseplate, as well as drilling the various holes requred for lights, etc.
All in all, the baseplate was a somewhat difficult install and took almost 3 days. The baseplate is a generic GM plate that fits about 4 different cars, and the disassembly instructions from Blue Ox was for a Malibu, not the Grand Am; so after step 1 of the disassembly instructions, nothing was correct.
Since I had figure out by trial and error what had to be removed to get the fascia and all of the components out of the way, that in itself took a day. As well, I ended up doing a bit of corrosion control (i.e. painting of the frame) to the car as I worked on it.
And with a 12yr old car, I ended up busting a few rusted bolts, as well as needing a few extra tools, which required about 5 trips to the store over the 3 day period.
And I also was pretty meticulous about how I re-installed everything, not just wanting to slap things together. For example, the horn assembly normally bolts to the side of the frame, but the hole was covered up by the baseplate... so I drilled and tapped a new hole in the baseplate for the mounting. I am sure with the 3 hour estimate the RV shop gave me would have meant they probably would have just cable tied the horn in place.
Also, I did not like the fit of the baseplate in that it was too close to a cooling line for my comfort, so I had to remove it and cut out a slot to give the line additional clearance. Again, I am not sure a RV shop would have done that in their 3 hour allotment of time.
I also had to modify the baseplate tubes the electrical trailer connector attached to, as they would not fit quite right through the grill opening. I attribute all of these things to the "generic" nature of the baseplate fitting multiple GM cars.
That is why it took 3 days to install the baseplate.
The Grand Am requires removal of three fuses, so I plan on installing a fuse switch soon. Also, I bought a "toad charger" that I have to complete the wiring on next spring (I have to swap out the 4 pole trailer tail-light connector on the RV for a 6 pole one to get 12V to the charger).
The baseplate I installed was from Blue Ox; with a Blue Ox tail-light kit, RViBrake2 braking system, and RViBrake Toad Charger. With the Blue Ox Alpha tow bar and accessories (wiring harness, tow bar cover, drop receiver, etc), I have under $3,000 in it as I did everything myself.
I have not towed it more than about 50 miles so far at one time, so I am not sure if I will have any issues with a dead battery. But with the toad charger, hopefully it won't present any problems.
So thanks all for your advice on the Taurus, even though I ended up going another route.
The Grand Am (with automatic transmission) is also towable as it uses the same transmission that many Saturn sedans use. And it is 1,000lbs lighter than the Taurus, which is also a good thing. Since the 12yr old car was "fully depreciated" I didn't have as much reluctance to rip off the front fascia and install a baseplate, as well as drilling the various holes requred for lights, etc.
All in all, the baseplate was a somewhat difficult install and took almost 3 days. The baseplate is a generic GM plate that fits about 4 different cars, and the disassembly instructions from Blue Ox was for a Malibu, not the Grand Am; so after step 1 of the disassembly instructions, nothing was correct.
Since I had figure out by trial and error what had to be removed to get the fascia and all of the components out of the way, that in itself took a day. As well, I ended up doing a bit of corrosion control (i.e. painting of the frame) to the car as I worked on it.
And with a 12yr old car, I ended up busting a few rusted bolts, as well as needing a few extra tools, which required about 5 trips to the store over the 3 day period.
And I also was pretty meticulous about how I re-installed everything, not just wanting to slap things together. For example, the horn assembly normally bolts to the side of the frame, but the hole was covered up by the baseplate... so I drilled and tapped a new hole in the baseplate for the mounting. I am sure with the 3 hour estimate the RV shop gave me would have meant they probably would have just cable tied the horn in place.
Also, I did not like the fit of the baseplate in that it was too close to a cooling line for my comfort, so I had to remove it and cut out a slot to give the line additional clearance. Again, I am not sure a RV shop would have done that in their 3 hour allotment of time.
I also had to modify the baseplate tubes the electrical trailer connector attached to, as they would not fit quite right through the grill opening. I attribute all of these things to the "generic" nature of the baseplate fitting multiple GM cars.
That is why it took 3 days to install the baseplate.
The Grand Am requires removal of three fuses, so I plan on installing a fuse switch soon. Also, I bought a "toad charger" that I have to complete the wiring on next spring (I have to swap out the 4 pole trailer tail-light connector on the RV for a 6 pole one to get 12V to the charger).
The baseplate I installed was from Blue Ox; with a Blue Ox tail-light kit, RViBrake2 braking system, and RViBrake Toad Charger. With the Blue Ox Alpha tow bar and accessories (wiring harness, tow bar cover, drop receiver, etc), I have under $3,000 in it as I did everything myself.
I have not towed it more than about 50 miles so far at one time, so I am not sure if I will have any issues with a dead battery. But with the toad charger, hopefully it won't present any problems.
So thanks all for your advice on the Taurus, even though I ended up going another route.
