Just bought the car on Tuesday, broke down on Friday. While driving for about 45 minutes my 2002 Ford Taurus started making a loud fast knocking sound at first it sounded like something was dragging underneath the car. It cut off but cut back on when I started it. Continued to drive to autozone bought oil and Lucas, only put a quart of oil and 1/4 of Lucas. Noise didn’t stop kept driving for about 40 minutes … I was far from home. Car shut off on highway. Wouldn’t start back up. Won’t turn over or anything. Lights just flash when I turn the key. Please help !
Can’t tell for sure from the cloud, but sounds like internal engine damage and time to shop for another car.
I am going to guess you did not have it checked over by a mechanic before you bought the car, right?
I agree with @tcmichnorth your engine has just failed. Have it hauled off as scrap because even a well kept 16 year old car likely does not deserve a replacement engine.
I agree with the others
It certainly sounds like your engine has mechanically self-destructed . . . possibly due to very poor maintenance by the previous owner(s)
It’s not worth sinking ANY money into saving this car
Call some junkyards and accept the highest offer, provided that THEY come and get it
By the way . . . did you buy it from a private seller or a dealer?
If you bought it from a private seller, you’re definitely out of luck
If you bought it from a dealer, you might have a slight chance of getting your money back, or maybe they let you choose another car from their lot. This would be goodwill on their part, I seriously doubt they’re obligated to give you anything, because cars this old are usually sold as-is, with no warranty whatsoever
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I agree with everyone else here–you got scammed, and it’s time to cut your losses and junk the car. Most likely, the person you bought this from ran it low on oil, to the point it started to knock, then put some thicker oil in it to quiet it down long enough to sell to some sucker, which unfortunately ended up being you. Now, you drove it until the engine seized, and it would cost way too much to do anything with this car, other than call a junkyard to haul it away.
Concur w/above, probably got some major problem. But before giving up on this car, at least have a mechanic do a quick assessment. If all the fluids levels are ok, then it might be something minor like an exhaust part fell off and in doing so damaged the crank position sensor harness.
I doubt it, and this is the reason why