'96 Taurus LX Engine Problem

I just bought a 1996 Taurus LX wagon about a month ago and took a road
trip Memorial Day weekend with a couple of friends. It was someone
else's turn to drive and accidentally they put the gearshift into 2nd
gear instead of D and drove about 15 miles at 5000 rpm and the engine
overheated. I did not notice until it was redlined (it was storming
so there was a lot of noise everywhere) and then we pulled over but
the damage was already done. When I got it towed to the shop they
told me that I need a new engine on it since it had cracked due to
having been stressed too much.

My question here is whether it's worth it to replace the engine (about
$1000 + some shipping for an engine with 55k and $400 labor) or
whether to try to part it out. I bought the car used (127k) for about
$2000. I am wondering if anyone can tell me where I can try to sell
parts off of it (if there is even a market) or just take it to the
junkyard and accept the $100 for it. My main question is whether the
investment would actually be worthwhile in the end. I'm in college so
I'd prefer to fix if possible since a new(er) car would probably start
costing me around $3000 or so but I don't want to risk the $1400 and
then have a car that needs constant fixing. Thanks.

On Jun 26, 5:48 am, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN" <mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com>
wrote:

> I assume you blew the head gasket on a 3.8 liter engine. Is there any
> possibility of replacing it with a 3 liter engine instead? Ford's 3 liter is
> pretty much bulletproof whereas the 3.8 liter is prone to head gasket failure.
> Then all you have to sweat is the transmission. <G>

Unless it's a very late '95 that's titled as a '96 (which Ford has
been known to do, like others) it should have a 3.0 liter motor. 1995
was the last year for the 3.8 in the Taurus. Probably the best
preventive here is to stop letting a friend drive the car.