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I am really confused.
I just bought a very nice condition 1995 Ford Taurus SE with a 3.0 L motor.
Would I be wasting money, or even worse yet, would I be making the fuel line, etc. gunked up by using high octane Shell gas with Lucas fuel additive, instead of the 87 octane which it says is ok in the owner's manual?
The station owner claims it is a Tier 1 gas.
I am trying to make this car run as fuel efficiently as possible with a fair amount of peppy performance as well.
My wife and I rented one of these on our honeymoon. Nice car, I think you'll like it.
The manual says 87 is "ok." What is recommended? I'm thinking 87 is recommended. I can't imagine this engine requires premium. You won't get any performance benefit from using higher octane than recommended. By all means, use Shell. It's a top tier gas and fairly well thought of around BITOG. I use it in both of my cars (87 in the Intrepid, 93 in the Neon) and I'm happy with it.
If it were me, I'd change the plugs, maybe the plug wires, run a bottle of Chevron Techron through a full tank of gas and then get an oil change, check/change the air filter and the fuel filter, change the PCV valve, and have it aligned. That's going to give you best bang for buck, performance wise. Oh, and flush the cooling system with a 50/50 mix of distilled water and whatever anti-freeze Ford calls for.
Then, on an on-going basis, use 3-4 oz. of Lucas UCL in every fill up. You can get it for $20 a gallon at Amazon. Free shipping for orders over $25, so just buy two.
Does this engine have a timing belt? If so, is it an interference engine? If so, has the belt been changed according to schedule? You have to be concerned with time and mileage. If I recall correctly, you can find answers to some of these questions at gates.com.
You could also consider an Auto-Rx treatment. Lots of info in the oil additives forum.
Good luck and enjoy the Taurus!