03 ford taurus

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mobilaltima

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friend of mine has an 03 taurus 3.0 vulcan V6, with 72,000 miles, runs good (ran great before he flipped it in a ditch), ive been changing his oil at 5k ocis with motorcraft 5W20 and a MC FL400S filter. hes a college student, who travels home every weekend, and he told me while driving the interstate, he normally goes 100 mph. ( i told him hes crazy and idk how he hasnt gotten pulled over yet). since he told me this, i was thinking of running some Rotella T 10W30 or Rotella T5 10W30 to better protect against the high heat seen at such high speeds. can the T or T5 hurt the cats, dont they both have high zinc content?
 
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I wouldn't worry about it. If MC 5w-20 can protect big V8 trucks while towing, it'll do fine for a Taurus, even one seeing sustained high speeds. 5k miles sounds about right for the use he's putting it through.

I'd be more worried about the transmission, to be honest.
 
The transmission is the weakest link in that era of Taurus. I would be more concerned with regular changes of the ATF. If taken care of, those transmissions can go over 200K easy. I have 263K on a 2000 Taurus with the original Transmission.
In regard to oil, 5K on any dino or syn blend is fine. Sounds like his usage of the car will be the death of it sooner than anything else.
 
Those vulcans can handle those speeds... the CV joints, sway bars and tie rods do not. Also clean/replace PCV every other oil change if he continues doing this.

I would go with a 5w30, however.
 
Keep the oil, filter and change cycle. Drop the friend. Way too dangerous. He is going to kill somebody driving like an idiot. This is coming from a Boston driver!
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
If he's really doing 100mph on the highway, oil is not the biggest worry he has....


+1
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
The transmission is the weakest link in that era of Taurus. I would be more concerned with regular changes of the ATF. If taken care of, those transmissions can go over 200K easy. I have 263K on a 2000 Taurus with the original Transmission.
In regard to oil, 5K on any dino or syn blend is fine. Sounds like his usage of the car will be the death of it sooner than anything else.


+1
 
I recommend non-detergent 30 weight. That way he'll blow the engine, have to take the bus, and no longer endanger anyone else's lives.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06
I recommend non-detergent 30 weight. That way he'll blow the engine, have to take the bus, and no longer endanger anyone else's lives.


+1
 
He doesn't belong on the road. Do us all a favor and stop helping him. I wouldn't care if it was just him, but it very well might be someone else he hurts, who shouldn't have to to sacrifice their life or quality of life over his selfish stupidity.

He is aware many cops will take him to JAIL for that kind of speed, right?
 
As i ahve the mercury counterpart to that car...

Stick with the Oil and filter, if you really want to do him a favor dump in 5W30 oil, not 10W30.

I have hit nearly 100 on the interstate in this car without realising it, always backing off down to 70-75 mph on the road.
 
Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
The transmission is the weakest link in that era of Taurus. I would be more concerned with regular changes of the ATF. If taken care of, those transmissions can go over 200K easy. I have 263K on a 2000 Taurus with the original Transmission.
In regard to oil, 5K on any dino or syn blend is fine. Sounds like his usage of the car will be the death of it sooner than anything else.


+1


I'll give you a big +2 for that. The '96-99 cars with the duratec engine were REALLY bad for overheating and not lasting long at all-we're talking 50-60k miles here. The vulcans were better, but not by a lot. I know they made some changes on the 2000+ cars, but I'd still try and change it.

My vote is for a 5w30 full synthetic of some kind. Also, try to avoid hopping curbs in that car at ANY cost.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
100MPH with a Vulcan?? I owned one once and that engine is not designed to sustain those speeds.


Personal experience is , the car hits a brick wall at about 80 and the Vulcan really struggles to get to 100. I think at those speeds he'd be turning 3200 or a bit more.

The transmisssion is going to be making a lot of heat, the wheel bearings are going to wear quicker since they aren't made for that speed, the boaty steering on that car isn't good enough for those speeds and the brakes aren't going to do too many stops from 100.

Lets hope the vulcan gives up the ghost or he blows the transmission before he kills someone

I ran a pretty big cooler on mine. The transmission didn't die ... the car just rusted out
 
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Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: tig1
100MPH with a Vulcan?? I owned one once and that engine is not designed to sustain those speeds.


Personal experience is , the car hits a brick wall at about 80 and the Vulcan really struggles to get to 100. It's definitely NOT good to spin the Vulcan that fast ...

The transmisssion is going to be making a lot of heat, the wheel bearings are going to wear quicker since they aren't made for that speed, the boaty steering on that car isn't good enough for those speeds and the brakes aren't going to do too many stops from 100.

Lets hope the vulcan gives up the ghost or he blows the transmsision before he kills someone l


What's sad about his...the brakes are from a SHO, for the front (rear drums) the same as a 96-99 SHO...for the front rotors. 11.4 vs 10.6 for non SHO.

The vulcan does not run out of steam on the 2001+ above 80. As long as he is not reving it past 5K all the time it will hold up.
 
My 01 had the bigger rotors too, I'm not sure if the drums ever worked haha. The vulcan "pulled" pretty good, but mine seemed to lose it's grunt over 80.

Cruising at 100mph would be bad for it as it's a hair over 3000RPM. I'd be more concerned about getting there - people that cruise at 100 don't get there slowly, and they aren't easy. I suspect there's a lot of kickdown into 3rd, torque converter unlocking (more heat), etc.
 
Personal Reccomendation:

5W30 quaker state ultimate durability

L20195 filter, or L30001 filter if you want extra capacity for crud to get out of the engine.

Install an external trans cooler

Lecture him about proper driving

Flush the coolant

call it a day, if he messes up the car, you advised him of basic maintence to keep it going.
 
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