1986 Ford Taurus 3.0 V6

[Camu Mahubah]

1986 Ford Taurus 3.0 V6
144,000 miles
not sure of past oci's
Runs okay...

I put Mobil 5w-30 Drive Clean (4.6 qts) a month ago, this morning was a quart low after about 1000 miles. Filled her up with Mobil 10w-30 Drive clean. I bought a quart of Castrol HM 10w-30 (on sale $2.12 a quart) in case she uses any oil this month before change.

Anybody have any experience with this motor?
I think I wanna run Valvoline Premium Blue 5w-40 next time... or is that too heavy of an oil for a 3.0 V6?

Well I haven't actually seen the Premium Blue in 5w-40 at my Napa yet but they have Mobil 1 5w-40 Truck and SUV.

What do you think....?

 

[55Test]

My brother had a 91 Taurus GL with the V6. Nice motor, fairly good on fuel for a bigger car. My grandfather had a 93 Taurus wagon also with the V6. He had a catastrophic engine failure, something about the timing gear driven off the oil pump let go, something like that. Cost about $1600 bucks to fix. Then when the garage put the motor back in, they broke some kind of speed sensor inside the transmission. They fixed that part for free. A 5w40 oil should be fine in that engine.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

This car belongs to a lady I know... so I figured I could experiment with oils I have not tried before but have wanted to use. Such as the new 5w-40's. I think they will be excellent in higer mileage automobiles.

 

[Gary Allan]

I've run everything from 15w-40 Delvac to 5w-20 MC in my daughter's 91 Taurus 3.0. It don't seem to care one way or the other. Due to consumption ..I don't think I'm using synthetics with her engine ...unless I can get the entire fleet to work with Rotella T Synth 5w-40. Then I'm down to one oil and just about one or two filters.

btw- that 3.0 should fit a FL1A size filter without difficulty.

 

[JohnnyO]

The Ford 3.0 is one of the automotive cockroaches, i.e. very difficult to kill no matter what. I'd use one of the high-mileage oils or run a double Auto-RX cycle to condition the seals and clean it before you put synthetic in.

 

[MyGrayRanger]

Gave away my 92 Taurus 3.0 last summer when it had 156,000 miles. Still running well at 170,000. After about 100,000 miles, it would consume a quart of 5W30 between changes, but not a drop if I used 10W30. No leaks. After Auto-RX, consumption of 5W30 stopped. Indestructible engine, delicate transmission...

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Thanks Gary Allen for the tip on the larger filter. I am gonna try a purolator 3001 next time. And as for the "cockroach" labelling I sure hope Valvoline Premium Blue 5w40 and The 1A as well as checking the oil every week make this ol gal "Scatter when the lights come on..."

 

[Bill in Utah]

quote:

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Ford 3.0 is one of the automotive cockroaches, i.e. very difficult to kill no matter what

---

Sorry... I had a bad one then... 2 sets of Headgaskets in less than 110k miles...

I used Pennzoil dino 5w-30 and 10w-30 UOA in the UOA area!

Cheers. Bill

[ March 05, 2005, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Bill in Utah ]

 

[TomJones76]

That '86 won't have it, but remember that on more recent models of Taurus, there's the Vulcan 3.0 and the Duratec 3.0. Different beasts. The Duratec 3.0 is more fun to drive, but the Vulcan is substantially cheaper.

 

[k1xv]

There was an 87 Taurus 3.0 in the family for about 80K miles. Despite oil changes every 3K with 10w-30 dino, it always used a quart about every 1500 miles.

It was my father's car. Don't know much more about it.

 

[Virtuoso]

The 3.0's (both Vulcan and Duratec) are both pretty stout engines. The 3.8 was the one known for popping head gaskets (almost on schedule some would say.)

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Today I looked under the hood of my neighbor's 2002 Taurus and found another roach, it seems the 1986 3.0 V6 looks exaclty the same as the 02 3 liter V6(pushrod not the duratec) no updates at all except for yellow coolandt. This guy runs motorcraft 10w30. He doesn't believe in the 5w20, well neither do I for that matter.

 

[giant_robo]

why run a 5w when you're in florida? and why go synthetic when the engine burns oil.

I had a 89 and 95. Solid car except for the 89's tranny. a friend's still driving the old 95, >100K on it.

I would run it on 10w30, straight 30, or 15w40.

Maybe a qt or two of 20w50 (in a 30w) might slow down the oil consumption.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

I am gonna use 5w-40, because I am gonna swith to one fleet oil for all my vehicles in the future. Everything from Toyota trucks to Honda atv, generators, diesel tractors and a lawnmower.

I want a synthetic and I think 5w-40 should cover all the bases.

This ford v6 is the first time I am gonna install 5w-40.

 

[1sttruck]

I have a 93 and a 99 Taurus, and use a blend of 3 qts Mobil 10W-30 with 2 qts of Mobil 1 T&S 5W-40 in both. I get the Mobil 10W-30 for $1 a quart on sale at a local store, usually get a case at a time, and would use a 5W-30 if it were available at the same price. I'd use nothing but Mobil 1 T&S in everything if were at that price too :^)

 

[Drew]

I used to use Mobil 1 10w30 in my wife's 87 Taurus. The 3.0 in it burned about a quart of oil every 4k miles.

I switched to GC and oil consumption went to ZERO.

In order to save money, I switched to Rotella T 5W-40 and it also worked great the past winter with no cold weather starting problems.