I’m thinking the drivers side bank corresponds to the front bank on a FWD. If so, that will wear out the Platinum electrode and it will end up looking something like this:
Changed out sparkplugs in Ford Vulcan V-6
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
Then, on the passenger side the wear will be on the ground side, but if the plug is robust enough it might not be all that noticeable. Here is the same plug from the passenger side ( back side of a FWD). The wear might be all that noticeable.
I had a 1991 Ranger Super Cab with the 3.0 and 5 speed manual. I loved that truck. I bought it new. The only problems that I had came later on. The hood paint was coming off and the air conditioning went out. I had the hood repainted and new compressor put on. It was running great when I traded it.
My new NGK’s are running great and my morning start at 32 F was fine.
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More Trivia on Rangers. The 2.9 V-6 was a Cologne engine. In 1991 it was replaced with the 3.0 V-6 Vulcan engine.
An interesting thing on the Taurus with the Vulcan engine is that you can reach down between the rad and the engine and unscrew the oil filter without crawling under the car. Bonus!
I've heard about the "waste spark " that Ford has. How does this work and whats the point as most other manufacturers don't go this route.
Here are a couple screen shots on the “ Waste Spark System.” The whole idea was to get away from distributors and use an electronic crank trigger and a coil pack to fire spark plugs. Using only three coils was cheaper than six coils. Ford used it in the Vulcan engine starting in 1986 I believe and when Ford dropped it around 2007, “ coil on plug systems” were used instead. The successor to the the Taurus, the Fusion, had a coil on plug system.
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Here are two screen shots from Rock Auto showing a coil pack which has three separate coils and a coil-on-plug of which six are required, one for each spark plug.
The best (or perhaps the most incorrect) explanation is that half of the coils shoot the spark OUT of the coil and the other half of the coils suck IN the spark. I'm sure some electronic genius will explain it better. ANYWAY, from the factory, Ford sometimes used two different spark plug numbers. The reason is that half of the plugs got the precious metal on the electrode and the other half had the precious metal put on the ground. The irony is that you had a hard time replacing the plugs with the exact number.
On waste gate engines like these, I like to replace the plugs with double platinum where the precious metal is on both sides. On an engine that is a COP, a single platinum will be fine.
Another fun fact is my 2.3 "Lima" Ranger is both dual-spark and wasted spark. It has two coil packs. Each pack has two coils. One pack fires the four plugs on the intake side of the engine and one pack fires the four plugs on the exhaust side.
I think this is kind of overkill, but I suppose it resulted in a tiny improvement in mpg or emissions. And the redundancy makes it robust!
I think this is kind of overkill, but I suppose it resulted in a tiny improvement in mpg or emissions. And the redundancy makes it robust!
One of the early short thread plugs that came in the Taurus Vulcan engines in 2000 is the AWSF 32 P. Here are some shots.
The 3L in our 04 Escape uses those same plugs. The MC plugs are made by NGK, if you cross the numbers that are stamped into the metal part of the MC plugs they will cross to an NGK part number.
I believe that the Lima 2.3 went to twin plugs in the 1990 model year. The HP rating went from 80 to 100, as I recall. I would have welcomed it on an '88 Ranger I had. Twin plugging should have increased mpg. My older example still did 25 mpg with a manual trans.
The plug that came with my 2005 Ford Taurus 3.0 Vulcan was the longer threaded ( as opposed to the 2000 model) AGS P32 Platinum plug. In 2018 I replaced them with AGSF 22 FM Platinum plug. Now I replaced them with the NGK Iridium TR5IX. The car now has 120,000 miles. Just a stroll down memory lane. Here is a shot from 2018 when the AGSF 22 FM plugs went in.
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Vulkan is one of the most underwhelming and one of the most reliable V6s
Until your cam synchronizer goes out or your valve seats recess into the heads...
It's a classic engine, I guess, but even the engines that everyone loves have a few flaws.
It's a classic engine, I guess, but even the engines that everyone loves have a few flaws.
You might be thinking of the DOHC Duratec, not the lowly OHV Vulcan.
I like the drippy Duratec better than the Vulcan!You might be thinking of the DOHC Duratec, not the lowly OHV Vulcan.
I forgot to show the Spark plug gap from the front bank which were the worst plugs. The very worst worn plug was at 0.072 “. Almost twice as large as when new. Amazing it still ran.
