Why The Ford Police 4.6 Seems To Go & Go & Go...

[ULVER]

I always wondered why the Police Interceptor, didn't get a big horsepower boost. Ford marked it out @ 250hp, which even for the big sedan, was good for over 125mph easy. However, it always was labeled a slug...

My "slug" lasted 15 years, with over 300K on it. I have heard the same from taxi drivers. Used some oil, but the valve covers never had to come off, and the tranny was still virgin.

Had a Ford rep tell me, that they kept the PI71 motor fairly tame, because it allowed a high-rev, small displacement engine to last much longer.

Thoughts?

 

[NHGUY]

Exactly.Much like the old VW Beetle,the 1600cc engine could have put out way more than the 60hp it did,but VW never was tempted to "goose" that hp higher due to shorter life/less mpgs/more maintenance.This is one of the problems I have with todays cars.The HP race has caused former 90-110 hp engines to put out 150-170hp....had these engines been kept "tamer",who knows,most every car could be getting 35+ mpg now.

 

[hardcore302]

One of my favorite cars to driver. Ever. Helps when I have lights and sirens, but still. Awesome car.

 

[Turk]

Yep, nice long lasting engine. I think the 0-60 was something like 8.5 seconds, which is pretty doggy for a cop car.

 

[tig1]

I had that engine in my old 96Merc. When I sold it with 218K it still ran and sounded like new. No telling how many miles are on it now. From the time I bought it until it was sold the 4.6 used a qt of oil every 6500 miles.

 

[synthetic_crazy]

The modular design of the 4.6 was an amazing piece of engineering. I am sad to see that Ford decided to discontinue the car. I would stand a 4.6 up to the new taurus' turbo charged engine ANY day. If I could afford the gas in a police interceptor, I would be driving one without hesitation!

Here is a test drive video of a 2007 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that I believe was for sale at one point. Amazing cars!

 

[AstroTurf]

I have always preferred my 4.6 wrapped in a Town Cars sheet metal.

Both a 94 and a 98.

They both did me right. Very Pleased.

Jim

 

[Panzerman]

Yep. Typical police car driving like a maniac on side streets and in traffic areas. I have always wondered why police seem it is perfectly fine to drive like a nut, when do they realize that it would be much more proper to drive safely, set a example, maybe even use a turn signal, now and then. I seen a couple of videos on Youtube of cops blasting thru side streets and subdivisons, where there are kids, very un-cool. Remmember, we bought you the car, leadfoot.

 

[ULVER]

I'm looking at getting one more "slug" before they ain't around anymore...

 

[AuthorEditor]

And the 4.6 in the civilian version was that much tamer and lasts even longer, yet has plenty of go for most situations. In my last Crown Vic and my current '95 Grand Marquis I get 26 mpg on the highway, which isn't bad at all. One winter I took the family from NY to Florida and drove straight through. Everybody was headed south and the traffic on Rt. 95 in Florida was really rolling along. Went 95 mph for long stretches and neared 100 a few times. With a whole line of traffic moving like that I guess they didn't dare try to stop us or there would have been a big accident. After the trip, four people in the car, full of luggage, high speeds a lot of the way, I checked the mpg for the whole thing and it was still 26 mpg!

 

[01rangerxl]

Makes sense. The engine in the CV/GM is a commercial grade engine. You would find basically the same engine in an F-150 or E-Series van. Ford definitely could and did get more power out of the 4.6. One of my friends has a '97 Cobra with the DOHC 4.6 that makes 305 HP stock.

I do see a few early 1990s oil burners, but considering the number of these cars on the road it isn't that many. Who knows what kind of miles the oil burning 4.6s have on them or what kind of abuse they have been through. Panther platform cars probably the most common around here. There may be more of them than W Body GMs and Camrys.

 

[AuthorEditor]

I suggest those with oil burners try something like Mobil 1 HM. I don't know if it was the cleaning or the seal swellers, but after a steady diet of conventional for many years oil consumption dropped significantly after going with Mobil 1.

 

[hardcore302]

Our dept is now using Impalas, Fusions, and Altimas as marked cars, and most higher ranking bosses drive unmarked Tauruses. Don't get me started with the other patrol unmarkeds. They still surprise me.

I drive a CVPI at work every day. Besides a squeaky suspension, all is well.

 

[JHZR2]

Time at temperature is what degrades and destroys things. The lower the specific output, the lower the temperature and stress on critical components. THerefore, the longer they will last on average.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Our '98 church van has the 5.4L, the '05 F-250 at work has the 5.4L, and the '06 F-150 at work has the 5.4L, and there's just something about Ford's 4.6L that makes it a smoother-running engine to me. We had it in the '92 Crown Vic, a year after it debuted in the '91 Town Car. The only thing that engine required in its 8 years of service with us was a set of plug wires, which at $150, was unheard of expensive for the time.

But that 4.6L is such a sweet little V-8 engine. One of my all-time favorites.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Yep. Typical police car driving like a maniac on side streets and in traffic areas. I have always wondered why police seem it is perfectly fine to drive like a nut, when do they realize that it would be much more proper to drive safely, set a example, maybe even use a turn signal, now and then. I seen a couple of videos on Youtube of cops blasting thru side streets and subdivisons, where there are kids, very un-cool. Remmember, we bought you the car, leadfoot.


I don't know, the guy in the first video did pretty well. Slowed it down when oncoming traffic was coming. When no one was around he picked it up. Used his turn signals quite a bit (love those HD flasher units that work and work and are LOUD)

All and all I'd say he did well. Was wondering when he was going to mute the radar unit (which he did)

I'll tell you that the Dodges that UHP bought to replace the Crown Vics are NOT in the same class. They do go like stink but that is about it. Hard to see out of, uncomfortable and stink in the snow.

Here is one of our latest vehicles... (From ksl.com)

 

[The Critic]

Just to play devil's advocate here...the Ford 4.6 may go and go, but so do many other modern-day cars in severe service.

It's reliability may have been unbeatable at one point, but it may just be the norm nowadays. For instance in Taxi service, the Prius has replaced a lot of the Crown Vics around SF and their reliability has been just as good obviously.

 

[Panzerman]

Iam surprised to hear alot of people on here say they are oil users. We have a 02 Lincoln with the Intech 4.6 and it never uses oil and at work we had a bunch of F-150s with the 4.6, they all had well over 100,000, closer to 200,000 and I didnt know of any that used oil. I will say that when you put 6 qts in them, it never is all the way up the dipstick and I always added the 6.5 qts to put it on the full mark.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Iam surprised to hear alot of people on here say they are oil users.

The early models had a problem with valve seals leaking. It is VERY common. I have a friend who has a 93 Town Car. He was burning a quart of oil every 700 - 800 miles.
After replacing the valve seals, he now goes for 5K without using more than half a quart. Replacing the valve stems also solved his severe pinging on acceleration problem.

Personally I love my 04. Just got back from a 2700 mile round trip (San Diego to northern Washington State) - and for the entire trip averaged 25.5 MPG. This was with some very windy, rainy and often cold weather. My GPS said my average moving speed was 71 and my max speed was 93. Didn't think I was ever going that fast - but who knows?

This trip was just my wife and I but the trip home had the back seat and trunk full of heavy stuff that belonged to my late father-in-law. I'm sure we were over the gross vehicle weight rating.

Yes the 4.6 is not the high horsepower/torque monsters I use to drive in the 50's, 60s and 70's, but to me it is a good combination of comfort, economy and enough power to go up the hills as fast as I want to go!

 

[dwcopple]

They are decent, our Mounty has one, I had a Merc GM with one. Slapped factory duals on it with Aerochamber mufflers and it moved alright. The 2:73 rear end is what took all the fun out of it.