Questions and Answers

More Horses For Taurus Q. Hello, I own a 1995 Ford Taurus GL wagon with about 117,000 miles to it's credit sofar. I have never had any major problems (yet), and it has never stranded me. I have always had one nagging problem though.. I would like more power. I have the 3 liter "Vulcan" engine, and right after I bought it, I had wished I would have opted for the 3.8.

But as time went on, I found that I was much better off with the 3.0. Replacing head gaskets and transmissions never sounded like fun, so I'm pleased. BUT I still would like to have more power.

Some of the suggestions I have been given are as follows:

• Replace paper air filter with a "K&N" style filter.
• Have a Y pipe installed in the exhaust line and add a second muffler (like on the "police package" and SHO models) To me, It kind of makes sense, but I don't know how much of an advantage you would get. I might be wrong, but it would be nice just for looks..
• Computer Clock chipper. (I'm sure there's a real high demand for these on a Taurus. lol)
• Install a supercharger (Again, I doubt they make these for this engine. I know Ford made one for the 3.8 in the T-bird so I guess it's possible.)
• Remove the air box intake silencer. This is supposedly a major intake restriction.

Are any of these suggestions worth my time? Would I gain anything from these?

The car performs just fine for me most of the time. Where I feel the need for more power is when passing on a divided highway, you know, for those situations if "your going to pass, you better do it quick"

Another issue that has come up within a couple of weeks is a major "bang" or a "clank" when shifting from first to second gear. She shifts fine if you put the gas to the floor, but that's not a practical solution. (unless your going down an on ramp) It only shifts like that when your driving in town. It isn't getting worse, and sometimes it doesn't do it at all. Like I said before, the harder you press on the gas, it seems less likely to shift violently.

I did check what kind of transmission the car has, since I was told Ford has problems with one type, and two different models were used that year. Mine is the AXODE.

Thanks,
Rob

A. Ford has had some problems with all their transmissions, but so has every other car maker. An automatic transmission is a very complicated piece of equipment and there is lots of room for problems to appear. Throw in electronic controls and it becomes even more complicated. As Montgomery Scott once said, "The more they complicate the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

Some of the causes of the harsh 1-2 shift is the transmission oil pressure being too high, a bad 1-2 accumulator assembly, an inoperative Electronic Pressure Control (EPC) solenoid or a bad Powertrain Control Module (PCM). A scan of the transmission control module will confirm or deny the electronics of the system. If it does, then the problem is internal to the transmission.

As for juicing up the engine, there are many things you can do to get some extra horses out of it. A more free flowing air filter such as K&N offers will help. The exhaust modification would certainly look better out the back, but unless you have one pipe from each manifold going to the rear, it really won't help much. You would still have two pipes going into one pipe and back out to two. Where the pipes join would be the restriction.

You can get a "Chip" for that car and engine and that would be the most effective way of adding a few horses.

Supercharger? Nah, not for that engine. You'd need to put a 3.8 with a supercharger in the car. And you would need the harness and PCM to go along with it.

Removing the silencer would help somewhat, how much I don't know. But if the intake noise is too loud you'll have to decide to live with the noise or put it back in.

You have to keep in mind also that the engine has a quite a few miles on it and it is not as strong as it was new. Any modifications you do will put added stress on the engine and shorten it's useful life.

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