[dmtaurus]

The original coolant was orange. When I did the coolant change the coolant I used was the Motorcraft Orange, which what the manual recommends. Is that the same as the Yellow?

 

[dmtaurus]

Good advice! Will request the yellow. After more reviews it would seem that using the orange coolant was detrimental to the pump. Here I thought that a judicious changing of the coolant at a lower mileage would defer a pump replacement. Thanks!

 

[dmtaurus]

Most never have a problem. I've coworkers with the same motor at over 200K with the original water pump. Mine had issues at 88K.

So I guess the question is, why?

 

[dmtaurus]

Well, I had the job done. It was $2325.21 and I had all chains, guides, and tensioners replaced, along with seals, gaskets, sprockets, and new bolts for the VVT actuators. I talked with the service manager on using the new coolant and he said that they follow the tech updates on what Ford engineers recommend should be used. So, in looking at the parts list on the bill they used the new coolant.

Hoping to see the engine out of the car so I could see the work, I did stop by and talked to a technician servicing his own pick-up in one of the service bays (it was started the day after I stopped). He told me that he has done these jobs several times and that it is not unusual for the pumps to fail around 70,000. The next day I stopped again after work and was surprised that the engine was back in and running except for burping the coolant. The service manager said he put the tech on mine that does most of the Taurus's and Explorers for about 3 different PD's and the county sheriff's department, and left him alone all day so he could concentrate on the work. That's the type of forethought and service I wanted.

According to the service manager he said the toughest thing now is getting parts; he has been waiting to get parts on some Ford repairs for almost a month, all because of factory shut downs. He said he was fortunate to get the parts to repair mine in only 2 weeks.

So far the car runs strong, and it does feel like it has better pick-up than before all this occurred.

 

[dmtaurus]

I am in Ohio. The tech that did it started on it at 7:00 am and had it back together and running by 8:00 pm the same day. Next day he had to burp it, calibrate the timing, and run diagnostics to make sure all was well. With that kind of job, and there is a really well done video on YouTube, there are many details and order of assembly steps that require concentration and no distractions.

 

[dmtaurus]

I would highly recommend that you find a dealership that services the police department vehicles, if the department uses Ford vehicles. Being I know some people people at the local PD, they told me that the dealer that they use to service their Ford Explorers (3.5's) is not the nearest Ford dealer. It is farther from their location and that fact, along with seeing several different PD's in the service bay convinced me that the work must be good and done right. It the little things like that that can give good direction in decision making.

 

[dmtaurus]

Some guys are really good with wrenches. A friend of mine was extremely practiced and could have the engine out of his 69 Camaro in 20 minutes and laying on the floor, ready for mods.

The thing about the Cyclone is that it really is a stupid design to place a water pump inside the engine and have the only valid way to replace it is to remove the engine. The Vulcan 3.0 was a smartly designed engine that ran and ran with minimal maintenance. This is the 5th Taurus for me, the 1st being a 1990 LX bought new. All the Taurus's I had, excluding this one, had the 3.0 Vulcan and all ran great. Modular, in my book, does not mean better for the consumer but better for the mechanic.

 

[dmtaurus]

Excellent point, Jeff, and it could have been done. If they were not so bent on short-term cost control they would better endear themselves to the public and help solidify their reputation for making a smart product.

 

[dmtaurus]

When the 2013 SE wp went bad on mine I did some research on what it takes to do the job. IIRC, there are special locking blocks that need to be installed in place of a camshaft saddle clamp block in order to keep the engine in time. Between the special tools and some more research, like the video on YT where the mechanic drops the engine out of the car to do this job, I decided that the best route was to find the dealer that services the police department vehicles. These guys do the jobs all the time and know the tips and tricks to prevent the comebacks. Whether or not the engine has to come out I am not sure. But while the pump was being replaced, I told them to replace all the chains, all the chain guide slides, and the cam phasers. The service guy told me that at 70k these parts should be fine, and when I told him my reasoning, he changed his stance. It made the job go from 2100.00 to 2450.00 but given the fact the design is so poor I told them to replace them while in there. As time has gone on, Ford Tech Makuloko on YT, who works on huge numbers of the F150 3.5 engines, says to always use the Motorcraft engine parts when doing this job. He says he has seen way too many failures using aftermarket parts, even from reputable manufacturers. So far, I have 104,000 on the car and the engine runs like new. I hate Ford for doing such a stupid design. Between this type of design and the terrible EcoBoost problems, Ford needs to return to its reliable roots.

 

[dmtaurus]

You are correct on the maintenance, and I changed my coolant with the Ford specified Motorcraft coolant at 40k; the failure occurred at 70K. The F150 has had the same 3.5 engine but the timing cover design is such the water pump can be removed without removing the timing cover. Even though the engine is 90 degrees rotated from the Taurus mounting, a good design could have made the pump removable from the front wheel well without massive disassembly and engine removal. Corrected in later years or not, the premise is that water pumps traditionally fail before something like the engine burning oil so making them easily serviceable is a must. Again, Ford should be leading the way and not following poor practices. Fortunately, the leaking on mine ran to the outside. The dealer said some leak to the inside and bearing Babbit wipe leaves knocking rods and just an internal mess.