Gen 4 Taurus SHO 2010-2014

Guys, I'm checking out a 2010 Taurus SHO for a possible low mileage purchase. Any rumors or mechanical issues you guys have heard about or know of?

Thanks for the help.

Are you planning any modifications? If so, be careful who you choose, at least for the engine. There's a right way to make more power and hack ways. Hack ways break engines.

Do you have any specific questions about the car?

(oh, full disclosure, I did work on the SHO, or more correctly, the SHO, Flex, MKS, and MKT with the EcoBoost V6 in it)

In reply to alfadriver:

Thanks Alfadriver.

I'm not planning to mod the car. Maybe a tune but I don't know that I'll even go that far.

I'm mostly concerned about the car being in first year production and any issues that may arise from that. Some things I've seen on the SHO forums:

~ Transmission reflashes needed.

~ Something about condensation in the intercooler causing a loss of power at interstate speeds.

~ Some peeling paint issues on the tail lights but I'm not concerned with that.

Is there anything else you've heard of?

So what are the correct ways of making power, or at least what are the hack ways? I can only assume that the timing of the fuel injections are crucial. What are the first bottlenecks that we are going to hit while trying to make more power from the ecoboost 3.5 v6? And realistically how much can the drivetrain take?

It also makes me nervous that tuners will sell a box with a bunch of hex files, but the consumer has no idea what those files are or any way of finding out what those files are really doing. It also concerns me that many of the tuners advertise that their kits eliminate or reduce "torque management." would removing that increase the risk of damaging the drivetrain?

And this isnt just idle curiosity. Ford's incentives along with z plan are starting to make the SHO more and more attractive to me!

In reply to Xceler8x:

Trans flash- I've not heard this one specifically, but I'd not worry to much about that. Not sure what that would be, but it's more for feel than durabilty, I would suspect.

Condensation- that's a tough one, but still applicable to any boosted engines. Under the right conditions, the humidity in the air can condense out when going through the intercooler. Build up enough, and an engine can injest a good amount of water that can cause problems.

The only other concern was related to very cold temps, so unless you see a lot of time below 0F and don't warm it up, it's not a big deal.

Ojala wrote: So what are the correct ways of making power, or at least what are the hack ways? I can only assume that the timing of the fuel injections are crucial. What are the first bottlenecks that we are going to hit while trying to make more power from the ecoboost 3.5 v6? And realistically how much can the drivetrain take? It also makes me nervous that tuners will sell a box with a bunch of hex files, but the consumer has no idea what those files are or any way of finding out what those files are really doing. It also concerns me that many of the tuners advertise that their kits eliminate or reduce "torque management." would removing that increase the risk of damaging the drivetrain? And this isnt just idle curiosity. Ford's incentives along with z plan are starting to make the SHO more and more attractive to me!

The hack way is to do whatever it takes to run leaner at WOT. Most engines run rich to protect components, and the SHO engine is no different than that. The component protection is designed to make sure the engine will last regardless of how it's being run, so it's fairly conservative. A "right way" would be know which component protection needs to be worked around to get more power- that will make sure the engine won't kill itself in other ways.

For DI motors in particular, you also can't just turn the boost up. Not due to the engine strenght, but the ability for the DI pump to move enough volume of fuel. On this engine, the best I've ever seen was about 410hp and the pump runs out of ability to move more fuel. Doing a mod wrong means that the engine has no idea, adds more boost, runs leaner, and before you know it, there's a hole in a few pistons. I've seen a video of that happening. That's the biggest bottleneck for the engine. And there's no real way around it, outside of adding a second pump, which takes some engineering.

It was pretty interesting to have tuners, which I would call hackers, come in and ask questions. We are not allowed to answer, since that's technically tampering. But some of the things they were changing for more power would not be all that great for durability. As in just a 1/4 of durability.

As for the torque management- not sure what they mean by that when they "eliminate" it. The engine runs 100% on torque control, and has never been calibrated to not run that way. So, they would have to be a lot more clear what they mean before I can answer that.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to Xceler8x: Trans flash- I've not heard this one specifically, but I'd not worry to much about that. Not sure what that would be, but it's more for feel than durabilty, I would suspect. Condensation- that's a tough one, but still applicable to any boosted engines. Under the right conditions, the humidity in the air can condense out when going through the intercooler. Build up enough, and an engine can injest a good amount of water that can cause problems. The only other concern was related to very cold temps, so unless you see a lot of time below 0F and don't warm it up, it's not a big deal.

Thanks for answering Alfadriver. I did some more research on the trans issue and it seems to apply only to job1 2010 cars. The rest are retuned and working out.

The intercooler issue seems to apply more to F150's in humid climates like Texas of Florida. I found this out after doing a bit more digging.

I'm in VA so low temps like that are not normal or persistent. At least not yet.

In reply to Xceler8x:

The basic Livernois tune will get rid of the "condensation" stumble, I haven't heard a single person on the board who has an aftermarket tune with the problem. The other issue is to make sure the AWD works. Some guys had issues with the system failing and being FWD only. Otherwise, I know nothing to attempt to scare you away.

edit: For the record, the white is very good looking on that big car.

yamaha wrote: edit: For the record, the white is very good looking on that big car.

ugh. I would normally agree, but a whole series of prototypes were white. Got OLD after a while.

We also had a series of black FiveHundred prototypes. They seemed pretty bad ass.

alfadriver wrote: ugh. I would normally agree, but a whole series of prototypes were white. Got OLD after a while. We also had a series of black FiveHundred prototypes. They seemed pretty bad ass.

I could understand that, everyone around here gets everything except white(exception for pedovans).....so it stands out more

alfadriver wrote: The only other concern was related to very cold temps, so unless you see a lot of time below 0F and don't warm it up, it's not a big deal.

alfadriver, care to elaborate on that. Since an ecoboost Flex is probably in my future for a family vehicle, and I live where there is a lot of very cold temperature, I am interested.

yamaha wrote: In reply to Xceler8x: The basic Livernois tune will get rid of the "condensation" stumble, I haven't heard a single person on the board who has an aftermarket tune with the problem. The other issue is to make sure the AWD works. Some guys had issues with the system failing and being FWD only. Otherwise, I know nothing to attempt to scare you away. edit: For the record, the white is very good looking on that big car.

Did someone mention white?!

Normally I'm not a fan of white but the car has the options I'm looking for so...I'll at least take a peek at it. We'll see if it's the metallic or 'white suede' version.

Livernois Motorsports tune is the way to go. Damn good and safe tune. They haven't had any problems with any vehicle they've messed with. That being said, I have seen the chrome coming off the tail lights on the earlier Tauruses (2010-2011) but it's not a problem as the replacement lenses don't have that problem. Being as the vehicle's oxygen sensors are wideband, they will compensate for aftermarket exhaust and intake systems by themselves pretty much. No retune needed. I'd sure love to see some people make an updated or upgraded fuel pump to help cure the fuel problem. These engines seem like they would be insane if they were allowed to be played with more. I'm surprised Ford hasn't allowed for it.

And that color is Platinum White Tri-Coat.

Conquest351 wrote: Livernois Motorsports tune is the way to go. Damn good and safe tune. They haven't had any problems with any vehicle they've messed with. That being said, I have seen the chrome coming off the tail lights on the earlier Tauruses (2010-2011) but it's not a problem as the replacement lenses don't have that problem. Being as the vehicle's oxygen sensors are wideband, they will compensate for aftermarket exhaust and intake systems by themselves pretty much. No retune needed. I'd sure love to see some people make an updated or upgraded fuel pump to help cure the fuel problem. These engines seem like they would be insane if they were allowed to be played with more. I'm surprised Ford hasn't allowed for it. And that color is Platinum White Tri-Coat.

Heard good things about Livernois but didn't know if they were a good hacker/tuner or bad hacker/tuner.

I think the theory as to why the ecoboost V6 in the SHO isn't tuned to the torque limit of the F150 (420ft lbs) is because the trans can't handle it. Anyone know anything about this?

ARGH! The SHO is no longer available! I bet one of you snaked it!

fanfoy wrote:

alfadriver wrote: The only other concern was related to very cold temps, so unless you see a lot of time below 0F and don't warm it up, it's not a big deal.

alfadriver, care to elaborate on that. Since an ecoboost Flex is probably in my future for a family vehicle, and I live where there is a lot of very cold temperature, I am interested.

DI engines tend to put more fuel in the oil, so it's important to warm the engine all the way up. I have not heard of real problems, but I do know it's a worry.

In reply to Xceler8x:

Two reasons they are different- trans and the engine is not really the same.

Similar, but the RWD set up helps, it has a better fuel pump (not interchangeable), and a few other things allow the truck engine to run higher torque. they are not the same engines.

as for the hack- they are tampering, so I don't know much about that one. I hear more about the real hacks that blow up engines.

Do they use the hitachi hpfp, or one of the others?

EDIT: oops sperlling...

Xceler8x wrote: ARGH! The SHO is no longer available! I bet one of you snaked it!

Not I, I won't buy one until they're sub $2k........you know, like most of us there on shoforum.

I know its not really the same car, but I drove an ecoboost fusion, and for some reason when you press and release the gas pedal (like you want to move the car forward 20 feet and stop again), it seems to keep accelerating until you hit the brakes even with your foot off the gas pedal. I imagine its something to do with emissions programming, but it made me hate the car after only 30 seconds of driving it.

In reply to Ojala:

Others, and the truck has a different one from the cars.

Is it the flat tappet or the roller driven pump? I am guessing that the mazda DISI trick of swapping the guts for VAG internals wont work on the Ford?

Not too much real information out there on the Ecoboost. This is quite unlike the VAG DI motors where the difficulty is finding good information amidst all the drivel.

Think of all the parts that will be available once the police interceptors reach the junkyards.

In reply to Ojala:

Flat tappet, but that's not all that relevant- there's no real trick to swap the pumps. You can't. The SHO/Flex/MKT/MKS all expect to see a specific pump which isn't exchangeable with the pump from a different supplier in the truck.

Realistically, what info do you want? The pump on the SHO was the biggest one could get at the time, and there isn't one that can replace it. You may have heard of the Roush-Yates progam to run this engine in ALMS- it's running two pumps to do it (and if you've been hanging out near our campus, literally hearing it- it's been screaming for a few weeks over in the dyno facility). And without a lot, a lot, a lot of changes, that can't be put into a car.

DI is a fast changing field right now, and it will take at least one generation before it settles down to swapping from OEM to OEM.

Mmmmmmmmm

I was curious about the flat tappet vs roller follower just because of the maintenance issue they had become with the VAG engines.

Sooo...are the head bolt patterns from the various versions of the 3.5 (especially the ecoboost) the same?