I have a '05 Ford Taurus SE 3.o can I use engine computer from '06 Ford Taurus SEL 3.0??

Question

I bought this '05 almost 1 yr ago it [had 23k then] now has 32k miles on it but since day 1 I have been getting 16-18 MPG with little in town driving. Ford service techs say everything is fine, no problems found. The '06 SEL got 25-26 MPG but got totaled last week so I have engine parts available that I can swap. Asked ford parts guys at local dealer but they wouldn't give me an answer either way.

I bought this '05 almost 1 yr ago it [had 23k then] now has 32k miles on it but since day 1 I have been getting 16-18 MPG with little in town driving. Ford service techs say everything is fine, no problems found. The '06 SEL got 25-26 MPG but got totaled last week so I have engine parts available that I can swap. Asked ford parts guys at local dealer but they wouldn't give me an answer either way.

"Has this '05 been sitting idle for a long time before it was driven regularly?"

NO..this is my personal car and used several time a week minimum. (to and from work, store, etc..) the 06 was my mothers car.

both have the vulcan 3.0 2 valve 155hp motor

"Now you have an issue with fuel economy.. are you using the car's dash board to figure out the economy? Also how do you accelerate? and do you idle the car a lot? Are you using Flex fuel (E85)? "


for mpg I use the ondash and also figure it manually everytime I fuel up. I use the same station and same pump most of the time. These are non flexfuel cars. I drove the 06 alot of the time same as I drive my 05. I live on the edge of town and the roads to work (18 miles one way) are 55mph with 3 stop lights to deal with.
Both air and fuel filters were replaced last month with no difference in mpg noticed.
Ford service says mpg isn't guaranteed and nothing out of spec was found. They did replace power steering pump cause they had a code for it come up.

Answer 1

The PCM is Vin specific like Rakel said to a point, (You have to change the ignition switch with her keys to start the car for Pats)

But Don't do it as the information in the PCM is different between the years and will cause check engine lights sometimes as you may have say 10 different programs per year and getting them to match is almost inpossible without a Ford driveability tech reflashing the PCM to your information the car was built with. (also tauruses had two seperate engines that were 3.0s... actually 3 different kinds of engines depending upon fuel ...
3.0 2 valve, 3.0 2valve Flex Fuel, and 3.0 4 valve)

Now you have an issue with fuel economy.. are you using the car's dash board to figure out the economy? Also how do you accelerate? and do you idle the car a lot? Are you using Flex fuel (E85)?

I would have it checked out.. but first would be to change air and fuel filters and if that doesn't solve it, i'd pay the Ford shop to figure the real fuel economy with their scan tool on a test drive and if it's consuming fuel, They will go from there (usually a car that eats too much gas will turn on the check engine light)


If you want to try something else, try swapping her MAF with yours (that's the air filter housing to the engine) and seeing what happens..

Answer 2

No you can't!!!! Every vehicle's PCM is VIN specific (meaning the PCM from the '06 Taurus will NOT work on any other '06 Taurus OTHER THAN THE ONE IT CAME FROM). If the PCM would need to be replaced on this vehicle, the "information" from the old PCM would need to be "inhaled" with the Ford specific scan tool, and "exhaled" into the new PCM, in order to work with the PATS system to enable the vehicle to start and run. Has this '05 been sitting idle for a long time before it was driven regularly? Maybe it needs to be broken in. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Although they are the same engine, a difference in years can effect the difference due to emission controls and upgraded sensors.You may want to check with an Auto Store or even some Junkyards have what they call 'Croosover' Books which can give you the best answer to your question.

Answer 4

The engines are almost identical so I don't see there being a problem.