I have a 2019 Ford Taurus with the 3.5L V6 TIVCT ENGINE. I have had a check engine light for over a year that the shop just continues to reset saying it must be the fuel system. I also have noticed a small “miss” when I sit in the car with it idling. Nothing big, just a small hiccup. Had the spark plugs and all of that changed thinking at 123,000 miles it was due and would fix it. NO! It lasted so long and the professionals just kept saying don’t worry about it. 2 months ago I was headed home from work and the check engine light began blinking. I was just a few miles away so I watched the temperature and drove home. It was losing power trying to pull a hill but straightened out when I got on flat ground. I found that this engine and the water pump design have been known to be faulty for years. The water pump’s internal location, driven by the timing chain means that leaks mix antifreeze with engine oil and can lead to catastrophic failure. There is also a class action on this because Ford did not disclose the defect. We took it to a Ford dealer who acted like they had no idea what was going on and told me I needed a new engine. We told them there was no water in the oil when I got it shut down and we had it towed to them, so if there was water now, they did it. I wanted them to check it because I knew there was no way the heads were cracked since the engine never got hot. I had the car towed to a family owned shop who was perplexed as well. However, my husband asked him to replace the timing chain and the water pump, run oil through it a few times and give us a call. This fixed it. The way the water pump is driven by the timing chain, when the water pump began to fail the timing jumped. He deduced that because only 3 of the 6 cylinders had reduced power. Seeing that this has a dual overhead cam, he figured the timing jumped on the back side causing those 3 cylinders to lose power. When the mechanic got everything off and reinstalled he showed us how the water pump was about to blow apart and it affected the oil pump as well.
I just want to warn others, if you have this engine and start having these symptoms, small miss in the engine that can’t be diagnosed, check engine light comes on constantly with no apparent fix or they say it is the fuel system, and your vehicle is close to 100,000 miles, you may want to take preventative measures and have the water pump and timing chain evaluated. It still cost me $5,000 to have fixed, but it was better than an $11,000 engine or just a totally new car.
