Yesterday while driving to school, my son's 2006 Taurus (3.0 with auto tranny) broke down. I have reason to believe we have a locked up engine.

According to my son, he noticed the engine RPM's were higher than normal while driving. For example, at around 60mph he noticed the tach was constantly at 3,000 or higher. He also noticed that the engine RPM never lowered even when he took his foot off the gas pedal. Then, he saw the "Low Oil Pressure" light appear on the dash and then within just a minute or so the car went dead.

We had the vehicle towed home, where I took a look at it. Whenever you turn the key, the starter clicks but the engine will not turn at all. The dipstick shows full oil. I have noticed that the transmission lately has had issues shifting such as delayed shifting and mis-shifts between gears 1-2. The engine revs up and acts like it will pop the clutch. When going around a left hand curve the engine will rev slightly.

Can anyone offer any insight to what might have happened to cause this, how it could have been prevented, and is it even worth fixing?

2006 Ford Taurus
3.0 V6 OHV
Auto Transmission
219,XXX miles

 

If you were to try to rotate the engine using the nut on the alternator pulley, can you move it?

The 3.0 is not a bad engine. Something must have gone wrong for it to lock up if,,,,,,, that is what happened..
It might pay to remove the flywheel cover under the engine and see if something went wrong there. Maybe an engine problem and maybe not.
A thorough check can help determine if it is worth putting $$$ into it.or not.

 

It will not move.

I am curious as to what may have caused the engine RPM to stay elevated and not drop back down even after taking his foot off the gas pedal. Also, why would the oil pressure have just dropped?

 

Can you remove the flywheel cover at the bottom of the engine and see if you can see anything there?