Dissappointing Top Speed on my 98

[chrism3784]

My 98 welded, running good all tuned up could not get past 121 mph on straight flat road with no wind. I tried it in3rd, it started slowing to 119, but couldn't pull any faster. Back in OD is stayed at 121 not moving anyfaster floored. Is that all these cars can do stock?

 

[yamahaSHO]

Liar, a Taurus can't do 120mph. Do you still have a floor board?

 

[SuperHO]

erm, no...mine saw 135 easily with a broke IRCM leaving the secondarys stuck closed. something's amiss. could you feel it slowing, or were you just going by the speedo?

 

[St Louis SHO]

needs moar toon.

 

[three50one]

You drove mine and hit 80 in that little section. That was when mine was dead stock. I've pulled far passed 120 easy as well as others here. Stock should hit the limiter fairly easy. As said, something is wrong or your speedo is WAY off.

 

[HotRodKid]

well cosidering my (brick shaped) lebaron convertable v6 (135hp, 175tq) would do 125 before it hit the limiter and shut off, id say something is wrong w/ your v8 powered taurus

 

[ZooYoost]

You rocked a lebaron? I had a 94 gtc and only ever had it to like 120...

 

[HotRodKid]

my lebaron was and still is a local legend, lol. it was my drift car for backroads "cruises"

 

[three50one]

Getting back on topic:

What shape is the exhaust in? Possible plugged cat? How quick does it rev at idle?

 

[E1 v2]

AFAIK the 98 speedo drops dead @ ~ 120 mph.

Maybe your 98 speedo is a little bit different from the average ones and just sticks instead of going dead?

 

[stephen newberg]

Assuming it has the normal '98 problem, the speedometer will drop to zero after touching about 120. The car will keep going faster, and to me that seems obvious from the feel, but perhaps others find it more difficult to notice.

pax, smn

 

[chrism3784]

Nope, to clear that up, speedos fine. I'm going by my navigation where it stays at 121. Car doesn't pick up anymore. So thats not normal? What does a normal bone stock gen3 sho top at? Remember I'm not going up hill or down. This is flat straight Florida land.

 

[LJRuddy]

Nope, to clear that up, speedos fine. I'm going by my navigation where it stays at 121. Car doesn't pick up anymore. So thats not normal? What does a normal bone stock gen3 sho top at? Remember I'm not going up hill or down. This is flat straight Florida land.

A stock SHO would bounce off the speed limiter at 145ish fairly easily.


I took mine up to 110 yesterday and it was pulling like a freight train.

 

[stephen newberg]

A stock SHO would bounce off the speed limiter at 145ish fairly easily.

I took mine up to 110 yesterday and it was pulling like a freight train.

That is correct. And to my knowledge -all- '98 models suffer from the speedometer dying at about 120 mph. Additionally, though there has been some effort at correcting this, again to my knowledge no solution has been successfully found after actual testing.

pax, smn

 

[BamSHO]

Ok how are you guys getting the speedos to work of 110. My needle goes back to zero when it gets near 110. Soon as i back off a little it goes back, but never over.
y dads 98 did the same thing when he had it.


Brian Michael

 

[stephen newberg]

Brian, they are not getting them to. That is the point. About the max you can ever get to before the speedometer on a '98 drops out back to zero is 120, but that is the max. Most drop out prior to that. Dropping out at 110 is not unusual at all. Sorry if I was not clear about that in my prior post.

pax, smn

 

[LJRuddy]

I just now noticed that the OP owns a 98. I am guessing that his speedo is sticking somehow instead of dropping to zero.

But, I would also run to NAPA or Autozone and have them pull your diagnostic codes for you for free. See if you have any errors popping up.

What kind of fuel mileage you getting in that car?

 

[SuperHO]

if you reread his second post, you'll see he's verifying speed via GPS, which means there's more to this story.

 

[roland]

i had my 99 to 140+ a couple times, but I don't really take it above 80ish anymore, or the mark 8 above 90

 

[three50one]

If it's throwing no codes the first thing I'd look at is the 3rd cat. Unbolt that bad boy and see if it's broke/plugged up.

To riterate myself