"96 3.0 V6 need info

Hi, I am new here. My Brother-in-law is visiting from out of town and I am helping him with no manual. His car is a 1996 Mercury Sable with the duratec 3.0 liter V6.

We were changing the back plugs and after removing the plenam I noticed that half the intake holes below the plenam had butterfly baffles on a common shaft for each bank of cylinders. The back ones are the only ones attached to anything and they go to a box on the front of the engine connected by a cable that opens these butterflies.

The front ones are not attached to anything. There is a lever there that looks like something should be attached which will open and close them when moved by hand. He has had a few machanics into this thing trying to eliminate a miss and I think one of them may have left something off.

I have worked on older cars for many years and have not run into this before. Could someone please tell me what this is and if it needs to be hooked up.
Thanks,
Bob

Please disregard this post as my guests are going back home. There were 14 lookers and no one offered any help. Looking at the rest of the page, that looks like what this forum is all about. So, if I need any advice or help in the future, I sure wont come back here.

mrbassman,
I'm quickly learning that you are right about the help on this board.
I found this board yesterday and have given many answers to problems, not one person came back with a reply. I posted my problem, with 9 views and not one reply. This board isn't worth the time I've put into it!
As far as your b-i-l's car is concerned, the butterflys common shaft get connected to the Intake Manifold Runner Control Cable (IMRC).
His must be missing some part.
These open up at higher RPM to give a shorter air path and increased torque and power.
At low RPM they are closed, giving a longer path, which results in more torque and power for this RPM range.
If one set isn't working, that could explain the un even running.
I haven't had this section apart on my 99 Sable, so I don't know exactly what parts are missing, seeing that this is a fairly new car, his best bet would probably be the dealer, the factory manual, or maybe the dealer could pull it up on his microfisch and he could get the part that was missing and see how it is suppose to connect.

mrbassman,
I'm quickly learning that you are right about the help on this board.
I found this board yesterday and have given many answers to problems, not one person came back with a reply. I posted my problem, with 9 views and not one reply. This board isn't worth the time I've put into it!
As far as your b-i-l's car is concerned, the butterflys common shaft get connected to the Intake Manifold Runner Control Cable (IMRC).
His must be missing some part.
These open up at higher RPM to give a shorter air path and increased torque and power.
At low RPM they are closed, giving a longer path, which results in more torque and power for this RPM range.
If one set isn't working, that could explain the un even running.
I haven't had this section apart on my 99 Sable, so I don't know exactly what parts are missing, seeing that this is a fairly new car, his best bet would probably be the dealer, the factory manual, or maybe the dealer could pull it up on his microfisch and he could get the part that was missing and see how it is suppose to connect.

The butter flys on the intake are the secondary intake valves. When the engine reaches about 3400 RPM the box open the intake valves. Both the front and the rear butter flies are connected by rod.

Tom
HardCore Ford

This board is useless.
We thank you for the reply, but if you look at the dates, his question was 12 months ago!
About 6 months ago I took pictures of the linkage he was missing and emailed directly to him.
I guess that there just isn't much interest in the Sables/Taurus product lines.