The Ford Vulcan is a 3.0 L V6 engine designed and built by the Ford Motor Company. It debuted in 1986 in the newly launched Ford Taurus. Ford went on to install the Vulcan V6 in a variety of car, van, and pickup truck models until the 2008 model year, after which production stopped.

The Vulcan V6 engine was developed as part of Ford's plan to produce a successor to their mid-size LTD and Marquis sedans and wagons. The project was led by vice president and head of product planning and research Lewis Veraldi. Originally called Sigma, the project was renamed DN5 and resulted in the 1986 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.

A straight-four engine was specified early on, possibly from a supplier outside of Ford, with no provision for a V8 and no expectation that a V6 would be needed. As work progressed, the future car's size and weight increased to the point where a V6 of 2.8 L was added to the powertrain options. Neither of Ford's existing V6 engines were appropriate for this use; their 3.8 L Essex V6 was too wide and produced excessive vibration, while their 2.8 L Cologne V6 was too large and heavy. Two years into the project, Thomas Howard was chosen to head up internal engine development.

Performance goals were set for both the car and its engine. The car was to be able to accelerate from 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in a maximum time of 11.5 seconds. The engine was to develop no less than 130 hp (97 kW), travel 7,500 mi (12,100 km) before requiring an oil change, go 100,000 mi (161,000 km) before requiring major maintenance, run for five minutes after a major cooling system failure, and offer a "limp home" mode. Market studies indicated that American buyers were more interested in having a reliable, low maintenance engine than in owning a sophisticated engine for its own sake.

The resulting engine was a clean-sheet, all metric design. The engine's 60° vee angle was chosen to help it fit into the Taurus' engine bay. Displacement grew from an original 2.8 L to 3.0 L. A variety of technologies were evaluated during development, including two different fuel injection systems, turbocharging, two sparkplugs per cylinder, variable displacement with cylinder deactivation, and Ford's experimental programmed combustion (PROCO) system.

Ford's parts and service division asked that the oil filter, sparkplugs, oil dipstick be up front and accessible, and that key underhood touchpoints be colored yellow for easy identification. The appearance of the engine was also important. The intake, for instance, was engineered with aesthetics in mind, though the design had the side effect of allowing it to flow more air.

The engine block was cast at Ford's Cleveland Casting Plant with tooling built by Sherwood Metal Products, while the intake came from Ford's Essex Aluminum Casting. Engine machining and assembly took place at Ford's Lima engine plant in Lima, Ohio.

In the spring of 1982 the first forty prototype engines blocks were cast, all of which cracked when they were assembled. In their efforts to produce a lightweight block, Ford's engineers had designed a very rigid structure whose walls had been made very thin, which caused the cracking.