Did the interior of the car fill up with flood water?

I hate to say it but it's totalled.  Chances are you might be able to
get it to run.  But after a few months go by you will have all sorts of
electrical glitches.  Both the engine and chassis electrical are now
permanently ruined.  All the electrical connectors will now rust and
corrode in time.  It will cost more to fix all the problems than the
car is worth.  Your Taurus will now have a salvage title and is now a
statistic.

Do you HAVE to have a midsized car?  The all new Nissan Sentra 2.0
looks like a great new car from the ground up.  It's got a PZEV engine
which is the cleanest.  "Patial zero emmissions vehicle".  In other
words the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the air
you breathe in and around the Houston area.

When you buy your next car make sure it's PZEV or at least SULEV.
Notice how the Texas skyline is getting cleaner through the years?
It's because the cars are getting cleaner.  But not all new cars are
PZEV or SULEV.  GM for instance doesn't care to make clean cars.

The new Ford Focus has a PZEV option.  You might want to look into that
too.

East-

Did the interior of the car fill up with flood water?

I hate to say it but it's totalled.  Chances are you might be able to
get it to run.  But after a few months go by you will have all sorts of
electrical glitches.  Both the engine and chassis electrical are now
permanently ruined.  All the electrical connectors will now rust and
corrode in time.  It will cost more to fix all the problems than the
car is worth.  Your Taurus will now have a salvage title and is now a
statistic.

Do you HAVE to have a midsized car?  The all new Nissan Sentra 2.0
looks like a great new car from the ground up.  It's got a PZEV engine
which is the cleanest.  "Patial zero emmissions vehicle".  In other
words the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the air
you breathe in and around the Houston area.

When you buy your next car make sure it's PZEV or at least SULEV.
Notice how the Texas skyline is getting cleaner through the years?
It's because the cars are getting cleaner.  But not all new cars are
PZEV or SULEV.  GM for instance doesn't care to make clean cars.

The new Ford Focus has a PZEV option.  You might want to look into that
too.

East-

It sounds like it sucked water into the cylinder and now you have hydraulic
lock.  Did it squirt water when you pulled plugs and turned it over?
Sometimes the water pressure from this cracks a cylinder or head.

You should have insurance that will probably totally the car and you can
buy another one.

If your intent on getting it running, you probably have hydro lock from
water in the cylinders. Leave the plugs out and turn over the engine to
try to get the water out of the holes. If you have some sort
of small hose you can attach to a wet dry shop vac you can try to
stick it down the spark plug holes and vacuum it out.

Once you get it to turn over, Change the oil. change the plugs.
Change the filter. Take apart any electrical connectors that may have
got wet and dry them out and spray them with electrical contact cleaner
preservative. If your lucky, the water did not go over the top of the
engine and a lot of the big multi pin contacts did not get wet.
Remove any ground lugs on the chassis you can get to and clean an
retorque them down.

If the carpet got wet, get it shampooed and cleaned at a good detail
shop. If water got under the dash, your in for a lot of fun.

If you do have insurance, be careful in what you do. You might clean it
all up and get it running only to be denied coverage.

Bob

Sound like you may have bent a crank rod or so.  Do you carry comprehensive
insurance?  If so file a claim, WBMA.  Used Taurus' are cheap, go shopping

mike hunt

It's very likely that your Taurus is totaled in flood water. Never EVER
attempt to drive your vehicle in high flood waters more than 2" high. Don't
bother trying to fix your Taurus. The repair will cost more than your Taurus
is really worth. If you have comprehensive insurance, file a claim with them
and they may reimburse you for another one. Insurance companies usually
don't fully reimburse you, but just take the money from them and use it as a
down payment for your next vehicle.