60K Service Question

[Miller1977]

I purchased my '92 SHO (MTX) about 6 months ago with 88K miles on it. I don't have any maintenance records and don't know if the 60K maintenance was done. The car seems to run well, but I don't want to cause any problems through neglect. What do you think, should I just bite the bullet and get it done, or should I wait for some sort of warning sign/sound?

Also, how complicated is the 60K maintenance for a general auto mechanic? Would you take it to a dealer? Does anyone know of a SHO mechanic near Chicago?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Irish Pride]

First question, do you have any other cars to drive for at least a week? If so, you can wait till the car lets you know. Once it lets you know, you will more than likely be stranded cause your Crank Sensor died and it won't start.

If it's a stock motor then nothing severe will happen by putting it off. You will eventually start getting oil in the plug wells and it will start to run bad or the water pump will start to drip on the CPS in which case you will be riding in the cab of a tow truck.

Do some research and start buying the parts. Once you have everything in order take a weekend to get it done. My first time it took me a couple days to do. Now I could have it done in an afternoon while taking beer breaks.

 

[SHOtimer]

Chad brings up good points.

Do you have another vehicle? Are you mechanically inclined?

There are a good group of SHO guys in the Chicago area - post a new thread - i'm sure you'll get the attention of those guys:
http://www.shoforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

I would avoid taking the car to the dealer. They didn't know what they were doing with them when they were brand new - it will be worse now that they are about 20 years old.

This is a good website that walks you through the 60k service:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110505224000/http://www.shophoenixproject.com/maint.htm

Doug

 

[jimtash]

Agree with the others. It seems overwhelming at first but it's actually not as bad as you think.

 

[zoomlater]

Welcome,
Any pictures of your car?

 

[EL SHO]

Don't be afraid of the car. Follow the good advice from people in these forum and you'll be alright

Just take your time. You can do small things at a time and before you know it you'll learn how to take everything off and put it back together in no time.

Welcome to SHO Forum!

 

[SHOCH]

Where you at ? We ( you, me, Neno, Tony etc) can look at it over a beer in my garage.

 

[Irish Pride]

Where you at ? We ( you, me, Neno, Tony etc) can look at it over a beer in my garage.

That's what I love about this place and these cars.

 

[SHOCH]

Gotta help each other, nobody else cares about these POS's lol

 

[Miller1977]

Thanks all. I've been following the site for a while, and have seen how helpful the advice is, so I knew I came to the right place.

Honestly, even though I'm not all that mechanically inclined, I'd love to take my time and try to tackle it myself. I live on the north side of Chicago (Ravenswood/Uptown neighborhood), so I take the train to work (and could borrow my wife's car if necessary). In short...I could go without a car for a while.

The problem is, I live in a walk-up and don't have a garage or anywhere else to do significant work on the car. That might change in the next year or so, but for now I don't think taking it apart in the street would be appreciated by my neighbors (or the cops).

SHOCH: Where are you located? I'd bring all the beer we could drink if it meant getting some friendly advice about what I've gotten myself into...

I'll try to find a couple minutes this weekend to post some pics--it's not perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for a 20+ year old car--(and maybe take SHOtimer's advice to repost on the SHOCAGO forum, too).

Thanks again,
Mark

 

[jayro]

Honestly, even though I'm not all that mechanically inclined, I'd love to take my time and try to tackle it myself. I live on the north side of Chicago (Ravenswood/Uptown neighborhood), so I take the train to work (and could borrow my wife's car if necessary). In short...I could go without a car for a while.

Thanks again,
Mark

If you do your research and are prepared prior to doing it, it is pretty easy. I was in the same boat as far as not being overly familiar with working on cars (past the basic maintenance type stuff). I just followed the "How to" steps and got it done in a weekend without too much rushing. Now its a number of years later and I have a fully rebuilt 3.2 under the hood. With the help of an experiences SHO person it could be done in a day easy. If you pay someone to do it, at least ask here first. Most are A LOT more knowledge about these cars than the average shop mechanic. I am about 2.5 hours from Chicago and have access to a trailer. If you just need it done shoot me a PM.

 

[JRA2000TL]

Lots of community support here and Tom (SHOCH) is not too far from you in Niles (Dempster St. and 94 area). Good group of people in the community including the SHOcago guys.

 

[rubydist]

for enough beer, you can likely borrow one of the other guys garage to do the work, and learn a lot along the way...

 

[Rockledge]

I would avoid taking the car to the dealer. They didn't know what they were doing with them when they were brand new - it will be worse now that they are about 20 years old.

Well said!

The only reason I would ever bring my '94 SHO to a dealer would be to perform some sort of Ford recall (with absolutely no charge to me).

 

[swami]

Well said!

The only reason I would ever bring my '94 SHO to a dealer would be to perform some sort of Ford recall (with absolutely no charge to me).

my ford dealer said they couldn't do the 60k because shims were no longer available. the service writer didn't know the valves were adjustable! they originally quoted me $1080 to replace the CPS, timing belt and adjust the valves but I had a 25% off coupon and I think they didn't want to honor it. bunch of ripoff jerks.

 

[EL SHO]

my ford dealer said they couldn't do the 60k because shims were no longer available. the service writer didn't know the valves were adjustable! they originally quoted me $1080 to replace the CPS, timing belt and adjust the valves but I had a 25% off coupon and I think they didn't want to honor it. bunch of ripoff jerks.

With $1080 you can even buy another SHO!

 

[SHOCH]

Neno is coming over tomorrow after 4:30 to BS a bit, I'll pm my c#, text if interested , near Notre Dame on Dempster. Beer is covered, Guiness, MGD, Hofbrau Octoberfest, Zywiec, Fat Tire, even a few cans of Old Style if you dare. 4:30 am alarm so I don't go late on school nights.

 

[boat]

Glad this place is full of people willing to help each other out.

Speaking of dealers, the north Ford dealer here in Fort Wayne, I had my 94 in there about 1.5 ago, trying to diagnose something with my p/s I couldn't figure out. I have SHOShop UDP's and I guess the tech freaked out b/c my SHO was too modified. I get a call from the service writer, "Um, we can't work on your car, Mr. Boatright, it is too modified. My service manager told me to call you and have you come and pick up your car." I suppose it would have really freaked them out when they saw the gen 3 subframe and suspension under there.

While the Ford dealer on the west side of Fort Wayne have two guys that use to be SHO owners, the service writer being one of them.

 

[DJSHO91]

There are a few Ford dealers that have maintained a good relationship with their local SHO community, but they are few and far between. In just about every case, they were the ones that embraced, and sold many of, the original SHO models. In the whole state of NC, I only know of 2 that I would recommend! If your local SHO community can't recommend one, then avoid them at all cost. Most have discarded or sold their tooling for the early models anyway. If you need help, your local community is your best source for knowledge and help.