97 SHO Help

[ats6796]

Hello, I am new to this forum and hope someone might lead me in the right direction. I just purchased a 97 SHO over the weekend for very little money. I ended knowing the person that sold it to me and was given the low down on the car. The car will start and idles rough, sounds like it is way out of time. The car has no power, but has enough to move the car it you press way down on the gas pedal. The owner told me AutoZone ran checks on the computer, but found no trouble codes (Not really sure what AutoZone is using to check this). Owner was told the computer needs replacement sense no codes were returned. Just trying to determine the process of elimination and wonder if anyone else has experienced something like this. Thanks, David

 

[jmpSHO]

Sounds like you bought a SHO with a cam failure.

 

[1995mtxsho]

Replace the bent valves and while the heads/cams are out have the cams welded.

Step 1: remove engine.

 

[bacernate]

Sorry but you bought a lawn ornament. Cams have spun.

 

[SHO U UP]

damn, that really sux about the car! See if you can find a local salvage yard or look on here in the parts for sale ads to get you back on the road. Like everyone has stated, sounds like the inevitable has happended. If you are mechanically inclined, you can pull off the front valve cover and inspect the front cams. There will be a spot around the sprocket(s) where metal has been shaved/scarred. They are easier than the rear to inspect if you are a first timer owning an V-8 SHO. Also check out www.v8sho.com for more info on the cam failures.

 

[ats6796]

Thanks to all on the information! Cams must be a real issue on these cars, huh?

 

[mustangracer91]

yup, once the cams are welded, the "issue" is resolved. Don't feel too bad, I bought a perfect running '97 that had been driven and over maintained by a little old lady, and I had a cam spin while it was idling in my driveway a week after I bought it.

 

[Primate]

I bought mine in NC and I live in FL. The whole drive down I was sweating bullets hoping the cams didn't go out on me. Got it to Ft. Pierce and had em welded. After all the horror stories I felt very lucky. Haven't had a major issue with it since.

 

[nomov8sho]

Hey guys- maybe he lucked out and it just has a couple of bad coils, a bad throttle position sensor, somebody swapped the O2 sensor connections, or something like that. I have had all of the above (especially the coils) make my '96 or my wife's '97 run like **** for at least a few days or longer without ever throwing a code.

When my transmission place accidentally swapped the connectors for the upstream and downstream O2 sensors it ran exactly like the OP described, and I started getting paranoid about a cam failure even though the car was welded.

David- you might want to have somebody run a compression check on your engine to see if you have actually spun a cam gear before you write the car off. Front bank is easy to check- If that reads bad you have your answer.

If the front bank looks OK, you might want to find somebody near you who does the cam weld procedure. You need to take off the intake to check the compression on the rear bank. If you go to that much trouble you might as well be ready to weld the cams IF the back bank also shows good compression. About the only thing left to remove at that point is the valve cover.

Of course, even if the cams are all good, you will still need to fix whatever other problem is causing the car to run so badly.

-Josh

 

[ats6796]

I didn't even think about checking the compression first. I will do that tomorrow afternoon and see what happens. Question, if I have a spun cam would I hear some sort of noise or anything obvious to look for before breaking into the motor? If only one of the cams has spun would it still be drivable? Thanks

 

[SHOZ123]

Turn it over and look at the water pump. If it moves then the problem might be in the bank one head.

 

[ats6796]

Well I decided today that I would remove the valve covers and see what was in store for me. I was happily surprised to find the cams to all be ok from what I can tell, however the cams have not been welded. I ended up finding what I believe to be the issue. Excuse for not knowing the internals of the SHO engine, but I found what looks to be the top part of a lifter (Shiny metal piece the cam lobe rides on). It was bent and sitting in the valley of the head. Nothing outside of this looks to be damaged, any thoughts as to what else might have been damaged that I cannot see, maybe valve?

 

[luigisho]

Have you looked at the pics of failed and failing cams floating around? Sometimes it's not that noticeable if you haven't seen what you're looking for. There have been some valve carbon problems reported but not many.




http://www.shoclub.com/V8chronicles/v8campics.html

 

[ats6796]

Where in the heck can you get parts for these cars, anyone know?

 

[ats6796]

Thanks for the link, this gives me something to compare with. I will probably remove the head and see what is likely a bent valve. It those examples of in the link, does the piston get crapped out as well? I mean most articles state once cam and sprocket go so does the motor. But, in my case it will start and run. Could I change out the shim, bent valve, weld cams and be good to go?

 

[luigisho]

There's no way to know without removing the heads and looking at the cylinder and piston. Sometimes it needs a new motor, many times a head replacement on the damaged side. Maybe it's something else. Can't tell without looking. Take some good clear pics if you're not sure.

 

[ats6796]

I have some pictures to post, but having issues getting them uploaded. I have set them to the required size, any tricks to uploading them here? Keep getting an error stating over on size when they're actually ok.

 

[luigisho]

Try sending a PM to one of the moderators. I'm not good with that tech pic posting thing. The GenIII section gets less traffic than alot of other sections.

 

[Albrainya]

the parts are not available for the v8s anymore. ford discontinued them. it took me 3 months to find head gaskets and bolts for mine, paid a heft price for them too... good luck

 

[SHOZ123]

I have some pictures to post, but having issues getting them uploaded. I have set them to the required size, any tricks to uploading them here? Keep getting an error stating over on size when they're actually ok.

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You need to post the images offsite and link into the tread with the Image Code

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