Engine and tranny rebuild or new

[95ShoOff]

My 3.2 is at about 140k and i think its time to get rebuilt or replaced. im not a car expert , just knoe few things. but its just really starting to sound bad. it sounds bad, theres an oil leak somewhere from the engine, another from the rear rain seal, tranny isnt really shifting right.

Are there any places that sell 3.2s rebuilt already? or any place that specialize in them. Also going to rebuild or replace tranny. Any help guys?

 

[luigisho]

How much you willing to sink into this? Is it a daily driver? You're talking down time, labor, parts... You got engine codes to help pinpoint running issues?

 

[sholxgt]

The noises are probably from accessories or the transmission. I've only owned manual SHO's, but both were like new at over 230,000 miles. I'd recommend finding a good mechanic before touching the motor. It's likely fine. Check the alternator, tensioner, power steering, and definitely the transmission. One of them is likely the source of your noise.

 

[Bryan]

You won't find rebuilt engines for this car anywhere. Certain parts are not even available anymore (main bearings I hear being one of them). Find a good mechanic that knows the motor and take it to them. 140k is nothing unless the car was beat to shit.

 

[SHOdded]

Maintenance history? Got to fix those leaks regardless. Auto trans needs more TLC than the manual, certainly. The last 3.2 rolled off the line what 22+ years ago? You can ask Doug at FPS in GA what your options are, both for engine and trans.

 

[rubydist]

It is highly unlikely that the motor needs rebuilt at 140k. I suggest you start using Motorcraft Semi-synthetic 5W30 oil - that will loosen up any sticky rings you have and clean up excess varnish inside the motor. As mentioned above, do the 60k service including vc gaskets, cam seals, crank seal, plugs, wires, crank sensor, etc. and have a look at all the bearings in the accessory drive system to see if any of them is the source of your funny noises. Doing that will be literally less than 10% of trying to rebuild the engine and will have most of the benefit.

 

[95ShoOff]

Thank you all for your replies.

Im willing to put as much as it takes. i have a lot of cars. 87 iroc, 73 gremlix, 83 ranger sleeper , and the sho.

i want to get it looking and running like new . Got it planned to get painted soon a d fix that damn rear wheel well rust fixed.

I will def start usinv the motorcraft oil. most of the sensor are new. I will get the seals and gaskets done soon. plugs are fairly new.

 

[luigisho]

Well sounds like you take care of older cars. You might want to take care of the mechanical stuff first and then have people crawl all over the fenders and such. Leaky seals are par for the course on these cars so that is just routine maintenance unfortunately. You can get s stethoscope or long handles whatever to your ear to help find odd noises. Keep in mind that while you are using the thinner synth oil you may get a little more past the leaky seals. So you may have a little more on the parking spot

There are different ways to attack running errors but it has to get narrowed down to get good recommendations on fixing it

 

[pjtoledo]

since you are willing to sink a bunch of money into this SHO may I'm suggest pulling off a few panels and doing a thorough rust inspection. once rust gets a start in the seams of a unibody car it's only a matter of time.
pull the fender liners and check the frame area near the bottom of the cowl. crawl under and check where the subframe mounts to the body, the subframe rails, and rockers. under the air box. pull up the carpet to inspect where the A pillar meets the floor and cowl. lower section of the radiator support, and where the front bumper shocks mount.
the rust over the rear tire allows water to access where the rear of the rocker, fender, C pillar, and floor are joined.

you didn't give your location so I'm going for the worst case scenario. I'm in the Ohio/Michigan area and rust is nasty here.

 

[Bryan]

I live in PA and it's not so bad. Rust is only an issue when the car isn't properly taken care of. Heck the car I got was a car from New Jersey! Right by the ocean and all that salt air and it barely got a lick of rust on it. Wel aside from a few spots and even then it's only surface stuff nothing cancerous. If the car was well cared for then it should be in decent shape. Driven to shit ? Well that's a different story. The only real benefit of a west coast car is you can be more lax with care because the weather isn't so harsh and detrimental to a vehicle.

 

[95ShoOff]

yea im near buffalo ny, dont drive it in winter time. yea when i get the paint done im gonna have them double check everything. there are just couple spots, near radiatior support , tge wheel wells are the worst. i did them myself about a year ago to try to stop it from getting worse but was a quick 1hr job that turned out pretty decent at the time. but is starting to show up again. just some minimal surface rust on the frame that a will grind off and do a nice coat of that bed lining.

 

[luigisho]

theres a spot right below the fuel door that tends to rust out too

 

[95ShoOff]

theres a spot right below the fuel door that tends to rust out too

all clear there

 

[shomanbob]

Where are you near Buffalo? I'm near Rochester.

 

[95ShoOff]

cheektowaga off harlem rd, kinda funny i work in rochester

 

[95ShoOff]

goin to my cousins shop in saturday to get everything looked over. i noticed several vac leaks after treating entire car with seafoam

 

[mavericksav]

You won't find rebuilt engines for this car anywhere. Certain parts are not even available anymore (main bearings I hear being one of them). Find a good mechanic that knows the motor and take it to them. 140k is nothing unless the car was beat to shit.

main bearings are obsolete but it's not a problem - Toyota make them It can be useful

 

[luigisho]

With the mileage you have, unless something really went wrong mechanically, the engine should be in pretty good shape minus regular leaks and such. Transmission should last longer but failures are not unheard of at that mileage. I would get good maintenance and diagnostic at home or a pro to keep the bills from getting too crazy on it.

Jasper has a network of private sellers/installers that have access to their inventory. If it ever gets bad enough, you can find a local affiliate shop and see if there are any in the system inventory. Never used them but they have been around for a long time. Do transmissions also. With warranty. I'm sure they charge a premium and I have no experience with the quality of the replacement parts they use.

This place popped on google http://www.carmonkeys.com/1995-FORD...HSSkN2KOTV-9VGVhGErzp-cDhcU11zCgaAib_EALw_wcB

 

[Bryan]

main bearings are obsolete but it's not a problem - Toyota make them It can be useful

yeah but are they an exact fit or do you have to modify them?

 

[mavericksav]

yeah but are they an exact fit or do you have to modify them?

https://shoforum.com/index.php?threads/crank-shaft-main-bearing-problem-resolved.128713/
look here/ is not direct fit but it works cause of exact radius, "wall" thickness.