Greg Irvin
New Member
I'm posting this in hopes that someone has encountered the same problem and could save me some diagnostics headaches.
I first noticed a problem about 6 months ago. While driving my SHO, the engine cut out momentarily. The check engine light came on and the car shook violently, as I tried to accelerate - almost stalling. Stepping on the clutch and revving the engine resulted in a slow rev that sounded as if the car was hitting a rev limiter (seemed like an ignition failure). Then the check engine light went off and the car ran perfectly again.
The car ran great for several weeks and then it happened again.
This "hiccup" has happened every couple of weeks or so up until recently. It goes away in a matter of seconds. I found that if I turned the engine off and on again, it usually corrected the problem. Sometimes I just revved the engine and that made the engine light turn off and the car run right again.
Two weeks ago, I went to the drag strip (Lapeer Dragway) and ran the SHO. To my displeasure, during the first pass, the problem returned - I had to let off the gas half-way down the track because it was running so roughly. I also noticed that the tachometer had stopped working. As I was driving down the return road, the check engine light turned off, tach started working again, and the idle smoothed out. I ran the car 4 more times that day with no problems (best ET of 14.97 & 95.8 MPH).
While at the track, I met a former SHO owner. When I described the problem my car was having, he said that he'd had the same symptoms with his old SHO and that it ended up being the ignition module. This seemed logical to me, as I've owned Fords in the past that I've had to replace the module on.
On the way home from the track, the problem occurred again, and again, and again.
I went and purchased a new ignition module ($115 @ Murrey's), installed it, and disconnected the computer to reset the computer.
This did not solve the problem and seems to have changed the symptoms slightly. The car now takes a long time to fire up (at least 5-10 cranks before it fires), the engine light stays on full time (even when the car seems to be running good), and the tachometer quit working all together!
I'm open to suggestions and look forward to your input. Thanks!
I first noticed a problem about 6 months ago. While driving my SHO, the engine cut out momentarily. The check engine light came on and the car shook violently, as I tried to accelerate - almost stalling. Stepping on the clutch and revving the engine resulted in a slow rev that sounded as if the car was hitting a rev limiter (seemed like an ignition failure). Then the check engine light went off and the car ran perfectly again.
The car ran great for several weeks and then it happened again.
This "hiccup" has happened every couple of weeks or so up until recently. It goes away in a matter of seconds. I found that if I turned the engine off and on again, it usually corrected the problem. Sometimes I just revved the engine and that made the engine light turn off and the car run right again.
Two weeks ago, I went to the drag strip (Lapeer Dragway) and ran the SHO. To my displeasure, during the first pass, the problem returned - I had to let off the gas half-way down the track because it was running so roughly. I also noticed that the tachometer had stopped working. As I was driving down the return road, the check engine light turned off, tach started working again, and the idle smoothed out. I ran the car 4 more times that day with no problems (best ET of 14.97 & 95.8 MPH).
While at the track, I met a former SHO owner. When I described the problem my car was having, he said that he'd had the same symptoms with his old SHO and that it ended up being the ignition module. This seemed logical to me, as I've owned Fords in the past that I've had to replace the module on.
On the way home from the track, the problem occurred again, and again, and again.
I went and purchased a new ignition module ($115 @ Murrey's), installed it, and disconnected the computer to reset the computer.
This did not solve the problem and seems to have changed the symptoms slightly. The car now takes a long time to fire up (at least 5-10 cranks before it fires), the engine light stays on full time (even when the car seems to be running good), and the tachometer quit working all together!
I'm open to suggestions and look forward to your input. Thanks!
