Gen 3 dying

[Austin H.]

I recently got my SHO and I haven't had a problem with it until now. When the car is first started it runs fine, then as soon as I get to a stop light or stop sign the car jumps. It doesn't move at all but I can watch the RPM's rise, fall, then go stable. It's been doing it more and more lately. The past 2 days the car died in the middle of the road and once going through a drive thru. All I did was turn it off, and start it up again and I got it home. Anybody have any ideas? I'm not sure if the cams are welded but I do have 96,000 miles on it.

 

[E1]

MAF may need cleaning

TPS may need replaced

Crank position sensor going out or possible partial damage to sensor wiring

A motor with a camfailure doesn't just restart and drive home happily

 

[stephen newberg]

Which means so far you are lucky, as all three of the problems that Eric pointed out are pretty easy fixes, but you do need to find out pretty quickly if the cam sprockets have been welded, because if they have not you are well into the miles range where that happy drive home becomes less and less likely.

pax, smn

 

[Austin H.]

Thanks for the insight. I was hoping it'd be an easy fix

 

[GEN 3 SHO FAN]

Another thing to check or replace is probably the Idle air control valve (IAC) on the top of the throttle body. Mine did the same thing, the prob dissapeared after replacement.

 

[98SF19]

Not sure if the symptoms match this possible cause, but what about fuel pump? I always think of Eric's write up on cutting the hole under the rear seat to gain easier access to it. Also, I'm amazed there are STILL Gen 3's out there that aren't welded. It'd be interesting to see just how many failures there are to date, but tracking them was abandoned on v8sho years ago. Didn't really matter anymore since it was intended to supplement the law suit, which we all know ended up screwing the Gen 3 owners. As I remember, the verdict gave us a $500 discount on the purchase of a new Ford, yet the cost of welding cams went well into the thousands for many who'd already had it done. I wonder how many took Ford up on that . . .

 

[stephen newberg]

I did not know that anything had come out of the law suit at all. The welding was not all that expensive for most people, from what I have heard. $800 was a common number when it was being done a lot back some time ago. But of course, if you had one of the cars, you had to know that it needed doing, which never got wide dissemination other than from the internet sites that cater the SHOs, hence many people just never found out so their vehicles never got welded.

pax, smn

 

[98SF19]

I think $800 or thereabouts was common; I got mine done for $700 which included new plugs and rear wiring harness. I was referring to what the stealers were charging.

 

[stephen newberg]

Actually, I had mine done at the local Ford dealership (Mosher Motors, in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia). Dealerships vary a lot.

pax, smn