Maybe my last hurrah with SHOs, no compression in #8

[lndshark]

Hi all love these stupid cars, but this may be the last straw. Had my 94 since 98, been in nor running condition porbably a third of the time due to many, many problems over the past few years. My 93 U have had for a year now, and that too has been constantly in the repair shop.

I convinced my wife to let me buy a gen 3, more reliable, more of a family car. Anyway, long story short found one bought it. Had to have the cams done of course.

Took the car to southern idaho to have the cams welded, right away their was a problem. Car was sujpposed to be done in the morning, that night finally talk to the guy and he says that there is now a misfire in cylinder 8 that he is trying to troubleshoot. We finally take the car and drive home. Runs like crap for fifteen miles then smooths out and everything is ok.

Fastforward a month and a half. I just got my flowmasters on and was leaving my gas station, there was a couple of friends in the lot, so i really got on it. stoped down the road and the car was running like crap. shaking, idle all over the place etc. drove five miles shut it off for two hours, then drove ten minutes home. By ths time i got home everything was fine.

a week and a half ago got on it again around a corner, went into napa to pick up a part, came out car was doing same thing. Went to napa to get a coil, 140 bucks, i know orileys has them cheaper but i had a car show we were supposed to attend the next day. put the new coil on 8 and no change.

today, take it to ford for diagnostics, get a call from the service manager, their test show no compression in cylinder 8. I crapping my pants here. whats does this mean, i know it means its no sealing properly, but what does it mean in terms of whats wrong. I would appreciate both best and worts case scenarios, and any information that I can tell the sevice guy, seems pretty cool. I explained that I had the cams welded and he didnt chastise me or anything. I was delicate in explaining it because I was expecting to get crap.

I would appreciate any info.

If this is expensive this will be my last sho. There is a, god forgive me, buick centruy I can pick up now, 98 with only 55K for like 4500.

I dont know what to do, im very disheartened right now. I love these car but this i rediculous.

take care all

 

[SHO#7]

Are you positive that he did an actual compression test. Or did they do a cylinder balance test with the GenStar Computer. If he did a compression test, and there is no compression in only one cylinder... Well, it is going to be a bad day.

When it would start to miss like that, were there any other symptoms. If a sprocket slipped, you would have no compression on 2-4-6-or 8. So I do not think that is where your problem is. Maybe you have a cracked piston. Does the car smoke or use oil?

If there is no compression for sure... Have them put a few drops of 30weight oil in the cylinder through the spark plug hole and pressure test again. That will help to identify if the compression loss is in the valve or piston side. If you get some compression after a little oil to stop the blow-by of the clyinder then you know that it is piston related. If not, most likely it is valve related.

Good luck

Mike

 

[SHOZ123]

You might have spit out a shim on one valve. If this is the case you probably need a shim and bucket. But not terribly expensive to repair.

 

[Mac98SHO]

What he said and check the wires to the # 8 coil. (could be a short) I have 164k and had to replace 4 of those and have four left.... moved them from rear to the front... for convenience.

Autozone.. has the coils for $75 dollars... also.

Goodluck..

 

[lndshark]

I hoping its something small. What could cause it to happend intermitentely like it has been. It actually cleared up once.

Something else, when the guy was welding my cams he called me after he got the engine tore down and said that it was the most disgusting engine he had ever seen. Apparently the as^hole that I bought the car from may have changed the oil once he said. I have pictures of the inside of the engine. I know Kirk states on his website that if he gets your car apart and its in bad shape like that, he wont even do the cam weld, for fear of dislodging some gunk. But we had driven like nine hours, so the guy did it anyway. Related?

I just have the best luck with these cars. i may have slacked on the maintence on my 94 causing some of the problems, but i have been extremely **** about this car. I even been changing the oil every 500 miles trying to clean out the engine. I love this car, this is serisously the car i want to drive for the next ten years.

sorry for rambling, it just makes me mad that when i do everything as i should, do all the preemptive stuff, i still have trouble.

oh well take care all

 

[lndshark]

Just talked to ford. Not good. Supposedly they started my car today ran better in the morning, then started acting up again. he said they think its something like a compression cup sticking. He said that in a case like this it probably scored the head, and I will need a new or rebuilt head.

SH*$%*(

Im here in the northwest with no experts so to speak even close.

One thing i tought was crazy was he said the labor for a head replacement was like 30 hours. Doesnt Kirk do a cam weld in like 4 hours. Once the valve covers are off, how much more work is it to pull the head off?

Hey, Mr Doucette, ever wanted to take a vacation to north Idaho. Ill buy you a plane ticket.

well, what are my options for a used head?

im going to go hang myself

 

[SHO#7]

Just talked to ford. Not good. Supposedly they started my car today ran better in the morning, then started acting up again. he said they think its something like a compression cup sticking. He said that in a case like this it probably scored the head, and I will need a new or rebuilt head.

SH*$%*(

Im here in the northwest with no experts so to speak even close.

One thing i tought was crazy was he said the labor for a head replacement was like 30 hours. Doesnt Kirk do a cam weld in like 4 hours. Once the valve covers are off, how much more work is it to pull the head off?

Hey, Mr Doucette, ever wanted to take a vacation to north Idaho. Ill buy you a plane ticket.

well, what are my options for a used head?

im going to go hang myself

I have never heard of the term compression cup. I have no idea what that is. Anyone want to tell me how I am just a dumb transmission guy.

As for the removal of the head... It is more than just a valve cover. You have the timing chain and stuff like that to think about, and I hear that it is a very difficult motor to time. But the 30hour number means to me that Ford is not sure what is needed, so they will throw a large *** number out there to make sure they can cover what they need to do.

30 hours at $75.00 per hour is $2250. Plus parts. IIRC a rebuilt head is around $500.

For that, have the car shipped to Kirk, let him fix it, and fly out and drive it home.

Mike

 

[DavidT]

no doubt! Heck, ship the car to Kirk, have him put in a different cam-welded motor, then have it shipped back. I'd guess your TOTAL cost might be $2500...???

 

[ArkanSHO]

Just talked to ford. Not good. Supposedly they started my car today ran better in the morning, then started acting up again. he said they think its something like a compression cup sticking. He said that in a case like this it probably scored the head,

I like that line. "Scored the head". Never heard that one or the "Compression cup" in 30 years working on engines. Possibly he meant Compression ring sticking, which happened to me after I burned mine with 12# of boost at 140mph. The sticking ring scored the cylinder wall as well.
In either case, getting the head off to look at it since I knew it was the front bank took me 5 hours with hand tools while the engine was still in the car. In hind site I should have pulled the engine in the first place since it only takes me 4 to get that accomplished and a lot less agrivation with it out of the car not to mention room. It cost me a new piston, ring set. I am fairly sure though that the dealer will want to replace all the bearings and bore the cylinder as opposed to just honing it out.
Good luck.

 

[lndshark]

Hey Carter, ever wanted to see idaho?

HE HE

Im going to pick the car up from ford, when they threw six grand at me, that was it.

So there a possibility that when they pull the head, whoever does it, they might find the piston is shot also. Gosh.

So where sould i go from here. sould i buy a head, and hope its just the head when they pull the head. or should i concentrate on finding an entire engine and just going for a whole eingine swap.

anybody know a website that list book hours for different jobs?

thanks

 

[ncfirefighter]

to remove the head you must remove the engine from the car that is a given, second you could have a bent valve that is possible, you would lose compression. the back head on my car had intake valves bent on the head that did not have a cam failure, and they where bent on the head that head that did fail, if it is the intake valve you can get them at napa for 9.49, each, it is not to bad of a job but the gaskets are high any where form 500.00 and up i found different dealers have them for different prices go figure????

what i think might have happen was the valve may have got stuck and it may have contacted the piston and bent. i have seen that happen on other engines. you will not really know what the damage will be till you tear it apart. i know i bought my car with camfailure and i done all the work and saved on labor. but i got out on around 1200.00 in parts etc. you have a lot of good people here that will help you out. and a lot of info that is priceless in this fourm.

but your damage may not be as bad as you have been told. and the only way to find out how bad is to take her a part computers might be right most of the time and tools to get a idea but only looking at it with your eyes is about the only way to determain how much it is going to cost.

 

[ArkanSHO]

Hey Carter, ever wanted to see idaho?

HE HE

Im going to pick the car up from ford, when they threw six grand at me, that was it.
So there a possibility that when they pull the head, whoever does it, they might find the piston is shot also. Gosh.
So where sould i go from here. sould i buy a head, and hope its just the head when they pull the head. or should i concentrate on finding an entire engine and just going for a whole eingine swap.
anybody know a website that list book hours for different jobs?
thanks

Actually, used to fly into Spokane and drive down to Lewiston several years ago. I flew in direct a couple of times but the cazyass pilots in the Sweringen Metroliners always seemed to want to see if they could clear Rainier right out of SeaTac with the stall buzzers going off all the way.
I would have another mechanic pull a compression check as earlier suggested without and then with oil to determine if it is rings or valves. If it is valves, a head is a alot easier then a piston.

 

[lunchboxlocy]

i dropped a valve when i lost compression and that was a bad day.