My First SHO, with problems..

[tgsho]

Hi all, I finally got my first SHO on Sunday night. I purchased it for 500.00 and originally intended of scooping it up just for a parts car, because of the great (in my opinion) condition it is.

The car had not been driven for two months, but I did check the coolant and oil.. seemed fine. It did start with a jump and ideled fine. I let the car run for about ten minutes, and then started driving it home. This amazed me because I originally wanted to purchase this car for parts.

After about 15miles the coolant light started flashing every so often so I filled up the overflow with water and continued home another 10 miles with the coolant light on solid now. The car was also blowing grey and blue smoke everytime I gave it any gas. The steering squeks prettyloud when turning any direction and seems the front shocks/sorings are gone. How can I tell what that is?

I tried pulling codes for my first time, and got an 11 for the KOEO, but then got a 77 for the KOER and I was not aware of the "goose test" when I tried this part. Iam going to have togo backtothe car, and do the KOER properlly this tiime. It smells, rich and blows smoke... Any suggestions so far? Engine sounds fine ideling with no ticks or knocks, but the steering is loud when at stand still too.


-Thanks

 

[dantheman68]

hmmm i think it could be O2s... cuz i think sometimes those can go bad and not throw a code... id wait awhile and see if the smoke goes away just from now being driven... how many are miles on it?

 

[JoesSHO]

When you give it gas, does the temp gauge rise?

 

[hawkeye18]

Power steering pump: shot. Have fun replacing it if you decide to.

Head gasket: shot. Somebody let the engine overheat. That smoke is from where the coolant that keeps going missing is leaking prodigiously (word of the day!) into your cylinders.

Code 11: Everything A-ok! .

Code 77: System failed to recognize brief WOT during Dynamic Response Test (user error). You covered this already.

If the front shocks feel gone, then they probably ARE gone. Replacement options include: shocks/struts from another SHO (iffy choice), Konis/Eibachs (expensive choice), Tokicos/Eibachs (rare choice, tokicos are discontinued), KYB anything (bad choice, way too soft). Monroe is worse than KYB.

But on the good side, it's still not a bad deal for $500. How's the interior?

 

[warmonger]

blue=oil
black=unburnt gas
white=coolant

 

[tgsho]

204,000km / 127,000 miles and it has alot of power loss. I have to push the gas pedal at least 1/4 of the way in order to get any type of reaction, it almost sounds like its missing or a cylinder or two are dead.
Please keep in mind this is my first sho and I am no mechanic, but I know my way around this car pretty good considering I have never owned one or did as much as pop the hood.

 

[tgsho]

the interior is black leather/cloth with sunroof. Very good shape for age of car, and all power works. No rust. This car feels like it wants to go.

 

[tgsho]

When you give it gas, does the temp gauge rise?

I dont even think the temp gauge works at all, what could that be? It could also be that I didnt give the car a chance to heat up, but I did notice the upper rad hose a little warm after I turned the car off today.

Thanks for your help

 

[tgsho]

hawkeye18-

Where is the power steering pump? Is it roughly the same labor to pull the engine compared to head gasket replacement? And it seems for quality issues the koni/eibach is the best way to go. Is the shobros kit worth it?

Thanks for your help.

 

[qiksho]

Although it is not "impossible" to blow a head gasket on these engines it is "very" rare. Like was stated before what is the color of the smoke?

If the car isn't running on all cylinders you could have a misfire caused by bad plugs, bad wires, or significant amounts of oil in the plug wells. The car running in this condition will more than likely smoke as there is alot of raw fuel exiting that is not being burned.

Also if the temperature gauge never gets warm you could have a stuck thermostat or a bad temp sensor. If this is the case the car will stay in rich mode and never warm up - burning more fuel.

 

[tgsho]

the smoke is grey with lots of blue mixed, and I mean a cloud when I rev it. I dont want to do anything crazy toit incase something is seriously wrong.

 

[93rev2sev]

Check for a thermostat. If the car was run for an extended period of time with no thermostat, it might never heat up. It might also blow smoke and run like you describe...I think.

 

[dantheman68]

Also if the temperature gauge never gets warm you could have a stuck thermostat or a bad temp sensor. If this is the case the car will stay in rich mode and never warm up - burning more fuel.

mine barely makes it past 1/4 of teh way into the normal range... and thats after a t-stat change... so the accuracy of the gauges i think is a poor way to tell... either way a t-stat and new gauge sender can be had for less than $20 so its a good start

 

[firstgen89sho]

possible oil and water down in the spark plug holes will cause that as well, I have run across it on a friends car that washed the engine with oil in it, and it ran rough, missed and bluish black smoke out the pipes

 

[hawkeye18]

yeah, that's definitely a head gasket. If you look at the accessory drive, the one in the back at the top with the big pulley is the power steering pump. Stick your hand back there. Oh wait, you can't? Now you know why I say have fun . Changing the head gasket isn't as hard as pulling the engine. The intake can be a beeotch to take off the first time - you will forget a cooling or vacuum line, guaranteed - but the valve covers are fairly easy as long as you don't strip the allen heads. I've never taken a head off before but I can't imagine it would be that hard.

Go here http://www.fordcds.com to access the factory manuals for every year Ford. Use it often!

Shobros is a very reputable dealer and has fast become the primary supplier of SHO stuff in recent months. There are other sellers, but I can't for the life of me remember their names or URLs.

 

[Bruce M]

Blown HG & smoke

HI

I have had one motor (1993 SHO 3.2L) with a "blown" head gasket. It was caused by the motor over heating. The smoke was white and increased as she warmed up, that should be expected. It still ran real smooth and did not show any water or oil mixing. The blue smoke that you see could be oil. Maybe the rings were fried from the overheat. I would run it a while and check out the plug ports for water and or oil as someone said in an earlier thread. It may need to be run for a while to shake thing out if it’s been sitting for a while. Bogus gas, vacuum hoses working loose can mimick a host of problems. I have bought SHOs that have been sitting for month onlt to start them up, and have them run like crap and then watch them smooth out after some new gas, a hose here or there and time.

The car I had with a blown head gasket, I bough like that. I knew going in. At the time, 4 years ago 3.2L head gaskets were not yet after market and few existed and those were help by a few people, Ford had none so I swapped out the motor and kept the old one for parts or rebuild later. I have done both heads and replacing a motor. In my opinion swapping the motor is almost as easy. In your case unless you know that the lower end is OK and the heads are not warped from the heat be careful not sink a ton of money into replacing the head gaskets only to find out that they have to be machined down and that the lower ends in junk, i.e. cap bearings, main bearings, piston & rings.

If you paid $500.00 for a car with a good body and interior then you can easily get your money back just parting it out.

Good Luck

 

[tgsho]

thanks for all the help so far guys! I chacked the plug wells and they were dry with no oil or water. What is the best way to check for vaccuum leaks? A vac leak tester? After reading alot about these cars, I kinda of figured that engine swap would be nearly as easy as a head fix/replacement. So some of you are saying to drive the smoke out and check for leaks... and some of you are saying its the head gasket = fix that. Today I will go back to the car and get some proper KOER codes.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Eric VerValin]

Well if his temp sensor isnt working right, wouldnt that make the engine run a little rich? I would start with the cheaper stuff, just because thats the kinda guy I am.. lol I'd at least swap out the thermostat, and make sure that little connector on the temp sensor is ok. Mine was pretty rusty, and actually pulled mine apart. Maybe when you do your tests, check and do that cylnder balance test.. might be able to see if the rings are funny that way. Keep us updated!

 

[SASHO91]

What I would do:
Start replacing things.... (in this order)

Plugs/Wires
Fuel Filter
ECT (the one for the EEC--on the right side of the t-stat)BTW, the one for the gauge is on the left.
then lastly (as you didnt get a code)
O2's

FWIW, thats what i would personlly do. And you only looking at a couple hundred in parts at most.

 

[Bruce M]

Vacuum leak

You will hear a whole host of ways to check for vacuum leaks on this thread. One of the most popular is to gingerly spray carburetor cleaner around where the intake mounts to the heads and watch for the fluid being drawn in. Also spray around the vacuum hoses and tubes. I don’t like that method because you can easily miss a small leak. Its messy and i have never had much luck with it. A vacuum leak that will cause the car to loose power, stall, and run erratic or not idle will be obvious in most cases. A sure fire way to detect a vacuum leak without any special tools and one that I just used to find a leak is as follows. Remove the air intake tube going to the throttle body. Then unplug the DIS pack over by the battery both ends. To be safe you can undo the Neg on the battery before you unplug the DIS if you want. Put the Neg back on when the DIS is unplugged. Carefully stuff a couple of clean rags into the throttle body such that you don’t damage the throttle plate. Take a latex or thin rubber glove and cover over the throttle port. Crank the motor over for a second. You will see the rubber glove get drawn into the rags. It should hold for a while. Get out and listen for leaks. Check around the EGR and the secondary runner tubes, check around all the vacuum lines. If the glove does not get drawn in you have a major leak.