Need help from the experts - SHO problem

[Sayow]

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for any assistance you might be able to give me.

I have a 1993 ATX SHO with 72k miles on it. Purchased it about 4 months ago and has been running very well (until now .

I noticed on my way into the office today that the car started "missing" almost like a plug problem. I was traveling at about 65 and babied it into work, but just to check I did get into it and see how it reacted, it would not accelerate and the chugged quite a bit. I had to drive it on to work which was a good 25 miles. Upon arriving at work, I checked the idle and it was rough, didnt stall but was very rough. The idle seemed to clear a bit after about 1600 rpm but again it was rough at 2200+ while on the highway (although I could maintain speed). I also noticed at this time the smell of burning oil. When I got out i immediately saw smoke coming out of the wheel wells and back of the hood, upon popping the hood, it was obvious the smoke was coming from the rear of the engine. Another strange thing was that even after a 25+ mile drive, the engine was not hot at all, and the temperature gauge was very cool. Any ideas what this might be?

For the record, I did just take into a local valvoline for an oil change (i know i know . I have not checked the oil yet, but plan to momentarily.

Any help is greatly appreciated...

 

[Mike Kopstain]

Hi there. Well this is odd if it all came on at once.

Did it all happen at once or over a period of time? I would check the obvious first - the oil level. I mainly would suspect that the rear main seal is leaking, but I don't know why it would have popped up so quick. As for the car not warming up, either the thermostat is stuck open or you have air in the system.

The stuttering could be the result of oil in the plugs wells. That is the most common cause. To check just pull out a plug wire and see if there ois any oil in the well. IF there is, get a long screwdriver and wrap a rag around it and sop it all up. If this is the problem, this fix will get you by, but buying new plugs and wires would b e the best thing in the long run.

 

[Sayow]

I failed to mention that I have routinely (3 times in the 4 months) sucked up small amounts of oil from the plug wells. I take a straw and tape it to a shop vac and suck it all up, so I dont think that is the problem since I did it just 3 days ago. Could this be a CPS problem?

 

[naval-avi8or]

9 times out of ten if it ever started missing fromthe oil in the plug wells then it produced carbon tracks and the best thing to do isreplace the pluggs and wires. Also your shop vacuum trick will get most of the oil out but you still need to use some cleaner to brak down and thin the oil and then a rag to really finish off. B careful using that shop vacuum to suck up flammable liquids it can and will explode.

 

[Mike Kopstain]

If you commonly have to pull oil out of the plug wells those plugs are probably shot (as suggested by Naval avi8tor <---- Spelled wrong I know.) Don't buy new plugs until you fix those gaskets, otherwise you are just fixing a symptom to a bigger problem and it will return. Get new wires too.

A common symptom of the CPS failure is the car starting to buck, but you will most likely notice that your tack looks like it's been smoking a bowl and it will trip out on you, errrr go nuts. Usually the car will just stall and the tach will drop to zero.

 

[naval-avi8or]

Ya I should have said you need to replace those gaskets before you buy new pluggs and wires. My point was that just cleaning the oil out will not necisarily stop the missing if they have carbon trakes. As well it is extreamly hard to get all the oil out of the plugg wells with just a straw and vacuum. I use to do it with raggs after taking the pluggs out and couldn't get it all out. There is always that small amount of oil film still in there and it can be the path of least resistance, especialy with carbon tracks.

 

[sdpatt]

I use an intake cleaner spray to remove the last of the oil residue from the plug wells. I used a manual vacuum pump to suck out the oil and solvent residue. Then I use compressed air to dry and clean any remaining grit from the wells.

As said before, just removing the oil does not correct the possible misfire problem. The plug boots need to be removed and cleaned of oil residue on the interior of the rubber boot at the bottom. Also clean the plug's insulator (the intake cleaner spray should suffice) and apply dielectric grease inside the boot before reinstalling.

A caution here - clean the oil and any debris out of the plug wells before trying to remove the plugs from the heads. You do not want any of the oil and possibly entrained grit to pour into the open cylinder. I'm sure shops do this. it saves time, but it kills SHOs.

If your car is still on the factory spark plugs, you are overdue for a change. The replacement interval on the plugs is 60,000 miles. Please use only the proprietary Motorcraft AGSP32PP plugs (FordPartsNetwork.com $3.99 ea.). They should be gapped to the .042"-.046" range. I suggest using the small end of the range since the gap never gets smaller. The plugs can be replaced without removing the intake manifold. You just need a 5/8" spark plug socket and 9" of extensions. The front three are easy enought to access, but you will have to remove the large vacuum line at the passenger side, rear of the intake and the 12mm bolt that secures the vacuum accumulator and solenoid to the ceter of the rear of the intake.

You need to inspect the engine for the source of the oil. It may be a simple loose oil plug, a leaking oil level sensor (in the oil pan), a leaking oil pressure sender (up on the block below the number three cylinder - driver side, rear) or a leaking gasket. The occurence of the leak after an oil change says it is probably the plug or a sensor they damaged.

 

[Sayow]

Thank you to everyone that responded with suggestions, I had a very lengthy and pleasurable talk with Vince @ HMH motorsports in Lees Summit, Mo (KC). He was recommened and HMH is on shotimes hall of fame list.

After speaking with him, he is convinced that the problem is a crank sensor and / or plugs and wires (and subsequently a need for new plug well seals). As a side note, He quoted him approximately $1500 for a full 60k plus timing belt replacement. Is that a good price? and is there anything I need to make sure he does as part or in addition to that service?

Thanks again

 

[naval-avi8or]

It depends on how mechanicaly minded you are. it really doesn't take alot to do this. There is a video thats available for 15 bucks that takes you through it step by step and repplaces several more cheap items while you got it torn up. All the parts can be picked up for about $500 so if you feal you want to spend $1000 for labor it's your choice. I personally don't feal there was 1000 bucks worth there. As well you will be able to replace a few more items. BTW way there are other sorces that have documnts on the procedure. One is SDPATT the other is shotimes.com.

 

[luigisho]

My personal opinion is get the plugs,wires, and fel-pro gasket set and do that part yourself. It looks daunting but many people on this board who were neither mechanically experienced nor inclined have done this themselves out of necessity ($$$). This is probably the most common and most documented procedure as it occurs frequently. You can do this yourself and you may be suprisingly pleased with yourself when you're done. If this doesn't cure the problem you can always pay someone later.