Need some Advice

[jaredboy]

Hi all,

Most of you dont know me yet as Im new to the forums, but I have a little dilemma and would like some advice from all you SHO experts

If you read my introductory post in the newbie forums you would have learned that I recently purchased a 92 MTX from a very good friend that sold it to me to buy a new truck. He had just replaced the motor about 2-3 years ago with one he bought on ebay( guy said it had about 40k on it) but didnt really drive the car since (he has alot of cars and this is one he's had for about 10 years)
When he sold me the car he told me it ran a bit rough, but thought it was just something very minor - like the timing. Ive always loved the car and he gave me a really good price on it; and so I figured id take it as a secondary daily beater to have fun with. He lives about 3 hours from me in Lake George, NY so I had him take the car to his Ford dealer just to have it all checked out and get the timing issue straightened out before I went up there and took it home. I didnt mind putting a little money into it- as I know this is the case with any used car. I planned on just putting a couple hundred into it for a new battery, tires, and labor to have Ford correct the timing.

WELL to get to the point- Ford inspects the car and finds out its NOT the timing- looks like the motor is shot- 3 piston rings are bad or something. I guess the motor from ebay wasnt such a good buy......

So thats the dilemma. Let me assure everyone my friend was fully unaware the motor was bad and I trust him completely 100% on this. He really cannot take the car back as he used the money to buy his truck.
Anyways, he has offered to help me get another motor- he will pull the motor for me and bring it to the dealer, and has already gotten a price from them. He said it will be about 1000 in labor to replace the motor + whatever I can get a good motor for. I asked about simply fixing this one and Ford had already advised him it was better to just replace the motor since they might tear into it and find other things wrong.
My question to you guys: what do you think i should do? Does anyone have a GOOD motor they would be willing to sell? Should I just sell the car as is and try to get my money for it ( I dont think it would be hard to do since he gave it to me for a really cheap price) The car otherwise is in great shape. Again from my intro post I shared with everyone that he had replaced the entire interior with a black leather interior from a later model SHO. Also it has a borla exhaust, chip, full koni( i think) suspension, big brake kit, etc.
so.. what do I do???
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and any advice.

 

[SASHO91]

Get the compression checked... from somewhere else but ford...

when you take that car in(speaking generally) and they pop the hood.. 2 things come to their minds... Money, and.... Money....

also, you can read the codes yourself.
http://www.shophoenixproject.com/

I think ford is trying to pull a fast one on ya... wouldnt be the first time...

explain the running rough part of the story....

 

[jaredboy]

Hmm thats a very strong possibility I didnt think about.
Well my friend isnt a mechanic, but he's llike you guys that has had 4 SHO's and rips them apart and has parts cars, messes with them and etc. He seems to trust their opinion. I really should have him get the compression checked.
If you cant tell already, im a total car enthusiast but have zero mechanic knowledge/ability. (i know its a shame and this car probably isnt the best choice for me! :\ )
I havent heard the car run ( again im 3 hours away) all i know is what he told me when he decided to sell it- that the car runs, but "rough" and he thought it was just the timing.
anyways I know the rest of it is in good shape ( ive driven it many times when I was up by him in past years) but apparently got a bum motor 2 years ago.

Well thanks for the idea- I will look into getting the compression checked. Anyone else have some input?

 

[Racer X]

These engines RARELY lose compression. Have it looked at by someone else other than a Ford shop.

Good luck with things.

 

[dantheman68]

yeah... ford doesnt know anything about yamaha's motors... they just assume its a regular ol' ford motor that needs its rings replaced at 40K miles...

but seriously there are so many other things that it should be before they declare 3!! bad rings... the eec has a compression self test, which i dont know if you got from the other guy's posts, check it out at www.shotimes.com you can search the site in the upper corner... and as far as having no mechanical ability, now that you own a SHO, unfortunately, or fortuneately (however you look at it) youll get some...

 

[Mr Anonymous]

I wouldn't trust Ford's diagnosis.

You need to get the car to someone who knows the car to take a look at it and give you a more accurate analysis and diagnosis. If you really find it needs a motor (which I'm equally as skeptical of the others), you could bring the car to us in central Mass. and get a motor installed for about $1000 ($700 labor, $200 for a stock 3.0L, and ~$100 in misc parts, etc.).

http://www.nesho.com

 

[SASHO91]

Chris, i lay this question in here....

Is that stock 3.0 refreshed any?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Chris, i lay this question in here....

Is that stock 3.0 refreshed any?

Nope, stock as pulled, and if you saw the picture of the 10 or so 3.0 motors we chucked in the trash after the swap meet, we only keep decent ones.

 

[thecrew2999]

as the others said i would totally agree 3 bad rings would be nothing short of a miracle because the olny thing you worry about on these is valve lash and rod bearings and they can all be fixed with little effort.

do your own compression check.

**** theres a guy on here that has over 300k miles easy on his SHO and its ran on the track all the time. hes done nothing but regular maintence on the car