New SHO owner w/ concerns.

[redSHO96]

Heyy Guys, I just pruchased a '96 SHO, my first one. It has 148,000 miles on it and is in great shape. However, after paying for it I read about the am issues and im kind of afraid to drive the car. There are no cam clicking noises or anything, the car runs beautifully but i am afraid to drive with the radio on as I wont hear the ticking that comes prior to the engine breaking. idk if this sounds parranoid or not. I am unsure if this car was repaired years ago as i bought it from a used car dealer, is there any way to check if the cams were repaired without taking the whole engine apart? I just dont want to start driving the car and have the engine go on me, i need it for highway driving.

~Dan~

 

[NebraskaSHO]

The motor doesn't always make noise before it goes...

...and welcome! :wave:

Front valve/cam cover comes off really quick if you have a handful of metric sockets. Not sure who is the closest for you to get your cams welded though, but please do it and you'll enjoy the car.

 

[95GOOSE]

Welcome.
Try contacting the previous owner(s) for your cars service history. Your title should have the last owners name and address on it. Also, the dealer may have previous owners info. Good luck.
Bill

 

[luigisho]

A visual inspection will tell you if they were welded or not. Kirk at nesho.com (located in Mass.) would be a good go-to person if it hasn't been done.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

we would be the closest shop for you. as already stated, removing the front valve cover and checking the cams would be a good way of knowing if you need the service or not.

check out our site, www.nesho.com

 

[Bob Gervais]

http://v8sho.com/SHO/valvecovers.html Check here for valve cover removal instructions. Check the cams, if they're not welded, make the trip to Spencer, MA and get yourself welded ASAP!

 

[redSHO96]

okay thanks guys. unfortunatly i am unable to get any work done until may when i get out of school, this is why i feel i made a mistake buying the car. i am not very good with engines myself, i know what things are but i dont know if i could just take the valve covers off in the parking lot of my college. My first idea was to obtain service records so i went to Ford and asked for the Oasis report, but they told me it was erased at the 10yr old point which was 8 months ago. i want to say this issue was resolved before my owning the car as it runs perfect and i figure that an SHO with 150,000 miles would have already had the cams break. doesnt this problem occur around 60,000 miles or so?

~Dan~

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Unfortunately there is no mileage point that the cams would let go by. Could happen at any time. Also, the car will run fine, it is not something that starts out and bogs down performance then eventually let go. Sometimes you'll get the tell tale clicking. Sometimes you wont. Fact is, if it has not been done yet, it is just a matter of when it will fail.

Ford will have no record of a cam weld being done. Ford refuses to acknowledge that it happens.

If you can't check the cams yourself, see if you can get in touch with the previous owner and ask them.

 

[redSHO96]

unfortunatly i have yet to be able to get any lead on the original owner. I bought the car from a used car lot in Nassau NY, but they told mt the car was purchased from an auction in PA so i have nothing to go on. I would like to have my car out to Mass. and have the guys Northeast SHO look it over and fix the problem. I am going to look and see if I can find any other place that this can be repaired at near me. However I was lucky enough to get a 6 month warranty on the car from the dealer, I asked and this specifically covers any internal engine part including the cam shafts. so if anything goes wrong with the car between tomorrow when I pick it up and July they have to repair it. The downside to this is that my home is 2 hours away and my college is 1.5 hours away from the dealer so I will ahve a large towing bill.

~Dan~

 

[NebraskaSHO]

Not only that, but they won't replace the motor. Stating that it's worth more (the repair) than the entire cars worth.

http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/WorthlessWarranty&DisturbingTrends.htm

 

[redSHO96]

ok, i am picking the car up at noon today so i will ask if the engine will be replaced under warranty if neccessary.

~Dan~

 

[TROG]

Wow,
welding cam shafts,...that's a scary concept. Can you buy after market cams for the 3.2 liter or are they just out of this universe for cost? I haven't checked mine and FORD dealerships have done all the work, so I better check mine soon. I've got 135k on the stock block.
Thanks for all the info in this thread folks!

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Wow,
welding cam shafts,...that's a scary concept. Can you buy after market cams for the 3.2 liter or are they just out of this universe for cost? I haven't checked mine and FORD dealerships have done all the work, so I better check mine soon. I've got 135k on the stock block.
Thanks for all the info in this thread folks!

If you have a 3.2, you have a v6, which has no cam issue. This is all in regards to the v8 SHO (1996 - 1999)

 

[NebraskaSHO]

If you have a 3.2, you have a v6, which has no cam issue. This is all in regards to the v8 SHO (1996 - 1999)

Werd

 

[redSHO96]

okay so i picked up the car yesterday afternoon and drove it home from Albany. They put pads on the front, but neglected to shave the rotors and warped them. I had it in the shop today for rotors and an alignment only to find out that the tires on the car were warn so bad that there were holes/tears on the inner edges (from too much camber). The drivers front had a tear about 9 inches long with a hole in the center I could put my finger through, i was happy it didnt blow out on the 2 hours drive home. I went back up and gave the dealer **** about that and they agreed to pay for the 4 new tires and the service charge for the brakes. Of course the guy in the shop just HAD to tell me about all the problems im gonna have with this engine and I should just sell it now, i hear it from more people. when i figure out how to post pix ill throw some up here.

~Dan~

 

[redSHO96]

okay here are a few pix I took at the dealer, forgive the dirt I havent washed it yet.

and here are the two problems I gotta fix:

This is the tire They had the audacity to leave on my car:

 

[my96sho]

thats basically my car but i have the tan interior and no sunroof, just got mine welded by Eric L. i think his screen name on here is E1, great guy and did a great job at a great price to bad you are in new york.

 

[my96sho]

Also just get the cams welded asap, then you wont have to worry about people telling you about engine problems, and dont even think about getting rid of it because of that, these are great cars and are really fun to drive dont let people discourage you.

 

[redSHO96]

yeah im looking to have mine welded or pinned in a few months when Im out of school for a bit. I found out that the car is originally from Mass. so I sent the information on to Randy at NESHO and hopefully hes gonna tell me the car was repaired there and I have nothing to worry about, but i just know its not going to work out to that way.

The only reason i bought the car was b/c it was so clean for the price. I held the dealer to a misprint in the listing online ($1,995 instead of $3,995) and just had to take it. the mileage is higher than i wanted (was looking for something arounf 100K) and i wanted a 4cyl, kinda went the opposite way on that. this car was never smoked in, the entire thing is spotless minus a few scratches and the minor rust spots. the dealer I bought it from put the dent in the front corner and was selling it that way. I had the car on a lift and everything is clean there too. im impressed with it now, but we'll see how it goes after a few months. Im just happy that if i cant deal with it and it needs to be sold at least im not losing any money on it.

 

[Bob Gervais]

Nice looking SHO! I've always liked the TR cars, esp. with the gray interior. It looks like it's pretty clean inside too, not bad for an 11 year old car!

Hopefully Randy has good news for you, and the car's already welded, but if not, you can take comfort in the fact that you live relatively close to NESHO. Kirk will take good care of you, and also educate you on some things you may not know about the car.

Most important things to remember are weld the cams, and start saving for a transmission. Aside from those two things, they really are solid cars and an excellent deal.