Serious Problems

[gixxer1000]

Hi, hows everyone doing? I purchased a 97 Silver Frost SHO about 3 months ago. I know the previous owner very well, he is my manager at Advance Auto Parts. The car has been very well maintained since brand new. Mobil 1 fluids,etc... Anyway, the car has 89K on it and has never been welded. Well I went to crank it the other night to go out and it fired up and went back dead, no strange noises or anthing though. I've have never heard the car tick or anything but I have a very bad feeling about this. Car was running fine when I parked it but now nothing. I tried to turn it over and it spun over and then backfired through the intake leading me to believe the timing is very bad off. Someone please tell me I'm overreacting, but I've heard nothing but bad things about the car since I bought it. Thanks for any help.

 

[Mr. SHO]

You may have spun a cam and if you didn't hear any clunking or tapping when you cranked it over, it may not be too late to salvage the motor. DON'T crank the engine any more. The next time you crank, you could have piston(s) colliding with valve(s) which means at a bare minimum, a head rebuild. As it sits now, if the sprocket spun on the cam, but the valves haven't tangoed with the pistons, it's just a matter of replacing the spun cam or having an expert re-time the cam and sprocket and weld it securely. The difference between turning the key one more time out of curiosity, versus flat-bedding the car to a qualified mechanic, could be thousands of dollars.

 

[gixxer1000]

That's what I was thinking also. I will definately not try to crank the car again. It will be towed on a flatbed to a local Ford guru Monday. I'm hoping if it did spin the cam that it didn't ***** the engine. While it's torn down it will also have a plug change and be welded. I'm hoping for the best! Thanks.

Brandon

 

[Mr Anonymous]

I'm hoping if it did spin the cam that it didn't ***** the engine.

Spun cam=fubared engine, it's that simple. It's an interference engine, so once a cam spins pistons impact valves.

While it's torn down it will also have a plug change and be welded.

Complete waste of money. Cam welding is a preventative service, NOT a corrective one. All welding the cams does once a sprocket has spun is permanently set the out-of-time condition and just about guarantees bending 8 valves in one head.

If you are paying someone else to look at it, just start with a compression test. A comp. test is simple and inexpensive, and just about any mechanic should be able to do it. Biggest hurdle for most will be getting the surge tank off. Any loss of compression means stop there, tow the car home, and consider your options. A really good mechanic can also just check it with a stethoscope while the engine is cranking to hear the cam failure.

You can also check for front head cam failure very simply on your own by pulling the fuel pump fuse (or tripping the IFS switch in the trunk), and observe the water pump drive pulley (the "highest" one, on the end of the front intake camshaft, directly below the main wiring harness that runs along the top of the front valve cover) while a friend cranks the engine (you don't need to remove the vanity cover, you can view this pulley by standing by the driver's side fender). If the water pump drive pulley doesn't turn at all, or it turns in an intermittent or jerky fashion, then you have a front head cam failure. Once again time to consider your options.

A rear head failure is easiest to isolate with a compression test.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[gixxer1000]

Good news!

Whew! I work at Advance Auto Parts while in college and I was messing around the other day and decided to see how much a crank position sensor was. 13 bucks, so I decided to give it a shot before I had it towed to my local ford guru. I didn't really expect it to crank but thankfully it came to life once I installed it. Now it's definately time to get that bad boy welded! Thanks

Brandon

 

[99V8SHO]

Whew! I work at Advance Auto Parts while in college and I was messing around the other day and decided to see how much a crank position sensor was. 13 bucks, so I decided to give it a shot before I had it towed to my local ford guru. I didn't really expect it to crank but thankfully it came to life once I installed it. Now it's definately time to get that bad boy welded! Thanks

Brandon

Glad that is all it was, but you took your car's life into your hands by cranking it over again. If it was your cams then that engine probably would not be salvageable. But good to hear nonetheless.