Service Engine Light...

[Vroom]

The Lowdown: I have a 97 Gen III with 110,271 miles on it. I bought it back in March when it had 107,111 on the clock and it has had quite a few previous owners. It is UNWELDED to my knowledge. I recently went on a trip across South Dakota (800 miles total) and was praying for no cam failure.

Well, I've been back in town for a couple of weeks and just today the Service Engine Soon light came on. I have noticed my car being a little more rough (not much, but I can feel a little feedback on the steering wheel every once in a while). Also, it's been making a creaking noise coming from the back end, but my guess is that's just suspension.

I read that you can go to Autozone and get the codes read, correct? Is that what I ask them to do? And that just will let me know what's wrong?

POSSIBLE SAVING GRACE: I have an extended warranty on the car that covers EVERYTHING (it's not a Ford warranty... it's Mastertech or something like that). It says it even covers cams and all internal lubricated parts that cause damage to other parts (sound familiar?) But I wonder if it would cover the thousands of dollars worth of damage to the engine in the case of a cam failure... at any rate, I'll talk to them over the phone or send them a letter explaining everything.

So, I'm not driving my car until I get this figured out. Please give any knowlege you can, and remember that I'm pretty dumb when it comes to cars... Thanks.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Yes, just take the car to AutoZone and they will check the codes for free. Sounds like you may have a coil taking an early retirement.

Don't allow the extended warranty to give you false comfort. Get the cams welded as soon as you can afford it. Most extended warranties have clauses which exclude repairs which will cost them more than the wholesale value (or some other arbitraty value they might assign) of the car, which can often be the case in the result of a cam failure.

 

[Vroom]

Thanks for the reply. Well, that's just it... I've been taking no comfort in the warranty as far as the cam thing goes. I'm going to hopefully talk to someone in authority at the warranty place to see if I can get the details.

I'll get to Autozone as soon as i can! Thanks!

 

[Vroom]

I got the code # from Autozone. It's 1518 Idle Speed Control. The guy said they didn't have the part in that I needed, so here I am now.

What exactly does this code # mean, and how much $$$? Is it an easy install? Can I still drive until I get it fixed???

Thanks.

<small>[ January 11, 2004, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: Vroom ]</small>

 

[venom]

It has NOTHING to do with your Idle speed. I Bet your car feels slower when you hit it on the highway, It won't have much steam as the tach swings towards redline, this is because your secondary intake butterflies whihc normally open up the breathing of the motor at 3400 RPM are not opening (most probably).

Your IMRC motor assembly is probably broken, or your intake tract is VERY gummed up (which is almost normal on higher mileage cars). Is your car welded? if not the best thign to do is clean the butterflies and replace the motor assembly if needed (that part is about $150).

Here is my comprehensive IMRC write-up in the middle of this page, the whole page is a good read however.
http://v8sho.com/SHO/HelpwithIMRCFailureDTC.htm

Vroom:
I got the code # from Autozone. It's 1518 Idle Speed Control. The guy said they didn't have the part in that I needed, so here I am now.

What exactly does this code # mean, and how much $$$? Is it an easy install? Can I still drive until I get it fixed???

Thanks.

 

[Vroom]

I hate Ford!!!!!!!!

I have no tools/no time, so I went to the Ford dealership's service shop. I printed out the IMRC instructions that were linked by Venom and waited for them to call me back after they checked out the engine.

So they tell me that it's the same exact thing I printed out and gave to them, and they called the warranty company and NOTHING would be covered! madflame

Apparently seals and gaskets (which is what the *** 's at Ford tell me they'd have to replace once getting in the engine to clean the carbon buildup) aren't covered after 100k miles finger headbang

So basically, it's costing me $90 to be told that they'd charge $800 ($130 for the gaskets, the rest for labor) just to do the job!!!!

Well, screw that... I'll be paying them their $90, and driving my car away unfixed until I can find someone else to do the job...

Once again, I have no tools and wouldn't be able to do it myself anyway. Hopefully I can get my friend's uncle to help at his shop, but we'll see....

A gigantic finger to Ford, the Ford dealers/shop mechanics....

EDIT: Is there anyone in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that could help me fix this or knows anyone who could??

<small>[ January 13, 2004, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Vroom ]</small>

 

[Mr. SHO]

I would talk to your friend's uncle... any competent mechanic should be able to do it for you, especially if you provide them with the info they need. Usually dealer techs are hypersensitive to people who come in and give them the info that they are already supposed to know. I wouldn't imagine it would cost even half of what the dealer quoted you. Of course, if you find someone who can weld your cams, that would save you some labor cost, since they almost remove and clean the entire intake system while there in there. Check this list for cam welders. Looks like your closest options are Madison, WI and Denver, CO.

 

[Vroom]

Thanks, Mr. SHO. I've seen that list, and it sucks that everyone is so far away.

Plus, I can't think of a time I'd be able to drive to WI or CO, and even if my car could make it there before having the intake cleaned.

So... I'd love it if I could get the cams welded at the same time, but it just wouldn't work out unless someone is closer that isn't on that list or if someone is coming anywhere near South Dakota. I guess I'll have to drive my car home from Ford then today.

Does anyone know how long it's safe to drive the car (at low RPMs of course) until I can get the intake cleaned?

And how long would it really take a skilled mechanic to clean the intakes? Do they really need to break the gaskets like Ford said?

Thanks

Also: are there any documents around that would tell how take apart/clean the intakes?

<small>[ January 14, 2004, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: Vroom ]</small>

 

[Vroom]

Ok, I've been reading up on v8sho.com to try to understand the issue at hand.

There's for sure carbon buildup in the lower intake which is what causes the IMRC to fail. The IMRC cable could be frayed... the wheel could be broken... but if you just replace this and don't clean out the lower intake butterflies, then the new IMRC will surely fail soon.

Also, it's hard to find people to work on the SHO engine. That's why labor prices are so high. To clean the intake, you'd basically have to teardown the engine until you can pull the lower intakes with the butterflies out to clean them, which also takes time and skill.

The smart thing to do would be to get your cams welded at the same time, because you'll already have the whole engine exposed and ready. The cost of a cam weld by someone such as Kirk or other recommended welders would be less than the price of just having a mechanic clean the lower intake.

So, after knowing all of this, I'm kind of stuck. The nearest cam welder to me is in Madison, WI, which is 426 miles away. I'm not sure it's best that I drive that far with a failed IMRC. I could just get my intake cleaned here and now, and end up spending around $800 and hope that the mechanic cleans the intake correctly and replaces the IMRC also.

Ideas? I'm driving the car as sparingly as possible, like a few blocks to school and back. I gotta get this figured out soon.

 

[SHOZ123]

The failed IRMC will do no harm to your motor. It will just leave you down on power. The cams on the other hand will destroy your motor. You should be more worried about driving 426 miles with unwelded cams than a bad IRMC.

 

[stephen newberg]

Skye, this is not a complicated, hard to do, weld job. It requires skill and care, but it is not beyond any capable welder skilled with a TIG or MIG rig. I would suggest, as has Paul just above, that getting the cams welded is a much more important item, and the long drive would be a concern if your SHO already has a fair number of miles on it.

If I may suggest, why not hire the dealership that you have talked to about doing your IMRC clean up work to do the cam welding at the same time? You need to explain what is needed, and you can point them at the directions and photos on V8SHO.com to make sure they know what is required. Then have them find a good welder for you. I am sure they will know one or two. Most of the cost of cam sproket welding is involved in the labor for all the disassembly and reassembly, which is going to happen for your cleaning job anyway, so doing the cams at the same time should not add more than a couple of hundred dollars to the cost. And then it all happens locally for you. The list of welders on line here is not any kind or limit on available welders, is really what I am saying.

I did mine this way, though I was after getting the cams welded and had them do the cleaning while they were at it, and it came in at under $1000, IIRC, for the whole thing, and that is in Canadian funds, so at the time it was about $650 US.

pax, smn

 

[Vroom]

Wow, I was under the impression that Ford dealerships wouldn't do a satisfactory job on the cam welds. Since they haven't had training on the specific SHO engine cams, then I thought they ran the risk of messing up fairly easily.

I would probably be able to make it to Madison, WI in April or May... Hmmm

 

[Ian Macoomb]

I wouldn't let just anybody work on my car. That's why I drove over 40 hours to get my cams welded.

 

[stephen newberg]

I would not let just anyone work on my car either, but if you have a reliable Ford dealership in your area, then there is no reason not to talk to them about having them do the job. The disassembly, cleaning, welding, and reassembly is well within the abilities of any well run, competent, shop that has a decent welder on tap.

pax, smn

 

[hgerrard]

How to reset Service engine light?

How did you reset the service engine light?

 

[Snow]

Disconnect the + and - terminal leads, touch them together (This drains all the energy out of the system) and put them back on the batt.; or leave them off for awhile, 30min to an hour and then reattach.

 

[Mr. SHO]

Disconnect the + and - terminal leads, touch them together (This drains all the energy out of the system) and put them back on the batt.; or leave them off for awhile, 30min to an hour and then reattach.

Not the best idea... touching the + and - will short any capacitors in the system. It will get rid of the charge, but not in a good way.

Disconnect the (-) terminal at the battery, then push the brake pedal down. The tail lights will instantly drain the charge. Reconnect the terminal and you are good to go.

 

[Snow]

I knew I should have kept that to my self.

 

[inverse1216]

i figured that i would bring this thread up from the dead vs starting a new one considering im encountering the same problem. (arent we all happy i used the search function ) so i hope to get some responses this way.

the rundown, ive owned my 97 with 150000 and the cams are welded for half a year now and just recently the SES light came on. ran the codes and came up with the same code mentioned above 1518 autozone computer says "intake runner assembly stuck open" along with "idle speed control". now the only difference with my problem and VROOM's is that my car is running fine i dont notice any power loss so am i safe to assume that at this point the sensor is the only thing wrong right now and the ircm is still functioning?

now i clicked on the link that was posted earlier to v8sho.com but its not working for me.

if the ircm is not functioning would i get a code for that? also if the lower intake needs to be cleaned whats involved in getting it cleaned? im very mechanically inclined so i have no problem with doing the work myself i just need to know whats involved. is there a good shop manual for the 3rd gen's that i can pick up somewhere? thanks again for any responses. im going to go ahead and replace the sensor tomorrow and see if that solves anything.

andy

 

[NebraskaSHO]

I checked my IMRC box when I cleaned the intake. Take the plastic cover off the front and open up that box that's sitting on the cam cover. There's four screws I think that hold the cover to the box, where you will find the cable and gear. I'd just check that to see if it hasn't broken.



If it's good then just disassemble the intake down to the lower one and clean it out if it's got carbon built up. If you take off the lower intake manifold you'll need new gaskets I'm pretty sure. Tooth brush and carb cleaner did the trick for me.

Good luck.