[Shotimes] SHO Drivability question (retry)

Pat oneilk@charter.net
Thu, 13 Feb 2003 22:55:51 -0600


 Hi All,

 My name is Patrick, just joined the list today. I'm a new SHO owner, but have
owned several Mustangs so I'm fairly familiar with Fords.

  I don't wanna give you guys a bad opinion of me asking a question in my
first post, but I'm tired after working on my SHO all day and I'm about ready
to pull my hair out.

  I bought my SHO about 2 weeks ago for $1500, it's a 91' with 117,000 miles
on it. It was running a bit rough and was lacking power when I bought it, so I
decided the minute I got it home I'd check it out. I pulled one of the spark
plugs wires off on the front of the engine to discover the plug well over half
full with oil, enough oil to almost cover the top of the spark plug. I then
began pulling the other 2 wires off only to find oil in those also.

 Well I started looking around at websites on any info I could find on SHOs
and lucked up on SHOtimes and read about plugs, wires, and the plug well
seals. Knowing then what I needed to do to fix this, I started gathering
parts. Even the local Ford dealers didn't stock the AGSP32PP plug so I ended
up using the NGK PFR5G-11. I had to go with Carol 8mm plug wires from Autozone
because that was all I could find without ordering them, and I needed to get
the car running right as soon as I could. Grabbed the Felpro valve cover
gasket set, and an intake gasket set as well.

 Today I took on replacing the vavle cover gaskets, plug well seals, spark
plugs, wires, and even replace the upper intake gasket to cover everything.
Before I removed the plugs I was careful to soak up and remove all the oil
from the plugs wells. I changed the plugs fast to try to ensure any residual
oil didn't get down into the cylinder. I gapped the plugs @ .044. I also
triple checked that I had everything plugged back in when I finished. When
taking the car apart I found the electric solenoid on the back of the intake
unplugged. I knew this was one problem.

  Well, when I first cranked it up it purred like a kitten. I let it run for a
little bit then took it out for a test drive. The car had TWICE the power it
had before, and seemed to run perfect. When hitting the gas quickly then
letting off fast, it would rev up to around 2300 rpms. (This is a test friends
and I used on Mustangs to check throttle response.)

 When I got back home the car pulled the driveway better than it ever has (I
have a very steep driveway), then I let it run for a minute and warm completly
up. When the car's temp got close to half way on the guage (normal operating
temp) it started to idle rough again. Doing the same test I mentioned before
(the throttle) it would only rev to around 1650 rpms. I went out and drove it
again, got on it a couple times and it didn't have as much power. When I got
back home this time it didn't pull the drive well this time, (like before the
tune up.)

  I let the car cool off and cranked it again. It idles smooth this time, and
has good throttle response. Upon warming back up it start running rough again.

 Does anyone have any ideas where to look for this problem? It's almost as if
when it the computer comes out of cold start mode it starts running rough.

  Any help at all would be greatly appriciated!!

 Thanks,
 Patrick Kerns