[Shotimes] SHO drivability question

[Steve Weinrich]

Hi, Patrick,

Welcome to the list.

I would:

1)  Clean the MAF sensor.  It's almost free...if you have that T20 Security
Torx bit and a can of spray brake or carb cleaner.

2)  Suspect the Engine Coolant Sensor is not detecting warmup of the engine
and is keeping the enine in warmup mode (rich)

3)  Possible O2 sensors.  Not detecting mixture properly, keeping mixture
too rich.

There are a few other possibilities, including a vacuum leak,  these come to
mind first.

My best recommendation is to run the codes first.  There is a writeup at the
FAQ at www.shotimes.com Click on Maintenance, then scroll down to Engine
control, then EEC Self-test Procedures.  A second source is
http://dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html

Good luck!.
Steve W
aka projectSHO89 on www.shoforum.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat" <oneilk@charter.net>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 10:52 PM
Subject: [Shotimes] SHO drivability question


> 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
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