[Shotimes] Engine troubles

[Eric O. Angell]

Hi,

I've got a 5-speed MTX '92 SHO at 112k miles, and it's been having
some engine trouble for a while.  I got it about two years ago and it
was pretty sweet, but I've had to replace a few things as they've
broken (e.g. water pump).  About 5 months/2,000 miles ago (I'm a
college student - I don't get out much) the check engine light started
coming on intermittently, and that continues today, though it's less
intermittent and more regular now.  When it's on, there's a huge
amount of power missing, but that just means it drives kind of like a
normal car.  The tach also reads low, but it's not that the engine is
spinning slower - the spedometer is fine, and if I'm going a certain
speed in a certain gear, I know what the tach should be reading and
it's just wrong.  Also since it's intermittent, I can watch the tach
jump back up when it becomes "happy" again.

When it first started happening, I was rather concerned and got a
diagnosis both from Pep Boys and a dealer that basically said "we
don't know what's wrong with it and it'll cost more than the car is
worth to fix it", so I've just continued driving it.  The mileage is a
bit worse, and the lack of power is really frustrating, but I've just
dealt with it.  Like I said, since I'm in college, I don't drive much,
and I also don't have much free time to tinker with it or money to
spend on fixing it.  I'm also not that much of a "car guy" to begin
with - much more of a "computer geek".  Knowing how much I hate
getting tech support questions from friends and family, I feel bad
asking about my car here since I have a similar lack of knowledge
about it as they do about their computers.  Anyway, I found this list
recently so I thought I'd ask if you guys had any ideas.

Alternatively, it might be a good idea for me to just sell it and buy
another car that doesn't have random engine trouble.  Would anyone
here be interested in acquiring it as either a parts car or a project
car?  I'm in East LA, but I'll be driving to Denver tomorrow and
staying there until Wednesday.  If you're potentially interested in it
and Denver (or something inbetween Denver and LA) works a lot better
for you than LA, drop me an email soon, and I'll send you my cell
phone number after I get to Denver.

There are a few other things wrong with it; some scratches here and
there, a once leaky sunroof that's been caulked shut, new radio after
the original died, etc.  I've put a bunch of pictures up at
http://www.magicpacket.net/sho/ and included shots of such broken
things.  The sunroof control panel cover isn't attached at the moment
or in the pictures, though I do have it and it would be easy to put it
back on.

Thanks for any help or offers.  Let me know what further information I
should provide to better diagnose the problem.

-E