[Shotimes] Engine troubles

[Shylo McKinsey]

Welcome to the list...

Do you know the last time the spark plugs were
replaced? How about the plug wires? Those two things
alone can cause major power loss. Pull one of the plug
wires in front and check for water/dirt/oil in the
plug wells. 

Your tach sounds like an electrical problem, but I'm
only guessing here. Others would know better with
that. 

Maybe try washing the engine compartment out, too.
With alot of dirt and grime in there it can cause some
problems. When I first got my SHO, I lost my ABS
within the first month. The engine was really dirty,
could barely see the words stamped on the intake. Some
dirt and grime got into the module and shorted it out.
Some places will do it for you at a decent price. If
you do it yourself, cover up the battery, coilpack,
etc. 

Good luck with your SHO, and don't give up on it yet.
Sounds like you just need a few little things to get
it back up on the road and purring. Keep posting with
updates...

Shylo McKinsey

'91 White MTX

--- "Eric O. Angell" <eric+shotimes@cs.hmc.edu> wrote:
> 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
> _______________________________________________
> Shotimes mailing list
> Shotimes@autox.team.net
> http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes


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