Bruce's Cam Failures #799 & $800

New 4/16/07

Well here are two more

Joel Danei - 1998 TR Albany, NY - 1FAFP54N8WA221962, ~77k when failure was confirmed and caught before taking out the engine, course he was still driving it daily up till it was dropped off at my house :-( Yes I advised against that.

I happened to notice his car last summer at the local motorcraft place. While buying plugs for my own 96 TR I inquired about the car and was told it was an employee's car. I left my name and number as I always do when I see any generation SHO that I don't recall seeing before locally. (And contrary to assertions by some people at NESHO, I do not leave my info printed on the back of someone else's business card, less I am out of my own cards printed off of my inkjet printer at home, and even then my info is handwritten on the back of a card handed to me) So being that I live 5 minutes away and they happened to tell me that they had 81 AGS32PP v6 SHO plugs that were being shipped back to some warehouse as old stock, I ran home printed off a bunch of info about the cam problem and left it with the guys at the counter.

Now 8 months go by then I get a call from Joel's father telling me that he needs to get his cams welded, AFTER trying the Loctite fix on the site. I asked him was the car quiet for 1 day or 2 days after that? He laughed and said 2 then the noise came back.

So long story short they dropped off his car, and after it was apart I found the front head exhaust sprocket has moved over flush with the nut, and could rotate about an 1/8th inch either way. used some clamps and a feeler gauge to reset the position of the timing dot to pin, and had all his cams TIG welded at a local welding outfit. When pulled to the proper location the sprocket would not move more than a hair either way before welding.

Anyhow, his car been back in his hands for a few weeks now, and other than a single IMRC code (though he had his IMRC replace last summer at the dealer) and an intermittent SAI pump code, he's happy to be driving his car again without worries. Along with addressing the cams, dealt with 2 mangled rear calipers (pistons would not retract) new pads and rotors all the way around, complete flush of the brakes with 3 qts of Valvoline Syntec DOT4, AL SFB's, plug replacement, timing cover gaskets, valve cover gaskets, cam seal, and front main seal. He was set on selling the car, which is in really really nice shape, no rust, but he's decided that he must keep it now.

Really large pics of the car and work can be seen here http://tinyurl.com/22nmap

Anyhow that is the 1st one

#2 comes by way of a Craigslist posting I checked out as a possible parts car about 3 hours west of Albany. Happened to be out that way picking up an Audi A4, so I called the owner to take a look

John J Jayachandran - 1997 Green (whatever that green is called) 1FALPN540VA132534 - 342185 km at time of failure

Car was purchased in december of 06 from Canada and brought into the states. Anyhow owner described the sounds coming from the engine right before it died on him. From that I knew it was cams. I explained a little bit of the problem and why it happens, and he was completely oblivious to the cam issues.

Needless to say without opening it up in his driveway I wasn't sure if it was front or rear cam(s) that let go.

All that said. I should prolly be added to the list of people that will weld your cams. I do it a little different, dropping the engine out, pulling the cams and having them TIG welded at a local welding outfit. I address ALOT of issues with the car as a whole, just just weld the cams and leave leaks and other problems to be fixed another day.

#800 same VIN as #873 see EBay Cam Failure #873 - 12/26/07

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