Dave Fechner - Cam Failure #635

New 11/25/05

-----Original Message-----
From: stange66@netscape.com
To: Larry@v8sho.com
Sent: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:22:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 96 SHO almost failure

Larry,

My name is Dave and I own a 96 SHO. I've only had the car for about six months. When I bought the car it had a slight clicking noise and I didn't think anything of it. After having the car for a couple of months the noise started to get worse. I read somewhere about having to shim the valves at 100K and I thought that maybe the problem was that even though the car only had 83K on it. I ended up talking to my local Ford dealer and they told me that they couldn't get a hold of the shims anymore and that this problem was something that they have seen in the pass. Ignore the noise and it was safe to keep driving it. Something told me that this wasn't right, so I did some investigation of my own and came across v8sho web site. I decided to tear it down and see if it was one of my sprockets. It was I did find a bad one. I had a friend MIG weld all four of them for me. The only problem I had was getting the timing set. I'm not to familiar with using a degree wheel and all that. I wish that I would have marked the sprockets and the crank better. I just figured that I would align the timing marks when I got the cams back. What a mistake. It's a long story, but after some trial and error I did get the timing right and now the car runs great. I'd like to say thanks, and how do I get my name on the long list of pissed off SHO owners that have had to deal with this bull...

Thanks,
Dave Fechner

1. VIN#s: 1FALP54N8TA243653

2. Date of malfunction: Clicking started about 8/05

3. Where did the malfunction take place (highway, city streets, driveway, parking lot, etc.) It didn't totally malfunction, I was able to catch it before the cams went.

4. Odometer reading at time of malfunction: Approx: 86,000 miles

5. How fast were you traveling?

6. Were you accelerating or staying at a constant speed?

7. Estimated date of purchase, new or used? Used and was purchased 6/07/05

8. Estimated Odometer reading at time of purchase: 83,000 miles

9. Full Name, address, and a good phone# to reach you at during the day and night. David R. Fechner Jr. (Del) during the day.

10. Brief description of the time of events leading towards the malfunction. (what did you hear and see before, during, and after the malfunction) The car was making a "clicking" noise that sounded like a lifter tap. I talked to the local ford dealer Towne Ford (here in Racine) and they told me that the shims for the lifters were discontinued and that it wasn't anything and that I should just keep driving it. I know enough about cars that when there is an engine noise that the worse thing you can do is to just keep driving it. My father in law and I ended up taking the front valve cover off to do some inspecting and couldn't find a thing wrong with the lifters or lobes. So I started to see what I could find on the internet to see if anyone else had this problem or at least some suggestions. That's when I started reading about all the cam failures and people having the same problem that I was. So My Father and Law and I tore the motor down to pull out and check the cams and sprockets. That's when we noticed that I was able to move one of the sprockets back and fourth on the cam. I had all 4 of my cams MIG welded and now the car runs great and the clicking noise is completely gone.

11. Customer service phone # you called and the name of the person you talked to. (if you can remember) The Service Dept. and the Parts Dept. at Towne Ford in Racine WI.

12. Did you feel satisfied with the answers customer service provided? Explain. No, because they tried to tell me to ignore a load clicking noise that was coming out of my engine.

13. Which dealership did you take your vehicle in for service? (name, address, phone#) The car never went to a dealer

14. What was the cause of failure determined by the dealer?

15. What was the cause of failure determined by you? A poor design of the cam and the way that the sprockets are held in place.

16. How much was your statement? (I hope you kept your receipt) I did it all my self, but I was inconvience by not having a car for about 16 days. I didn't get an estimate because of how expensive that this was costing the people on the internet.

17. What can FOMOCO do to make you a satisfied Ford owner? Stand behind their product and admit that something is wrong with these sprockets and cams. They should fix all these problems and compensate all those people that they ignored and left to fend for themselves. I have been a Ford person for years and they are going to loose a customer over this.

Let me know if you need anymore information?

Thanks again,
Dave

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