new 11/22/02
On Thursday, November 21, the Sunbury, Pennsylvania Daily Item had a lengthy feature article in its' weekly auto section about the problem of cam failures in '96 through '99 SHOs. Your web site was listed and as a result I have been able to contact you.
I have a red '96 SHO with 65,740 miles on it. It is "cherry"; rarely driven in winter weather. I purchased it from Sunbury Motors in the spring of '97. I t was the owner's car and had 6,300 miles on it at time of purchase. It is a wonderful vehicle and with the exception of replacing an upper control arm, I have had absolutely no problems with it. I got 49,000 miles out of the initial set of Double Eagles and it has the original brakes. I had planned to keep it a long time. Needless to say, yesterday's article was most disconcerting. I called the Service Manager, Don Musser at Sunbury Motors. He said he had learned of the problem from another web site last month. He said there have been no official advisories or acknowledgements from Ford. I was told that the dealership, which is a very large one, had sold six or seven SHOs and I was the only customer who had an ongoing relationship with the dealership. No one, other than Sunbury Motors has ever serviced the car. I follow the service guidelines religiously. I spoke with Don about the welding" fix" and he assured me he would look into it. His concern centered on the fact that he and his people had never torn down or even seen detailed photo schematics of the SHO engine.
Today, Don called me. As you have indicated, Ford continues to disavow any knowledge of a problem. But, through his research, the procurement of schematics and photos and the expertise of his senior engine personnel, he told me that they know what has to be done and they are willing to do it. The price will be between $500.00 and $600.00 dollars. The car goes in on December 3rd. Frankly, in the meantime, despite the enjoyment my wife and I derive from driving it, we will hold travel in it to a minimum.
My primary purpose in sending this note to you is to advise you and those who may read this that not only is Sunbury Motors an excellent service facility, but though Ford denied any culpability with the problem, Sunbury Motors recognized my concern and was willing to go to bat for the customer and try to correct the problem. I certainly hope that we get at least another 65,000 trouble free miles out of the car. We are optimistic. We just parted with an '89 LX wagon that had 229,000 miles on it and it was a wonderful car; our first of what are now three Fords.
---Dave Goodhart
--- lindave@sunlink.net