compound problems? or just 1?

95SC40th

Registered User
Just recently picked up a 95 S/C pearl white, tan leather, beautiful car 80k original miles, im the second owner. Few days later im noticing some unusual problems, stumbled upon the forum figured i'd see if there were any positive feedback. I'd like to ultimately put my g/f in this car for a daily driver with some light mods, or maybe possibly sell it.

1. The Firm ride light comes on randomly...maybe a bad switch?...

2. The Temp. gauge reads just below the N of Norm 95% of the time, and just recently it gets up to the M of Norm while sitting still, i start driving it...goes back down to the N.(im thinking...rusted internals of the Water pump, no thermostat, or some sorta blockage)

3. Theres a not so pleasent vibration that sort of lingers through the idle and mid rpm its not quiet as noticeable.

4. After the car warms up, ive noticed that when i get home, i put the car in reverse to back into my spot, and the idle drops to 500(ish) and the oil pressure drops...so the idle when in gear is quierky.

i have fairly good amount of knowlege of cars, specially with highperformance honda's ive always loved the S/C's....and it pulls really strong, and has some very sexy lines, im just not very educated on the Supercharged motors ect. thus far i've heard...bad Temp sensor, no thermostat can make the ecu cause some funk fuel maps causing bad idle and maybe lieing about temp on the gauge as far as being warm. Another said blown head gaskets, but the car runs like a scalded ape...pulls dead even with a lightly moded mazdaspeed protege(turbo). and i've not noticed any oil in the coolant, or any loss of coolant to the motor oil. I've also heard something about the intake being cracked?...so yah any help would be appreciated....also...any danger in changing the pully size, or any ecu upgrades that would boost it up.

then again...if someone was intrested i would sell it for what i gave for it(as i believe i stole the car) and put that into my other project. $4,000, pictures available.
 
1) The firm ride turns it self on whenever you brake hard. It also does this if you go more then like 90% throttle, or if you start turning hard.


2) Mines doing the same thing - no clue what it is, Id like to fix it.
 
95SC40th said:
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3. Theres a not so pleasent vibration that sort of lingers through the idle and mid rpm its not quiet as noticeable.
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I'd check for collapsed engine mounts, particularly the driver's side.
 
The firm ride is supposed to come on during hard braking, hard cornering and above like 85mph. That's part of the suspension design, using sensors to detect certain conditions requiring a firmer ride. However, if the light flickers on/off under normal conditions and/or you hear a "thud" sound when it happens - then most likely one of the actuators has come loose on top of a shock tower.
 
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2. The stock gauge isn't very accurate to start with. Anyways obviously the car has an electric fan that comes on at a certain temp (low and high speeds come on and go off at different temps) so it is not running all of the time. When you're moving you don't need the fan to cool the rad. When you are sitting still there is little to no airflow across the rad. The fan should come on and cool it back down. If it does not then the IRCM or fan motor may be bad. My Cougar does the same thing when sitting in line at the drive thru. I haven't noticed it as much on the '95. I've never had an overheating problem with either car.

Does the Firm Ride come on for no explicable reason whatsoever? I can be going down a straight road at moderate constant speed and all of the sudden the Fird Ride will turn on in my '95. I've never investigated it, but I suspect the ride control computer.
 
Kevin Varnes said:
2. The stock gauge isn't very accurate to start with. Anyways obviously the car has an electric fan that comes on at a certain temp (low and high speeds come on and go off at different temps) so it is not running all of the time. When you're moving you don't need the fan to cool the rad. When you are sitting still there is little to no airflow across the rad. The fan should come on and cool it back down. If it does not then the IRCM or fan motor may be bad. My Cougar does the same thing when sitting in line at the drive thru. I haven't noticed it as much on the '95. I've never had an overheating problem with either car.

Does the Firm Ride come on for no explicable reason whatsoever? I can be going down a straight road at moderate constant speed and all of the sudden the Fird Ride will turn on in my '95. I've never investigated it, but I suspect the ride control computer.

yeah it just randomly comes on...its no big deal my main concern is the running of the engine....today i was pulling into a parking stall and the car randomly stalls, doesn't completely die...just drops idle to around 450-500...then catches back up....
 
If the idle stumbles only when you are parking or turning at low speed, I'd check the power steering & a/c compressor. First I'd turn off the a/c so that would eliminate a bad compressor/clutch. Then after checking the power steering fluid level (assuming ok and not black in color) I'd remove the serpentine belt and see if the PS pulley is binding. Besides computer or electrical faults they would be the 2 obvious causes. Next I'd observe the main cranshaft pulley to see if it's running true; as the beginnings of a bad balancer could also cause low speed idle & stalling. Use a mirror and make sure the main crankshaft bolt and the 4 pulley bolts are intack.
 
what about...

so the guy at the ford house said they are notorious for bad lower intake manifolds?....and are really bad about blowing head's and head gaskets...but i've not found ANY cases or people on the boards about people having head/intake problems...
 
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