Is This Normal?

[Hookers&Blowers]

The car is a 1990 Red Super Coupe manual tranny with leather and 130,000 kms and I'm buying it from a used lot I don't trust. I don't know if the head gasket has been done, but I do know it needs a full brake replacement badly, which I'm OK with, but the ABS and brake warning lights are flashing when I push the brake pedal. Is this normal? The firm ride light is flashing all the time, the supercharger rattles and is "noisy" according to my mechanic. There's a burning plastic smell under the hood which I can't diagnose, the battery hold down is missing and the power steering pump is leaking. To top it all off, the engine is pinging, but the car has been running on 87, so I was also wondering if this is a problem that will go away after a couple tanks of 94...

If you guys have any answers on any of these problems, please help as I LOVE this car and I would hate to have to give it up for another automatic.

[David Neibert]

Walk away...sounds like a pile of crap that's going to cost a lot to repair.

David

[Scott Long]

Flashing brake and ABS lights mean that the accumulator isn't pressurized when you are hitting the brake. It may stop, but if you have to slam on the brakes in an emergency, the pedal will go to the floor for a few seconds until the pump pressurizes the accumulator and then the pedal will pop up and bounce from the ABS kicking in. If you are stopping in an emergency, you probably don't have a few seconds to spare.

You can get a new accumulator by going to www.priorreman.com and then calling there 1-800 number. They don't have pricing on the site that I can find. If I recall the accumulator is around $100 and you can change it yourself with an Allen wrench socket and a long ratchet.

The flashing firm ride light means that one of the actuators is stuck either in firm mode or soft mode. If its in "AUTO" and flashing flip the switch to "FIRM" and the light should stay on constantly. You can try to replace the actuator with a used one but usually they don't fail. The valve in the shock goes bad so you have 2 choices. New Tokico Illumina 2 shocks, and you can retain the firm ride stuff (pricey), or go with some KYB or even Monroe standard TBird LX shocks, and then you just unplug all 4 actuators. If you want to get rid of the light, unplug the suspension computer in the trunk under the rear deck. Then you can use the firm ride switch for something else or just not use it.

The noisy grinding supercharger is a bad snout bearing. There are rebuild kits for like $35.00 on ebay, or you can send it in to Magnum Powers for $300 and rebuild it. Or you can try to get a used blower from someone here in the classifieds section. They are pretty easy to swap if you can turn a wrench and aren't afraid to get your hands dirty. It's about a 30 minute job. You could take off either the jackshaft or supercharger belt and run without the blower for a while but the car will be dead slow and 1/4 throttle is all the power you'll get. It makes no difference in going from 1/4 throttle to full throttle without the blower, trust me I know. I do this in the winter so the car is easier to drive in snow/ice. But it's slow. Very slow. I can still cruise it at 100 mph easily on the highway, but it takes a while to get up to that speed.

The power steering leak could be simple or difficult. Here's the common problem.

The power steering pressure line could leak, or the seal on the pump could leak. The pump can be changed out fairly easily, if you get it done or do it yourself, there is a bracket from the pump to the water pump, take it off, throw it away, it makes it so you have to remove the ps pump pulley to remove the water pump which is just stupidity.

If you are unlucky, than the motor mounts are shot (they are hydraulic filled) and they leak as they are old. Then the motor sags down and pinches the power steering pressure line between the oil pan and the subframe. As the pan rubs the line, the line wears through and leaks. Then you have to change the motor mounts and the ps pressure line.

If you change the motor mounts get some solid rubber mounts from www.supercoupeperformance.com they won't leak, and won't tear apart like the stock ford units do. They should last the life of the car. I think I got a ps pressure hose for like $30 from a parts store, it's not too expensive if you can get it from a parts supplier, but the dealership is pricey if it's even still available and not discontinued.

It looks like you might be getting yourself in deep, so know that going in. These cars are fun and if you can do your own work, very easy to keep on the road. If you have to pay someone to work on it for you, then you can run up a steep bill very fast. So know what you're getting into.

The only way to tell if the head gaskets have been changed is to pull the heads and see what kind of gaskets are on there. I'd say have a compression test done on the motor and see what the results are. Having the gaskets changed is expensive, if you do your own work you can do it yourself. I did mine for about $400-450 in parts (gasket set, head bolts, head milling, new belts, hoses, plugs, wires) It took me a few days working on it in the evenings. I had never done such a major repair myself but I decided I wasn't going to pay $1500 for something I was probably capable of doing myself.

If you have any other questions ask. I would love to see you fix up and save this SC. I hate to see them get scrapped. But if you are not mechanically inclined, and you don't have a lot of money to blow on a car for a toy/project, then I'd do like David suggests and walk away.

Oh for your info, my SC is a 90 Automatic, it is my daily driver, I take it everywhere. It has 245,000 miles on it currently. I've changed the fuel pump, waterpump, head gaskets, plugs/wires (about once a year), rebuilt the trans once, and replaced a broken balancer. I've also had to change the cam and crank sensors. Oh yeah and a thermostat every couple years. Other than that it's just been oil changes every 3000 miles, tires every couple of years, and brakes every other year.

Just make sure what you are getting yourself into. Best of luck if you buy it, and we are here to help with it, so ask questions if you need help. This site is great. I've been here since 1998 and without the stuff I've learned here over the years I'd have sold my SC long ago and moved on. But everytime I get behind the wheel and feel the power and get pushed back in the seat, I am glad I kept the car.

As for the battery hold down, well do you have to have it? I know at the track the tech inspector told me I had to securely mount the battery if I was going to race, but other than that it's never been a problem. I got one from a junk yard for like $2.00 and all it is, just a rubber wedge block with a long bolt in it.

The burning smell, not sure. Start it up, watch the engine run, see if something is smoking. Otherwise maybe power wash under the hood, something could have dripped on the exhaust or maybe the hood liner is falling apart. I ripped my hood liner off anyways. Check the PS pump cap to make sure it didn't fall off and melt on the exhaust manifold.

[TwoToneThunder]

well how much are they looking to get for it??

[Scott Long]

The suspension on the car when set to auto keeps the shocks in a softer valve setting. When you slam on the brakes hard, the car will switch to firm setting to help level out the car and reduce nose dive. Then when you stop it will go back to auto and the firm ride light will go out.

If you accelerate really fast the light will come on to stiffen the shocks while you are accelerating. Also when you take a sharp turn it will automatically firm up until the car levels out.

If you go over I believe 90 mph while driving it will automatically firm up for better stability at high speed.

Of course if you prefer the firmer more responsive handling you can override it to firm all the time by flipping the switch.

It was cool when it worked, but when the shocks wore out I replaced them with standard style non adjustable shocks and unplugged the actuators. I have to leave mine in firm mode or the light flashes, that is until I remove the computer from the trunk.

[Hookers&Blowers]

I bought the car for $4000 CDN. It's an amazing cruiser and I haven't touched the engine yet, so we'll hope it stays that way until tomorrow when I take it to the shop and have them test EVERYTHING. Brakes are being completely redone as we speak. I have had the car for less than 24hrs and I've already done 185km/h in 4th! So sweet. You were totally right about trying to save this car. Oh yeah, and the brake fluid was low, which explains the lights flashing when I braked. So I just have to fix the suspension fault and then it's all engine work from there, which I'm sure you guys can help me out with over time. Thanks again and I'll be around this website for a long time, touch wood!

[Scott Long]

Welcome to the darkside.

For us, the SC isn't just a car, it's a passion.

[xThunderbirdSCx]

touch wood?

is that a canadian thing or something?


:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

i thought it was knock on wood, eh?

[sdw]

Since you're in Vancouver you should check out the Western Canadian chapter. Our website is http://www.sccowc.com/. The club is pretty active and very helpful for a local!

sean

[92sclikenew]

Welcome to the darkside.

For us, the SC isn't just a car, it's a passion.



i like that :D ;)