And the fun ends abruptly....

onequiksc

Registered User
Well, my new wheels/tires gave me a few weeks of enjoying driving the car again, until yesterday that is...

Very weird confluence of events that seem initially unrelated but ...who the hell knows.

Drove it a couple miles up to McDonalds for an iced coffee yesterday morning, started ok, but I noted a strain on the starter, like it didn't have enough oommphh, or the bendix was sticking briefly...drove out the development ok, but when I pulled onto the main road I noticed a pre ignition rattle when I gassed it even moderately...

Got my coffee and started home, and 1/2 way pulling up to a red light I noticed a miss...was shaking slightly, thought it might stall but didn't, got it home and popped the hood.

Looking at the crank pulley etc. because that was the last thing done on the car, it has a new BHJ on it , maybe 1500 miles....

Everything up front looked good, no wobbles, crank bolt present, then I notice smoke coming from under the driver's side firewall, under the master cylinder. Turn car off. Flashlight reveals oil all over the place, on the top of the valve cover and down that side of the engine...hmmm. Jack it up, look under, can't find a hose loose or crack in anything. Start it up, and immediately I see oil spraying out of a small hole in the dipstick tube, about 6 inches down. Well, The tube lost the tack welded strap a decade ago, but I never secured it better and didn't pose an issue, till yesterday of course.

So hey, I'm thinking "maybe caused a vacuum leak/ miss"...I get some lacquer thinner and clean the tube, some JBWeld quick, and go do my lawn work. Couple hours later, put the dipstick back in the tube , secure the tube temporarily, and start the car. Problem solved.

Well, 1 problem solved.

I take it for a spin and the pre-ignition is still there, and now I've got gray smoke (not steam) coming out the tailpipes. Turn it off, check oil...looks clean and good. Check the rad, coolant is full and looks ok.

Start it again and the starter strains a bit and starts it ok, but it's missing and more smoke.

get my GF to follow me up to the shop to drop it off, and the smoke is bad at times, she said it smelled like oil/ petrol.

Spoke to Bryan this morning and his knee-jerk was that it was a timing issue, even down to the starter part of it since a pre-ignition condition is causing the car to fire before it actually normally would.

The good; The tech at the local shop is an old Ford ASE guy that was working at the dealership level when SC s were made, and he's worked on my car untold times, so he knows it well.

Ideas and comment welcome. I've never seen anything quite like this before. Day before, It was running perfectly, and i wasn't beating on it...What really has me nuts is the dipstick tube issue, what are the chances of these things all happening at once and not being related
?

T-Bird SCs=Never a dull moment...
 
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Maybe holed a piston, busted cam, cracked head. Sure hope it's not that serious tho.
 
Don't like to hear this Dan, what all got coated with oil over there from the leak, possible connection issue with the oil residual there?? Trying to think what's back there on the drivers side on the early models.. Bryan knows every inch of his, he would have the best guess on that..

RJ
 
Well, I know it pretty well too RJ, I did the headgaskets a few years back, and I can't think of anything back there that would precipitate the other bad issues via an oil film...the outer side of the oxygen sensor on that side shouldn't be affected since the working part is inside the exhaust...

I honestly have a bad feeling, I guess I'm preparing myself for the worst, but I want to think there's a chance I have a bad injector or such...hell, even what KMT said, a cam I could live with....just not a piston or bottom end deal breaker...I can't imagine the oil spray somehow getting past an injector o ring and fouling a cylinder, as I've never heard that before. If it was possible one of the O ring seals went bad I would have had a bad vacuum leak way earlier I would think. car has been running awesome till this.


With Memorial Day on Monday, I won't hear anything until Tuesday at the earliest.
 
It's possible that when the head gaskets went a connecting rod was bent. This puts a side load on the piston and eventually it will fail. Not saying that is what happened, but it's a worst case scenario that fits your description pretty well.
 
Appreciate the info Dave,

....yeah RJ, I may need to hold onto Adam's car for the time being...Hope it doesn't come to that...
 
Dan really sorry to hear you have SC problems again. Let us know what the AutoWorks diagnosis is when you hear from them?

As I mentioned Saturday, I have the engine hoist if it comes down to that. We could pull the engine out of the 93 in a day, replace head gaskets for safe measure, and install in the 89 a day or two later. All worth it in my opinion.

Whatever you need just let me know.

Bryan
 
Bry, to say I appreciate the support is an understatement...without your offers of assistance I would have to re-think such situations and maybe let the car go...You are probably the glue that keeps this club together, no wait, not probably, you ARE.

Right now I'm hoping I hear something today, at least by Thursday at the latest i should know more. They were slammed up when I dropped it off and the holiday weekend exacerbated that, but I should have a plan of action by week's end.

BTW, I know you mentioned doing the H/Gs on Adam's engine, but...do you really think that would be necessary? Andrew said that motor was completely rebuilt and had about 500 miles on it when we picked it up...

The few times I started it and ran it it was quiet and ran well FWIW...

P.S. Miss the car already, I was having such a good time just driving it around town...
 
BTW, I know you mentioned doing the H/Gs on Adam's engine, but...do you really think that would be necessary? Andrew said that motor was completely rebuilt and had about 500 miles on it when we picked it up...

The few times I started it and ran it it was quiet and ran well FWIW...

It should be good then. I would check to be sure whoever rebuilt the motor used ARP head studs.

Bryan
 
He wasn't sure, but said he'd look around the house for paperwork...he said it might be in the car but I came up blank in the glovebox. He thought it was a place in Daytona, and now I'm wondering if it was AutoWorks (Kenny) but I don't think so. I will ask Kenny about it though when I see him about my car. They did do some things on his car prior to Adam getting very ill, so he should have records of the work.

I kind of recall Adam saying a shop in Deland did some work on it right before his health went downhill.

God, I still miss that kid...

Kind of puts one's problems in perspective...
 
Believe it or not I'm still waiting...They were so backed up with work that he was turning customers away, so at this point all I can do is hope to get some news soon...

I was told the head tech gave it a quick look-see last week, w/o technical diagnostics, but Ken the owner hadn't spoken to him about it as of Saturday. I'll stop by Friday and find out what I can....
 
Nopers...

He knows it's a "hobby" car, and not a daily driver, so he puts it on the back burner...but yeah, this is kind of ridiculous...

Will stop by later today or tomorrow and see what's up,

Thx RJ
 
Well, stopped by this morning and got some surprising news, good news...Spoke to Kenny the owner and Dean the master tech...

I always prepare myself for the worst case scenario; all the while I was contemplating a tear down or motor swap...and what they found is minor. The hardest part for me to reconcile is how the Hell did 3 seemingly unrelated problems all happen at once?

They found a BAD oil leak at the pass. side valve cover, one plug was covered in oil (miss?)... Ok...the driver's side was leaking as well, but not as severe as the pass. side...

He drove the car and felt no power loss, ran well he said, and the rattle was not pre-ignition. He found a heat shield came loose and recreated the rattle on the lift.

So...as for the starter issue I mentioned to them when I dropped it off? I forgot to ask and he didn't mention a problem, but given the bad oil leak maybe it found it's way down to the starter.

He said the exhaust smoke was due to the oil soaked pipes, and that it didn't smoke at all till he had it up to operating temp. Then it was coming out the wheel well and on back...

I just can't figure how THAT bad an oil leak(s) became so serious that I didn't notice it a week, or a day or two prior. Weird weird weird. Not to mention the addition of the dipstick hole I patched that same day...

I'm keeping fingers crossed that there's nothing they've missed. Dean is probably the best tech I personally know of and he knows SCs, so I hope he has this right. If so, I am one seriously lucky S.O.B.

I could do the work myself, but I've not the time for a couple weeks, so I'll just have them do it. Under $300 and I'm good with that. Plus I can't tac weld the shield.

Thanks for the concern fellas....I'm not psyched just yet, but I'm going to make them test drive the car well after the work and then I can celebrate.
 
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