Note by Editor: These articles are intended to supplement the V8 Chronicles from the SHO Club magazine. They also will have new content that we deem important to V8 Owners.
Added 2-3-05 Here is a site with an excellent photo selection of a cam weld, showing the disassembly in great detail: http://www.utahfordclub.com/meeting3.htm V8 SHO's continue to fail at an alarming rate. We encourage all SHO V8 owners to contact Ford Motor Company and let them know how they feel about this situation. We are seeing our first SHO V8's advertised on the SHO Club Classifieds with "modified" cams. A suggestion: If you sell your SHO and it has welded or pinned cams, you should specify what type of modification it is, and be prepared to present a verifiable receipt for the work! If you get work done on your SHO, save that receipt and make sure the year, VIN and miles of your SHO are recorded on it to help you get maximum value for your SHO! Without that receipt, you must pull BOTH valve covers to prove that the work has been done! THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH PUTTING OFF THE WELD? THINK FORD IS RIGHT IN THEIR OPINION THAT WELDING IS "UNNECESSARY"? READ THIS FROM A SHO OWNER THAT KNEW HE HAD TO DO SOMETHING BUT WAITED TWO DAYS TOO LONG: SPROCKET FAILURE
You should send the FORD guy to look at my vehicle....stock (no mods what-so-ever) !! (that line refers to a discussion that Ford is blaming cam failures on modifications to vehicles, Ed--) I took the valve cover off of the car this last weekend to get a visual of the problem. My neighbor (mechanic) didn't hear of the problem, and wanted to look at the sprocket. I had it all apart, and had my friend (welder) there to see what he had to weld. We had planned on doing the welding yesterday (Wed). I couldn't just park the vehicle, it's my only means of transportation. It let go Monday morning on my way to work...going about 5 mph it stalled. What are the odds that it would happen 2 days before the welding could be done.
As you can imagine, I'm a little pissed (actually a lot) right now. My neighbor did a test yesterday to see if the intake valves were bent....and yes they are. He blew compressed air into each cylinder to see if any air came out of the connection before the MAF. If the valves weren't bent, there wouldn't be any air coming out there.
What's my next step?? (name and other info deleted by Ed.) Yet another SHO owner waits too long! The week of 10-4-04 SHO Club got a call from a V8 SHO owner that had been warned by us to get the cams welded ASAP. Less than a month after that warning, his car is now awaiting repair. First estimate by a Ford dealer is a repair cost of over $17,000! He has an ESP warranty, and the dealer estimated the value of the car at $10,000, a generous valuation.......considering V8 SHO resale values (those values driven down by high parts prices, and the defective camshafts). Yet the dealer padded the repair to an astronomical amount. Thus the owner will wind up paying MORE with an ESP warranty than they would if they didn't have one and went to a reputable mechanic. $7000 out of pocket WITH a $10,000 warranty! We can't say it often enough or loud enough. If you have a V8 SHO, your camshafts MUST be welded or you take a high percentage risk of a catastrophic engine failure. DO NOT wait to get your V8 cams welded! V8 SHO fixes for known problems that are now cropping up as we get experience with the car Follow up article in Detroit Free Press about the class action suit Article by Detroit Free Press about the cam situation Class Action suit filed against Ford Motor Company http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/CamFailureClassActionSuitFiled.htm Find places to get your cam pinned/welded/worked on NOTE: scroll down the page a bit to find the list of businesses. Hear what a bad cam in a V8 SHO sounds like right before it self-destructs and takes the motor with it! New 5-20 oils NOT for use in V8 SHO! Read about it here. V8 Cam NEWS, new 9-18-02 V8 SHO motors available with warranty (used) from new source
