98 Ford SHO

Hey guys,

I'm new to this site but I see you post a lot of comments and seem to know what your talking about. I just got a 98 Ford SHO (And I LOVE IT!) from my uncle but out of no where these different problems started showing up all at once:

1. Something is draining the battery. I leave the car parked (over night) and it's comopletely dead in the morning. But this isn't consistent, it only happens every now and my uncle said he put a new alternator in it last summer and my dad put a new battery (the best one autozone had). And there's no visible light being left on in the car.

2. Sometimes the car will turn over beautifully but won't fire up! And it's VERY random. I can drive the car for a couple of days and it runs perfectly but then all of the sudden it will sit for an hour or two and when I try and start it.... NOTHING!

3. Recently the 'service engine soon' light came on and I took it to AutoZone to have it scanned. There's a misfire in the 2nd cylinder (I don't know which is the 2nd). They say it needs a tune up, but when I called around people were telling me that it's like $500 just to change the spark plugs!!!!

I really love this car but if it's going to be a hassle like this then I'm going to have to go back to Chevy. ANY help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks,

Mike

HELLO Kellner,#1 put a volt meter in series with battery(between positive of bat & pos cable)it will show if a short is present
#2 does engine crank?? maybe related to #1
#3 misfire you need to check for spark... plug, wire ect.
i have worked on a few taurus's plugs were not that hard to change
GOOD LUCK

Welcome to the forum!

If you have a test light, put it in series with one of the battery cables. If there is a significant current draw, the light will glow brightly. When doing this, make sure you don't have a hood light and the doors, etc. are closed. You can start pulling fuses until the light goes nearly or completely dim. Once you find the offending fuse/circuit, then you get to drill down on that circuit.

I'd suggest you start with the fuse for the Rear Electronics Module (REM), glovebox, and radio.

As for the lack of cranking, you'll probably need to check for fuel pressure at the fuel rail when this happens. Since the '98 SHO has Coil on Plug (CoP) ignition, checking for spark is not as easy as on other cars. There is a Schrader valve on the fuel rail under the hood that makes it easy to check for fuel pressure.

For the misfire on cylinder #2, that is the 2nd cylinder on the bank near the firewall, the difficult one to get to. Cylinder #1 is the cylinder near the firewall closest to the belts. The cylinders down that rear bank are 1, 2, 3, 4, then on bank 2 near the belt is cylinder 5. The CoP on the rear bank really are not as bad to change as they would appear. After I did mine once due to a bad CoP, the subsequent times I could swap and one coil or plug in 45 uninterrupted minutes by myself, hood up to hood down. If you're ever in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area and have a need to change the rear coils/plugs, I'd be happy to prove the 45 minutes to you. ;)

-Rod

Thanks guys, I will give all of these ideas a try, I'm a college student so money is an issue and I won't be able to get all of these things done in one day, but I will definately post more info as it becomes available... Thanks again.

tell ya what i got 8 extra coils laying around from my engine swap and know your position on it... if you need one, Private Message me and flip me the money to ship one to you and you can pretty much have it for free PM me if your in need!