Warped camshaft or crankshaft?

My father had a 1990 Mustang GT that lost some its "guts" or power so my father purchased another car and let it sit idle for the last 4 years. Anyway, I have a 15 year old kid who begged for it and I finally caved. When I asked my father why he thought it lost its power he said that when he took it to a mechanic, the mechanic thought that water may have gotten in through the exhaust manifild and warped the camshaft (he also could have said crankshaft not sure). Does this sound plausible?

I started reading up on working on engines because I thought this would be an interesting, and costly journey, and from a lot of stuff I read it seems that a lot of things can happen to rob power from your engine, and suggestions at minimum were a compression test, and even better a vacuum (leakdown) test to diagnose the issue. I started thinking that maybe I could avoid a rebuild if I did some further tests like vacuum and compression, but now I am afraid of what the inside of the engine might look like after being idle for 4 years. Especially because we live in the Northeast.

Also, what do I do with the old gas that's still in the car? I imagine I could try and siphon it out, but what do I do with it then?

Thanks for any advice.

Reply to
snoopy_
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Reply to
Shep

As far as I know this was only a problem with the wood crankshafts that Ford experimented with in the '70s. I don't think any '90's came with wood cranks, but it's possible your Dad's might have had an engine swap.

180 Out

sno> My father had a 1990 Mustang GT that lost some its "guts" or power so

Reply to
one80out

Umm, yeah...

Reply to
WindsorFox[SS]

Car was in Philadelphia, now in South Jersey. I was just wondering because I had my mind made up on yanking the engine out for a rebuild, but I didn't want to waste my time if it isn't necessary. Also, I wanted to keep the orignal engine so I thought of swapping for a crate engine and holding onto the orignal until we could rebuild it. Engine is orignal, only one owner so I assume the numbers match, etc.. Thanks.

Reply to
snoopy_

That wouldn't have warped the cam shaft. He probably meant a valve.

Reply to
Scott Buchanan

No. Simply because it was still running. The mechanic has no way of knowing what was bent without opening it up.

You're going to have to get it running again and then diagnosis it. Or at the very least get so you can crank it over get some oil flowing, etc and then do a compression test.

There are lots of things that could cause that symptom. If a compression test was done way back when to determine that something was wrong internally it would still take further testing or disassembly to figure out just what.

If water go in the cylinder, then the head gasket is faulty or the surfaces of the head or block are damaged. This alone will cause power loss and result in a failed compression test. On disassembly it can be determined the extent of the damage.

Reply to
Brent P

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

All joking aside, it wasn't THAT long ago that you could see plastic timing gears....

Reply to
Ritz

Reply to
cprice

No, not even close to plausible. Now if he had said "wiped" the camshaft, there is a remote possibility it isn't nonsense. If coolant got in the oil the abrasives that form sometimes cause camshafts to lose their lobes. But not usually roller cams (and that's what a 1990 Mustang would have). So even in the most generous interpretation, odds of the statement being correct are pretty slim.

Yes, start with basics.. Check the ignition timing, check the cam timing (see if the timing chain is stretched or slipped.

See if you can run it in your lawnmower. If not, call your city's waste disposal department and see if they have a program for disposing of household wastes like paint thinner, gasoline, etc.

Reply to
Steve

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

That's interesting advice... I usually take old or questionable gas from the boats & lawn equipment and use it in the Taurus!

Rob

Reply to
trainfan1

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

My '70 Pontiac GTO came with the plastic timing gear. It sheared the teeth off at 49,800 miles when the warranty on American cars was good for 5 years or 50,000 miles. Now American cars have warranties of 3 years or 36000 miles. Manufacturers must have less faith in the new cars than those manufactured in 1970.

Reply to
philoman

That might be true, but I don't think that was the case on the many sets of stripped plaastic timing gears I dealt with. 8-)

Cheers,

Reply to
Ritz

Not less faith... they're just more realistic, AND they recognize the bottom line dollar figures. Just as Sears once had DieHard batteries which were exchanged with no question, today, they are pro-rated because of the money lost.

The more modern cars have become, the more things which can go wrong. This is quite important when the parts are contracted out to so many different companies. All it takes is for one to have a bad production run.

I've had old cars and new cars, and while the old cars were more susceptible to things like rust, the mechanics were very simple and it took quite a bit for something to go wrong as long as you maintained a minimum of standard care.

Today, you have so many complicated subsystems that you can not easily maintain the total vehicle. Add that so much electronics is used, and electronics is very temperamental with regard to heat, cold, moisture, impact, and current fluctuations, anything could go bad at any time and you'd have little or no warning.

Consider how the airline industry has progressed in the same way cars have. But the airline industry began building in redundant systems.... and on many aircraft, the redundant systems have redundant systems. Why would they need them? Safety and the knowledge that anything can fail at any time. An example is the C-5A military cargo aircraft. I forget how many computers it has but they have a minimum number which must be working in redundancy before the aircraft is considered ready for flight. (Ex: If the have 4 computers, then at least 3 must be fully functional.)

What is the difference between cars and planes? Cars don't generally fall 40,000 feet when something fails.... and if they did, they carry a lot less in people, fuel, and munitions.... : 0 )

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

No argument about plastic used in that frame. Perhaps it had something to do with the shear direction. Much as a crystal shears on a specific plane, as you see in diamond cutting, plastics also can have directional shear based on how the molecules are aligned. The strength comes from the same thing.... how tightly the molecules are packed. Maybe those timing gears should have been constructed differently. Maybe more on the order of bulletproof glass.... layers of a polymer sandwiched between layers of polymer with a different shear direction.

But, hey. Who in the 50s thought we'd be making bumpers out of plastic, let alone doors, etc. Or that an Indy racer could be built to withstand being T-boned at 200mph without reaching the driver?

Technology moves ahead. Maybe someday the materials envisioned in Star Trek, like transparent aluminum, will come to pass.

Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

Very good reasons, Spike. But consider Hyundai, 10 years 100,000 miles on the powertrain. US manufacturers need better warranties.

Philoman

Reply to
philoman

Consider where Hyundai comes from, along with a number of other makes. Places where, with the help of cheap labor, they can turn out a zillion copies for next to nothing. So, their bottom line is not hurt as bad by warrantee repairs. Naturally, that's only one aspect of the equation, but you begin to see how our labor market has hit makers in the wallet, and they're going to cut whatever corners they can to satisfy their shareholders. In time, I have little doubt you would see even Hyundai cutting the same corners as their labor costs rise, and they get stiff competition from some other producer (ie Red China).

Not sure what the figures are today, but a few decades back, all the materials which went into a single vehicle were worth about $600. The rest of the cost was eaten up by things like pay scales, benefits, and some to advertising. Spike

1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40 16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial 225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.
Reply to
Spike

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