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?
I don't believe a warped cam or crank is a plausible issue with this car,
both conditions would have cause catastrophic engine damage as well as these
things don't happen to a running engine. All of whatever fuel is left must
be done away with, and the fuel system should be flushed out. Oil and filter
change, engine cranked over with no plugs and fuel pump shut off. There will
other issues with a 4 year improper storage. But see if you can get it
running first. Where in the NE?, check with local regs for fuel disposal. Of
course at best all this will bring the car back to the original no power
problem.
<snoopy_@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1128627543.979046.200060@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> 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.
>
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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
snoopy_@excite.com wrote:
> 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.
one80out@hotmail.com wrote:
> 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
>
> snoopy_@excite.com wrote:
>
>>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?
Umm, yeah...
--
You couldn't recognize a "fact" even
if it took a crap on your face. - Michael Johnson, PE
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.
That wouldn't have warped the cam shaft. He probably meant a valve.
<snoopy_@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1128627543.979046.200060@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> 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.
>
In article <1128627543.979046.200060@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, snoopy_@excite.com wrote:
> 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?
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.
>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
>
>snoopy_@excite.com wrote:
>> 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.
> 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.
>
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