1997 Cobra and Recommended Fluid Change

[akolodny]

Dear Mustang Enthusiasts,
I have a beloved 97 Cobra with around 130k miles. She runs great!! Lately, I've just been changing the oil, keeping up with the tires, and an injector flush...she's just purring along like the great piece of Americana she is.
Anyway, I'm thinking about undertaking a bit more comprehensive service next time. I'd say the coolant has about 60k miles on it. I'm not sure how old the transmission/gear fluid is...brake fluid...again not sure. Any fluid I should particularly have changed? Do you all standardly wait for the clutch to go before redoing the gear fluid?

Also, I used to own a Cadillac Northstar Seville, which by the way, I have mixed fealings on how great the Northstar engine is. Certainly, many people rave about it. Nevertheless, interestingly, it's basically the Cobra motor! It's a 4.6L, dual overhead cam, just transposed. Anyway, the reason I reference it is because with it, you are told you have to add pills to the coolant system on a flush. Does the cobra need pills on a coolant flush?

Yours, Alan

 

[GettinThere]

Anyway, I'm thinking about undertaking a bit more comprehensive service next time. I'd say the coolant has about 60k miles on it. I'm not sure how old the transmission/gear fluid is...brake fluid...again not sure. Any fluid I should particularly have changed?

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest ALL fluids (and filters) should be changed. That's what I would do.

 

[Sanco213]

i would go about doing the transmission service.. the rear... do a radiator flush... but i wouldn't worry about brake fluid.. you could cause more trouble then it is worth in trying to change the brake fluid. unless you have the proper tools.. IE a way to vac down the system and get all water vapor out of lines before refilling and bleeding all the lines...

 

[GettinThere]

Bleeding the brakes is easy if you install speed bleeders on all four calipers. Simply remove the old brake fluid out of the reservoir, refill, and bleed all four brakes by yourself (refilling as necessary). I think it's worthwhile to do at least every 3 years (every 2 years is better).

 

[GDTrumbo]

Dear Mustang Enthusiasts,
I have a beloved 97 Cobra with around 130k miles. She runs great!! Lately, I've just been changing the oil, keeping up with the tires, and an injector flush...she's just purring along like the great piece of Americana she is.
Anyway, I'm thinking about undertaking a bit more comprehensive service next time. I'd say the coolant has about 60k miles on it. I'm not sure how old the transmission/gear fluid is...brake fluid...again not sure. Any fluid I should particularly have changed? Do you all standardly wait for the clutch to go before redoing the gear fluid?

Also, I used to own a Cadillac Northstar Seville, which by the way, I have mixed fealings on how great the Northstar engine is. Certainly, many people rave about it. Nevertheless, interestingly, it's basically the Cobra motor! It's a 4.6L, dual overhead cam, just transposed. Anyway, the reason I reference it is because with it, you are told you have to add pills to the coolant system on a flush. Does the cobra need pills on a coolant flush?

Yours, Alan

If it were me, I would hit all these fluids just so I knew where I was. They recommend changing the rear dif. fluid every 3K on a Cobra car. I guess they figure it's gonna be thrashed so...

As for the Northstar, yes, it is a 4.6l, but is nothing like the 4.6l Jag engine that made it's way into the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury cars. That thing even has the starter mounted in the engine's oil valley under the intake manifold. Very strange to see!

GT

 

[bdcardinal]

the northstar isnt worth the metal its made out of.

the basic architecture is the same as a mod motor in that its a v8 that displaces 4.6L and is DOHC, but thats about where the similarities end. the northstar has 3 timing chains, one from the crank to where a cam gear on a OHV motor would go, and then 2 chains off of that to each head.

the 4.6 in the Jaguar's is different from the modular motors also.


just to be safe, change all the fluids. its cheap, use factory filters as they are the best bang for the buck.

 

[Will Smith]

AS far as the fluids go that you have described. what i would recommend is this... the coolant which u should have in there is "green". vs the "gold" or "orange" ford coolants. green coolant is normally recommended to be changed every 30K or 60K depending on vehicle. the pills you are talking about in reference to your northstar are most likely to control the acidic level of the coolant. That is why we mix water with coolant to help control that. Coolant has better properties in both boiling point and freezing point than water does but it is acid and in a 100% state cause cause metal to errode. if you have ever seen a old water pump and seen the metal start pitting this is a good example...esp with aluminum. Ford doesn't recommend using any of these "pills". As for the trans fluid. I will assume since u talked bout a clutch you have a manual trans. the fluid inside pretty much acts just like fluid in a rear end. it bathes the gears and such to just keep them lubricated. If you haven't ever changed this i would recommend doing so... you can use Mercon 5 Transmission fluid for this. Check your owners manual for fluid capacities. Brake fluid is always good to change. most ford dealers should have special "dip strips" to test that while checking your vehicle in. They will measure the amount of moisture in a brake system reservoir. If your brake fluid is starting to look dark that is one sign that a brake fluid exchange is necessary or the "dip strips" show excessive moisture in the system it is also recommended. I work at a Ford Dealer in Florida and not to be bias bout the difference about the GM Northstar vs Ford 4.6L DOHC's but I would rather work on a Ford 4.6L blindfolded, handcuffed, and with a really bad case of the runs b4 I would ever touch a northstar... That in my opinion is a bad case poor design that GM did.

 

[GDTrumbo]

the northstar isnt worth the metal its made out of.

the basic architecture is the same as a mod motor in that its a v8 that displaces 4.6L and is DOHC, but thats about where the similarities end. the northstar has 3 timing chains, one from the crank to where a cam gear on a OHV motor would go, and then 2 chains off of that to each head.

the 4.6 in the Jaguar's is different from the modular motors also.


just to be safe, change all the fluids. its cheap, use factory filters as they are the best bang for the buck.

You could be right, though, I have read, in more than 1 place, that the 4.6l prototype modular V8 was sitting on a rack in Jaguar's R&D department back when Ford bought Jaguar in the late '80's. Originally designed to be for a FWD car, the FWD block was modified to also be used in a RWD configuration. Otherwise the '91 Town Car's modular was virtually the same.

Is this all a crock??

GT