Im new to this and I just bought an 03 SVT Cobra convertible. It was used, but only has 18K on it. Pretty good deal on the price. The car is in near mint condition and runs amazing. It came w/ a Bassani exhaust system on it. The SES light is on and the dealer who sold it to me says it could be from either the exhaust system (which he swears will still pass state inspection) or the fuel. He states his "tech" pulled the code and its a fuel code. His reasoning is there was a bad batch of gas in the tank. He suggested I run premium thru it for a couple of tanks and that should clear the code. I used to be a service manager at a corporate Goodyear store in Austin and i've never heard of a SES light turning itself off. I was wondering if any one who reads this has heard of this type of problem----the fuel issue or problems w/ the Bassani exhaust systems. Any help would be much appreciated. It runs great and got 19mpg on the first tank in city driving! Thanks for taking time to read a message from a first timer!
Congrats on the Cobra (Verts the only way to go!) You are supposed to run Premium fuel only! 91 or better...all the time. Might have a bad 02 sensor causing it to throw a fuel code....maybe, just guessing. Might take it to a different dealer or local shop and have them just run the codes for you , give you a better idea of what it really is. Best thing to do is take it to a speed shop and change the pulley and have them dyno/tune it , then you really know what you have and you've woke the beast up. Never heard of one clearing the codes by itself. Good Luck.
If i get the pulley done and have it dyno/tuned, what kind of mileage should i be expecting? Im not looking to race the car. Its mostly a daily driver, w/ attitude! I have a sheet printed out that show it was dyno'd recently. Its puting out 450 hp at the flywheel and 420 at the tires. The only mods i know of are the Bassani exhaust. It doesn't even have a k&n. Dont know if the computer's been messed w/? I wonder what the odds are that the dealer will replace the O2 under warranty.....given its got an exhaust system on it? This damn 'vert is great! I've owned it for less than a week and i get more honks & waves from hot girls in this thing than i ever got in my lifted Z-71! Ill never get rid of it.
420 at the wheels with only a cat-back? Plus you have an SES light on??? Me thinks your car may have another mod which you are unaware of... maybe an O/R mid pipe perhaps? That would explain both your SES light and the RWHP numbers... U.M.
^^^^ What he said. Must have something else working for you. These cars are so easy to mod. Get it to a shop ( or another Terminator owner can look at it) and find out what you have...or don't have and start adding to it. Good Luck
Thanks for the help and suggestions. Ill have someone look at it and determine what i have going under there. Ive been running premium and will probably continue to do so until it gets too expensive. I was thinking about adding a pulley. Ive seen a few for sale w/ different diameters. I was thinking about getting the smaller one available so i dont have to change my belt and wont get a ton of boost. Is the pulley hard to do myself w/ a decent set of tools? Is it the pully on the s/c or another one? What exactly is an O/R mid pipe? What else would ya'll recommend me do to the car? Remember, its a daily driver and i want decent mileage. Im not wanting to take it to the track all the time. Its definately got plenty of power, but a little more cant hurt, right? Ive already smoked several kids in z-28's w/ ease and beat a guy in an 03 vette (w/ his hot girlfriend in it) by several car lengths. I havent taken on any newer vettes. W/out sacrificing my hearing and decent mileage I would like to be able to do that. Any help/suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.
... Yeah man only run premium. I only run 100 oct. race fuel from the track just to be safe. You never know when you are going to get bad gas or worse yet...go to a gas station that isn't really selling 91 out of their "91 oct" pumps. I would only put in Sunoco 94 or get race fuel and get a before and after dyno when you bring it in. OR just get it to a shop quick and get it tuned first to make sure that you arent doing any damage. You never know.. The last owner could have had a completely different supercharger and even have changed the fuel system around.. There's no way to be sure you are ok until you get it dynoed. I would do it quick so that if you find anything is seriously wrong you can get it back to the dealer.
What they said about the premium gas. You would only save a buck or so each fill-up. The trade-off would be less performance and worse gas mileage. So there goes your buck of savings. You won't hurt it because the computer would compensate for it. Not worth it for the performance or mileage issue. I have never used anything less than 93 octane in either of my Cobras, either Shell, Sunoco or BP/Amoco. Sometimes Ultra 94, but either way, no less than 93.
Yes you will hurt it by not running 91+. When you go into boost your compression goes way up. With lower octane gas you will get Pre detonation. The gas explodes under compression and not from the spark. It explodes early on the up stroke and can cause serious damage. Look at the dashboard. It says Premium only. Look at the owners manual. Premium only. It has nothing to do with saving money.
Ditto! I would probaly figure out whats been done before I did any stop light action. I've seen people do pulley swaps and never get them tuned afterwards. Double checking want hurt anything and could save you a few pennies down the road. Ditto again! Always run the highest octane you can...this goes for N/A Cobras as well.
I would never advocate running anything but premium. Ford, though, isn't stupid. I am sure that they have taken into account that some kid might get one and fill up with lower grade, either by mistake or trying to be cheap. Or maybe one of his parents takes it out and puts in regular or mid-grade just out of habit. Maybe I am wrong, but I am sure that the computer would compensate somehow. The car is tuned pretty safely out of the factory.
