Potential problems for 99 cobra?

D

dec322

Member
Feb 11, 2006
401
2
16
Bham AL
#1
I am looking into buying a 99 cobra sometime soon. Can you guys give me some things to specifically look for when buying one.

I just sold my Foxbody and wished I knew more before I bought it. Loved the car but I kinda bought it uneducated and got ripped on a few things. Now if I were to buy a fox I would know what to look for and questions to ask. I don't want to do the same thing on a cobra.


For instance, one cobra that I'm looking at the guy said there is a drain on the battery and he thinks its the IRS relay sticking open. Is this common? How hard is it to fix?

Another problem is that there is ticking on the pass. side that the mechanic thinks are the lifters. They estimate $500 to fix.

The car has 112k on it but it is gorgeous!

Any advice?
 

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#2
1 - I've neard of a IRS (Independend Rear Suspension) relay causing a battery drain before. Did the owner indicate what "IRS" stood for? :shrug: That one sounds goofy....LOL

2 - Ticking could be a bad sign that the engine may need a rebuild. Can you better localize where the ticking is coming from by using an engine stethoscope?

If you have to take the car into a shop for engine repair, it can get quite costly and $500 to repair it sounds way too cheap IMHO.

It would be a good idea to run a compression and/or engine leakdown test to see what kind of health the engine is in. If it is making a ticking sound, it's possible the previous owner may have let it run low on oil at some point, and it is now starting to show the after effects...(bearing problems, etc).

As with any previous used car, check out the major components and the usual items that one would pay attention to.

The 99/01 is a good platform, but has its own little gremlins. For 99 specific, you will want to double check that the factory has performed the "horsepower fix." The vast majority of 99s were serviced and corrected (new intake/catback/tune from Ford). Run a search for "1999 cobra recall" or "horsepower fix" to learn more.

The T-45 trans in the 99s are decent, but as with any trans, signs of abuse will show up (synchros bad, grinding in/out of gear, etc) during a test drive.

The IRS, or rear suspension will tend to "hop" a lot if you plan on doing a lot of standstill starts or drag racing. You can cure it by either swapping to a solid rear or working with its nuances and making some suspension changes...

Those are probably the big factors to consider when dealing with a 99. G'luck...

:cheers:
 
#3
Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately the car is 5 hours away. It is hard for me to diagnose anything because I cannot hear it. The guy is selling it on the corral. I guess I'll just have to wait until one a little closer comes my way....or until the guy fixes it and then tries to sell it.
 
#6
I live in Birmingham and I flew to Alexandria VA to get mine. I was assured there was nothing wrong before I got the plane ticket. $12,500 is what I paid over 2 years ago. It had 74,000 miles and a folder with over $10k in reciepts. I've been told I'm the guy people tell the "you wouldn't believe what this guy paid" stories. I just happened to find someone with lots of $$$$$$ and wanting a new toy.

I'm not sure if there even is an IRS relay.
Compared to a 5.0, your going to hear some ticking with 4.6 DOHC's I have a very slight tick that you really can't locate and a VERY, VERY knowledgable mechanic told me all 4.6's have that. If it's a bad tick, it might be more serious, but also 4.6's don't have lifters. Thats what the OHC got rid of.
 
#8
first off, it is a really nice car I can see why you'd take a second look at it and soon after want to buy it.

1 bad thing, there is no IRS relay (irs is just independent rear suspension) there would be no relay for suspension. If the battery is draining, there is either a problem with an accessory running when the key is off, a bad ground, or he keeps charging it every so often and it needs an alternator. Just for the heads up.

The ticking I've heard alot about, what I seem to hear is the most common is lash adjusters (correct me if I'm wrong) sticking, and it is usually the furthermost back on the passenger bank of the motor. and I believe the fix for that was to either bleed it down a few times and try it again, or to get a new set.

I know my information isn't perfect here but usually if people post up stuff that is close others will tune in and perfect the information. So if someone else has any more accurate ticking info, chime in and don't feel bad to correct me.



I hope this helps to start out. :)
 
#10
dec322 said:
How long did you have to look for it? I've been casually looking for a couple of days and it seems to be the going rate in my area and even more as I look nationally.
Click to expand...

Your probably not going to want to hear this, but it only took me about a week to a week in a half to get my cobra. I called the guy before I sold my Integra to see if it was really as clean as he made it out to be and it was. Sold my Integra about 3 days later.. I saw it that same day and made an offer of 12k. He said no that's too low. So I waited.... Two days later he reposted it for 13.5 on Craigslist and I made him the offer of 12.5k and he wife budged because she liked me (I did the whole broke college student thing). Yeah that's right the late forty year wife drove the cobra. Remember mine was 100% stock when I got it.

All I have to say is Craigslist and Auto trader:nice:
 
#11
walk

Keep looking, that's way too much money for a 99 Cobra with that many miles.

Look in:

the SVTperformance.com market section
Craigslist
Carsoup
Autotrader
Cars.com

I bought my last few cars through either Craigslist or Carsoup. You just have to be patient. Never be in a rush to buy a car, you will end up either settling, overpaying or both.

Good luck to ya!
 
#12
svtpower said:
Keep looking, that's way too much money for a 99 Cobra with that many miles.

Look in:

the SVTperformance.com market section
Craigslist
Carsoup
Autotrader
Cars.com

I bought my last few cars through either Craigslist or Carsoup. You just have to be patient. Never be in a rush to buy a car, you will end up either settling, overpaying or both.

Good luck to ya!
Click to expand...

+1:SNSign:
 
#13
I actually found my Cobra on STANGNET!! And from the time that I first saw it until the time I picked it up was 4 days. And there was a plane ticket and flight in there too. But I totally agree with being patient. As long as when the right car comes along you're prepared to ponce like a Tiger. <img src="http://planetsmilies.net/kaos-animal-tiger-smiley-6228.gif" alt="http://planetsmilies.net/kaos-animal-tiger-smiley-6228.gif" title="http://planetsmilies.net/kaos-animal-tiger-smiley-6228.gif" style="border-width: 0;"/></a>
 
#14
I had the battery draining problem on my '01 cobra. The battery would go completely dead after 3 days of sitting. Took the dealer 2 weeks to diagnose....Turns out, one of the audio amplifiers was draining down the battery. They replaced it, and I've had no more problems.

I did hear of this happening to someone else...but I don't have the details.
 
#15
Whats wrong with the 99 cobra in my opinion

First I want to start off by saying I have never had a power drain on my 99 cobra convertible battery.

But the there is some things I would change besides the factory recall for the 99 intake fix and rear knucle and e-brake disengaging by its self on some cars I have not experience that problem but Ford fixed it for free and even gave me a free rent a car.


Suspension. the car needs either Eibach pro springs or Steeda I prefer eibach
Exhaust Magnaflow In my opinion sound the best
Headers Basani Mid length even though long are better but they hang to low
CAI I went with JLT and ScT MAF combined with diablo chip *dyno tuned*
Dallas Speeda calibrator
373 Gear to wake the cobra up
tokico or blstein shocks and struts I went with tokico adjustables
Brakes SSBC or Baer Claw I went with SSBC I think they are awsome
Shifter Tri axe short shifter
Get your self a good set of tires Don't buy cheep ones like a buddy did on his transam and woundered why he doesnt hook up as well.

Other than that keep the car clean change your oil with full synthetic oil I use Mobile 1 Good set of irodium spark plugs check them often to see how they look . check oil levels depending on your driving and after all is said and done . You should have a perty decent ride.

Remember This is just my opinion some things I have done could be against peoples thoughts and opinion but oh well.
 
#16
The guy contacted me through PM on the corral. Evidently the battery drain was due to the 3:73 recalibration through the cig lighter. He barely drives the car (2k in 14 months) so the drain becomes more evident. It has now been run through the ignition.

The ticking problem is being investigated/fixed now.

His price is to 11.8k. I like the car and would love it to be fixed. We will see....:)
 
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