99 Cobra HP Problems - Northern California Ford Owners

This is topic 99 Cobra HP Problems in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners .

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Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

I just got back from Apex Motorsports with the worst news. My rear wheel HR is 235. 235 wow what a crappy day. The car just had a tune-up. and according to SVT (FORD) the car has had the "Fix" intake honed, cat back, and computer flash. I have an appointment for Monday to take it to Frontier Ford. any ideas on what i need to say or mention? I am not under warranty 60K+ miles.
all help will be appreciated.

Posted by sn8k (Member # 2350) on :

Who did the tune up? What did they set the timing at? Sounds like they just robbed you of about 40 RWHP. Sorry dude - I can imagine your disappointment. Maybe the guys at Ford can redo the tune (if they didn't do it in the first place).

Posted by st5150 (Member # 51) on :

Did you test the air fuel ratio as well? Can you post the graph so we can see what it looks like?

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

I changed the plugs, fuel filter, all fluids with Redline, but the timing has never been adjusted. Do you think that could be the problem? Bill said that could be a problem too the timing and the timing of the cams, but he has never seen a 99 with such a low output. I have the appt. monday so i hope they can run a diagnostic test to see why i am being robbed of all that power. and yeah i'm pissed.

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

as for the air/fuel, it is pretty even,Bill said it looked fine.
It starts at 15@2500 then drops to just below 13 at 3000 and stays even until 6800.
I don;t have my scanner set up so i can't get it up right now.

Posted by 91GR40LX (Member # 1329) on :

What type of spark plugs did you replace, motorsport? What type did you put it?

Posted by TRY2PAZ (Member # 97) on :

I would do a compression check, then add soem headers and some pulleys. What gears are you running?

Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :

I agree, do the comp test. You could be down a cylinder, I mean that is a 4 year old motor and stranger things have happened to newer motors that were ragged on.

235 HP sounds consistent with the following compression results:

1: 180
2: 175
3: 180
4: 185
5: 180
6: 175
7: 0
8: 175

[Whoo Whooooo!]

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

the plugs are motorsports. as for the comp check thanks i think i will do that tomorrow, i was hoping the car would be running strong for the cruise tomorrow, but I guess that isn't going to happen. Thanks for giving me some angles to think about and check.

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

What type of motorsport plugs should i have? I just pulled the one i have and they are 32C's are these the right ones? maybe i was given the wrong ones.

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

ok so i got he car back from Ford and the car has had the "fix" and it is fine. the tech told me that ford just made lots of mistakes on the 99 and that their is nothing that can be done. he said that i should talk to Bill at apex and see if he can figure out what is wrong. or have the engine rebuilt. so i have no idea what i am going to do i gues i just am the stupid ass owner of a slow ass Cobra. this f'n sucks. any ideas?

I will call Bill tomorrow see if he has any ideas. Someone said it could be a bad/clogged cat?

Posted by st5150 (Member # 51) on :

I wish I could see the graph [Frown]

Posted by Black94 5.0 (Member # 655) on :

quote:
Originally posted by j_yates78:
ok so i got he car back from Ford and the car has had the "fix" and it is fine. the tech told me that ford just made lots of mistakes on the 99 and that their is nothing that can be done. he said that i should talk to Bill at apex and see if he can figure out what is wrong. or have the engine rebuilt. so i have no idea what i am going to do i gues i just am the stupid ass owner of a slow ass Cobra. this f'n sucks. any ideas?

I will call Bill tomorrow see if he has any ideas. Someone said it could be a bad/clogged cat?

If it was your cats then your OBD II should have figured that out...Thats what the four O2's are for..Are you getting any codes from the EEC?...What were the results of the compression test?...

235rwhp isnt that bad [Frown]

...Thats what I shooting for, with my stock heads and cam '94 302 [Wink]

[ February 25, 2003, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: Black94 5.0 ]

Posted by hidnn.o.s. (Member # 1219) on :

Junior put down 275 - 280 with his 99 cobra stock and now with full exhaust just topped 300. He had the "fix" done before he bought it. Good luck with yours

Posted by cobraracer46 (Member # 1142) on :

Ok, you took your Cobra to Frontier and the tech said it was fine, it's had the fix, well, that means that the car was checked for codes, air fuel ratio, 02 switching, etc. Bill said that air fuel ratio looked good. It would seem that the problem might be outside the motor? Aside from the shitty dyno #'s how deos the car feel on the street? Cold it be somthing stupid like debries in the air filter intake, could the rear brakes have been draging on the dyno run. could your drive line be sucking up more power than it should? Restricted exhaugst? You can check that by hooking up vacume guage and seeing if the reading drops significantly as rpm goes up.Good luck

[ February 25, 2003, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: cobraracer46 ]

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

OK i was able to get the dyno and the compression tests scanned. I don;t have the skills or the knowledge to understang them more than Chinese so your help is definately appreciated. The dyno looks like the power starts to drop off at 5K rpm but i should be getting power strong through 6800 right? Bill mentioned cam timing could this still be the problem?

How do i attach the files?

Posted by st5150 (Member # 51) on :

www.californiafords.com/album Click on member's photo album and then click on upload.

Posted by PseudoCobra (Member # 1689) on :

If i could pick one of FOrd's biggest mistakes it would eb this car. Too unpredictable. I would never own a car where the whole bunch had problems from the factory. I sure hope you could get it fixed if not I think you'll have fallen victim to a Ford lack of proper testing before releasing a vehicle which I hope never happens again. [patriot]

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

OK i uploaded the dyno to the phot album. let me know what you think the problem could be.

Thanks Jason

Posted by shade-tree (Member # 298) on :

something definitely shit the bed at 5200

edit: image not working.... damn

[ February 25, 2003, 11:08 PM: Message edited by: shade-tree ]

Posted by griffined (Member # 1330) on :

For comparison, my stock dyno on my 01 also has HP starting to fall off after 5100 RPM, but it starts and stays higher than his through the curve. My car gets really rich at 6200, something I'll fix with a chip when the warranty runs out.

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

I just called SVT and they said that the car is mine and that i have no warranty to worry about and that the cats could be clogged. Does this sound right with the dyno sheet and the A/F? They said that an x pipe or catback could gain that horsepower loss back plus more. That all sounds good but what do you all think?
the car has 60K+ miles, do cats go bad that quick?

Posted by 91sleeper (Member # 779) on :

I wouldnt add mods to "gain the horsepower back and some". Fix the car properly, meaning make your car put out the power it should be putting out, right now without adding mods.

After you figure that problem out add a densecharger cold air and an off road exhaust consisting of long tubes a shorty h pipe and some spintech mufflers. [patriot]

Good luck with her.

Posted by j_yates78 (Member # 1791) on :

Does anyone have any other ideas about he low HP? or how to fix, or gain that horsepower?

Posted by StreetStang37 (Member # 935) on :

does the car actually feel like its running like shit? Was it a Mustang dyno? Race a car similar to yours in trap speed from a roll on the freeway (you dont have to really race, just long enough to check). If you keep up good or run even or even beat it then your car is ok. Might be nothing. I seen cars make "320 rwhp" run dead even with another car that has "285 rwhp" (same weight).

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