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[alacorn101]

I just purchased an 03 cobra 22000 miles. from carmax. the traction control wasnt working so i took it in for service. they in turn had me go to ford. The dealer said there had been tampering in the way of chip or piggyback unit on the ecu. They said it had been removed thus faulting the traction control and the abs. They reinstalled the as factory ecu software and no problems since. Everything works fine. The discovery of ecu tampering prompted me to look further into the engine bay. Ive discovered an aftermarket pulley. 2.8 i think. and ive been told the exhaust is not stock by the sound of it. My concern is if the stock ecu software can handle the increased boost pressure. im not sure the amount of increase the boost guage doesnt go beyond 10. any suggestions as to my next course of action? Should i have the origional equipment installed? Should i keep what ive got? :huh:

[jnmarm]

I dont know where you're located but if I was you I would take it in for a dyno tune. Under load they can tell you if you are going lean at any point through the RPMs. Jeff S. in San Jose, CA did my tune. I recommend him if you're in this area.

[alacorn101]

Im in washington dc

[bhartman]

You either need to go back to the factory pulley or get a tune. The odds are that with the factory tune back in you're running lean.

[Gastrader1]

If it were my car, I would not drive it until I had a custom tune for the modifcations that have been performed. As Bruce said, you most likely are running lean and if you are and decide to find out how fast your new toy is, you are not going to like the next result. By running lean, you are taking a large risk of frying the pistons. You have many options regarding the tune and if you ask ten people, you will find ten different answers with all claiming to have the best tuner. Get a custom tune, have your then dynoed, and see exactly where you stand.
Good Luck
Brian Shafranek
SVTOA Eastern Regional Director

[stangluvr]

I absolutley agree with Gastrader1. Do not drive your car. It is not a matter of if you will damage you engine, without a proper tune and a smller than stock pully you will damage your engine. Your best bet for an immediate and least expensive fix would be to put a stock pulley back on. The exhaust and Cold Air Intake kit should not be a concern with the stock tune.

Also, Most knowledgeable tuners will tell you that a 2.8 pulley is too small with a stock SC. the heat ceated by so many SC RPMs starts to counter act any gain you want it to produce. 2.9/2.93 is the smallest recommended size for our cars with a stock SC.

Good luck!

[ChicagoMike]

Your traction control was disabled in the aftermarket tune that was on the car. It was just a matter of turning the TC back on in the tune. Ford doesn't do that stuff, only aftermarket tuners.

So you're running a stock tune now with a 2.8 upper pulley... STAY OUT OF BOOST .. if you have been boosting it ....the life of the engine is compromised. LEAN.

You should have kept the aftermarket tune on there.

99% of tuners disable traction control in the tune.

[ChicagoMike]

One more thing... your boost gauge does not go past 10 because on some cobras (like mine) there was a tab that prevents the boost needle from going over 10 PSI. You have to pull the cluster and break off the tab behind the boost gauge that stops the needle.

Now you need to go pay for an aftermarket tune....


I just purchased an 03 cobra 22000 miles. from carmax. the traction control wasnt working so i took it in for service. they in turn had me go to ford. The dealer said there had been tampering in the way of chip or piggyback unit on the ecu. They said it had been removed thus faulting the traction control and the abs. They reinstalled the as factory ecu software and no problems since. Everything works fine. The discovery of ecu tampering prompted me to look further into the engine bay. Ive discovered an aftermarket pulley. 2.8 i think. and ive been told the exhaust is not stock by the sound of it. My concern is if the stock ecu software can handle the increased boost pressure. im not sure the amount of increase the boost guage doesnt go beyond 10. any suggestions as to my next course of action? Should i have the origional equipment installed? Should i keep what ive got? :huh:

[alacorn101]

Can anybody recomend a tuner in the Washington DC Maryland or Virginia area? Also how would one know if pistons or rings were burned?? Compression test? If there is engine damage what recourse do i have? I did purchase an extended warranty with the car. This is becoming a nightmare.

[dwtalso]

Here's my 2 cents. The car is drivable, just don't go into WOT. Don't worry about hitting a little boost during normal driving. The PCM will keep the car from leaning out on you. You still want to exercise a little caution because the smaller pulley will build boost faster. Just stay out of it for now. One thing to do is "read" your plugs periodically. You'll know if the car is leaning out on you from their condition.

Certainly, one choice is to return the car to stock. On the other hand...

I don't know tuners in the DC area, I'm sure they're out there, but you can at least get a decent, safe mail order tune from several places. Way down south from you is Runnin With the Devil (http://www.rwtd.com). North of you is Amazon Racing (http://www.amazonracing.com). I've gotten tunes in the past from both those places; they are nice folks to talk to and really knowledgable about these cars. They can get you a chip, Predator, or XCal II with a safe, conservative 2.8 pulley tune. Lightning Force Performance is another place.

One thing they'll ask is the size of the fuel injectors. Other than the pulley size that's the most critical bit of information. The stock injectors are blue; if there's any other color then you'll want to check one out somewhere.

You'll want a dyno session if at all possible, but without one you can get by, imho.

[dwtalso]

Can anybody recomend a tuner in the Washington DC Maryland or Virginia area? Also how would one know if pistons or rings were burned?? Compression test? If there is engine damage what recourse do i have? I did purchase an extended warranty with the car. This is becoming a nightmare.

Have a compression and a leakdown test. A compression test alone won't tell you the whole story. Inspect the plugs. You could also poke into the cylinders with a borescope and inspect some of the piston and cylinder walls.

The data you gather is not a guarantee but it will help ease your mind a tad by eliminating the obvious :).

Was the car sold to you "in stock condition"? Did the seller tell you it was modified before you bought the car or the extended warranty? If not, then you'll want to seek out information on DC's Lemon Laws and the extent to which "As Is" applies to this situation. If the seller was a dealer they may not be protected by "As Is". And the warranty is an issue as well since, if you'd known it was modded you may not have purchased it; possibly there's some sort of consumer protection law that will help you.

If the mods were disclosed to you up front, I think you might be out of luck on the warrany as far as powertrain goes.

[snakebite]

Guys, how do you know if you are running lean? I ask becasue during the winter months, I started my Cobra in my garage. When it turned over, I always got a "strong" smell of gas. The smell went away after the car ran for a while.

[alacorn101]

Thank you all for the advice I greatly appreciate it. I went to Carmax and they said the car was definitly still under warranty as it sits. They did say they would check into getting the stock pulley if I wanted but saw no reason to change it as I had no check engine light. I am not very confident in their knowledge of the car however and feel this type of thing is way over their heads. In response to dwtalso They claimed the car was stock. Before I had the car shipped to the Richmond location from Maryland I asked many very specific questions for the walkaround in MD, specifically mentioning inspection for mods to the charger, engine, rearend, interior, exterior, wheels, and exhaust. All responses were meets Carmax standards, and by standards I was told they sell all modified cars at auction and do not offer them for sale on thier lots. I love the car and would hate to give it back. I really hope they will put it into stock trim for me. Not really sure what recourse I have however. I had planned on keeping the car quite some time. Not to mention If I did wana sell it down the road resale is shot due to the aftermarket tampering.

[dwtalso]

Guys, how do you know if you are running lean? I ask becasue during the winter months, I started my Cobra in my garage. When it turned over, I always got a "strong" smell of gas. The smell went away after the car ran for a while.

It's pretty common to get a little unburned fuel on startup. That's the gas smell and sometimes a white vapor. Technically the car is super rich at that point.

I assume that when you ask how I tell if my car is running lean that you mean without special tools? I have a wideband O2 sensor on mine so I'm monitoring it all the time :). That's obviously one way. A dyno with a wideband sensor is another.

Without those however, there are several signs that the car is lean. One is sound. An engine running lean makes a noise kind of like marbles in a tin can. The word "deiseling" is sometimes used because it sounds similar to the noises a deisel engine makes. That is the sound of detonation or pre-ignition and usually means motor is way too lean.

Another sign is a whitish/gray smoke form the exhaust. A lean motor produces a thin smoke, especially under load. This is a tough one because cold gas in the exhaust creates a wispy vapor, coolant produces a "steamy" cloud, and oil produces a thicker blue cloud, and all can be confused under certain situations. A rich engine creates black soot.

Finally, and the best way without an O2 sensor, is to read the plugs. There are several sites online that talk about how to do it and what to look for. In a nutshell, you want to look at condition of the electrode, the porcelin aound the electrode, in the space between the porcelin and the base, and the flat ring on the base.

Pitting or damage on the porcelin, or damage or metallic particles on the porcelin or electrode, indicates severe detonation. A motor that's simply a little lean will have a bright, clean insulator, a grayish electrode, and the base ring will be grayish colored and sometimes sooty. The base ring should be evenly colored. If it has light colored spots or a section that is very light colored, this is a sign of detonation.

A car running rich will have some coloring on the electrode and porcelin; in most places in the US its a reddish color and this is from fuel additives. Without additives the color will be light gray or tan. Also, the base ring will be dark gray to black.

[dwtalso]

Thank you all for the advice I greatly appreciate it. I went to Carmax and they said the car was definitly still under warranty as it sits. They did say they would check into getting the stock pulley if I wanted but saw no reason to change it as I had no check engine light. I am not very confident in their knowledge of the car however and feel this type of thing is way over their heads. In response to dwtalso They claimed the car was stock. Before I had the car shipped to the Richmond location from Maryland I asked many very specific questions for the walkaround in MD, specifically mentioning inspection for mods to the charger, engine, rearend, interior, exterior, wheels, and exhaust. All responses were meets Carmax standards, and by standards I was told they sell all modified cars at auction and do not offer them for sale on thier lots. I love the car and would hate to give it back. I really hope they will put it into stock trim for me. Not really sure what recourse I have however. I had planned on keeping the car quite some time. Not to mention If I did wana sell it down the road resale is shot due to the aftermarket tampering.

I understand your concern. But it sounds like the seller wants to take care of you. And they should since it's not legal for them to sell a modified car as stock ;). I'm sure you are completely protected in this case.

As for the check engine light thing, you are correct, they have no clue. Under normal driving you will never get a check engine light from a pulley swap and the damage that occurs under load with an untuned car won't cause a CEL either because the motor won't run long enough for the PCM to throw codes ;).

Imho, if they'll put it back to stock and maintain your warranty, do it.