2003 Cobra making ticking noise

Take the chip out take it to another dealer and demand that the head be replaced. There is a TSB for this I am not sure what the number is. Good luck. I just hope I don't have to go down that road. Let alone go down that road multiple times (unclemeat)

Later
Jason

Was the car ticking when you bought it?
Some folks have had luck getting the head replaced with mods, some have not. Good luck.

Do not take it in with the chip (and pulley I assume). The TSB is NOT a recall. It's something that occurs on "some" cars, but not all. Some dealerships will look for any excuse to not honor the warranty and a chipped car is a darn good excuse in their eyes.

It isn't an incorrect head, its just a bad one. Like I said above, remove all mods and take it to another SVT dealer and let them put another head on it. If it comes back, keep taking it back till they get it right. Something has to be done about the problems with these defective heads.

Later

term, check your pms.

Lifter?...............LOL LOL LOL LOL

You have "the tick"
Ford needs to replace the head.

If you have a chip in your PCM and are truly worried they won't touch it, get a new PCM from Ford.
They wil be able to tell a chip was there and may give you **** about it

Vic

If the engine/powertrain warranty really is voided on this car (which it is), Ford won't fix it. When buying a used car, ask for an Oasis report. The report gives the warranty repair history of the car.

If this is the same guy who traded his Camaro in on an '03 with no warranty he may have something a little more serious than just "The Tick". I've seen a copy of the Oasis report on this car. Talks about a bad #7 cylinder. There's a post over on LS1.com about it. Car had the warranty voided for chip on the ECM. Sounds like they were going to repair it under warranty until they removed the head and found something more serious wrong with the #7 cylinder. Called SVT and reported the problem along with the info that a chip was present. SVT rep voided powertrain warranty. Car was brought to a different dealership 4 months later and was denied yet again.

U.M.

What are all the modifications done to the vehicle? If it is just a chip I wouldn't worry about it, they are not going to take apart the kick panel, pull the pcm out just to see if it had a chip. Now if it had other mods like exhaust then they may go hunting for more stuff, if you have a pulley on it you are pretty much screwed. I have a lot of friends who are also techs that work at ford dealerships, they say the service managers love to void powertrain warrantys on these cars for simple mods.
Anyways, my suggestion bring it in to a different dealership with no mods, have the tsb performed. You now have your drivers cylinder head replaced, no more ticking, no money out of your pocket, and your car is back at 100%.

maybe not buying the car would be the best idea.
i know i wouldn't want to buy someone else's headaches.

5.0's 4 ever said:

If it is just a chip I wouldn't worry about it, they are not going to take apart the kick panel, pull the pcm out just to see if it had a chip.

Click to expand...

Hate to break it to ya but they will indeed take the time to look for evidence of a chip. It's happened to a lot of people already.

5.0's 4 ever said:

Anyways, my suggestion bring it in to a different dealership with no mods, have the tsb performed. You now have your drivers cylinder head replaced, no more ticking, no money out of your pocket, and your car is back at 100%.

Click to expand...

The engine warranty on this car is voided at any and all dealerships across the country. The head will not be replaced under warranty.

Just curious 5.0's 4 ever...have you tried to have warranty work performed on an 03 Cobra? In most cases, non SVT dealerships won't work on them and SVT dealerships don't want them in their service bays. The number of refused repairs on these cars is staggering. Furthermore...there's no proof that a new head fixes the tick. Some have had the head replaced and the tick has returned.

RaceRat said:

Hate to break it to ya but they will indeed take the time to look for evidence of a chip. It's happened to a lot of people already.

Click to expand...

I'm just saying if there is no reason for them to expect the car has been modified, why would they take the time to look for a chip. A loud ass exhaust would be tip off that the guy is into performance, but if everything is back to factory condition when you bring the car in, its not going to raise any attention.

RaceRat said:

The engine warranty on this car is voided at any and all dealerships across the country. The head will not be replaced under warranty.

Click to expand...

That all depends on if it was reported or not, some dealerships are nazis others are not.

RaceRat said:

Just curious 5.0's 4 ever...have you tried to have warranty work performed on an 03 Cobra? In most cases, non SVT dealerships won't work on them and SVT dealerships don't want them in their service bays. The number of refused repairs on these cars is staggering. Furthermore...there's no proof that a new head fixes the tick. Some have had the head replaced and the tick has returned.

Click to expand...

No I have not tried to have warranty work done, would like to own one but I have my 96. I am a tech at lincoln mercury dealership and we do work on SVT vehicles. We have two 03 cobras that come in and have work done here. If the vehicle has had the cylinder head replaced and the tick returns later on that sounds like a repeat part failure to me. I would bring it back and have them fix it again. The main problem all revolves around ford not being able to build quality cylinder heads.

5.0's 4 ever said:

That all depends on if it was reported or not, some dealerships are nazis others are not.

Click to expand...

Here's the oasis report on the car in question. If this car came into your dealership, would you be authorized to replace the head?

VEHICLE INFORMATION
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION
2003 MUSTANG BODY STYLE
2 DOOR COBRA COUPE ENGINE
4.6L DOHC EFI SC ENGINE CALIBRATION
2ZE2SC0A
TRANSMISSION
6 SPD TREMEC ASM T56 AXLE CODE
TE
GENERAL WARRANTY INFORMATION
WARRANTY START DATE
06/29/2002 BUILD DATE
06/14/2002 SALE MILEAGE
00011
WARNING MESSAGES
LESS THAN TWO DEALER APPROVED AWA REPAIR VISITS PAID TO DATE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ENGINE WARRANTY COVERAGE CANCELLED

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERIFY STATE REGISTRATION, VIN MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR CALIFORNIA EMISSIONS WTY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*THIS VEHICLE HAD A CUDL CONTACT CLOSED
OUTSTANDING FIELD SERVICE ACTIONS
NO CAMPAIGN MESSAGE(S) FOUND
EXTENDED COVERAGES
NO ESP INFORMATION AVAILABLE
REPAIR HISTORY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

09/24/2003 DEALER: Dan Wiebold Ford
WARRANTY CLAIM NUMBER: 021992 ODOMETER: 010129M
PART NUMBER PART DESCRIPTION QUANTITY
LABOR OP
CONDITION CODE
CONDITION DESC
12A650 PROCESSOR ASSY 000 12650D 42 DOES NOT OPERATE PRO
000 12650DX1
000 12650D45
000 12650D81

EEC TEST PER LEW CARVER, SUSPECT CHIPPED PCM EEC TEST, PINPOINT TEST, NGS R ECORDER MONITOR ROAD TEST

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

05/29/2003 DEALER: Meridian Ford Sales, Inc.
WARRANTY CLAIM NUMBER: 025262 ODOMETER: 009563M
PART NUMBER PART DESCRIPTION QUANTITY
LABOR OP
CONDITION CODE
CONDITION DESC
XO 5W20QSP 000 MT6007 42 DOES NOT OPERATE PRO
F7LZ 6584BA GASKET VALVE ROCKER 000
2R3Z 6020BA GASKET CYL TIMING GE 000
2R3Z 6020CA GASKET CYL TIMING GE 000
F5RZ 6A340B BOLT-CRANKSHAFT PULL 000
2R3Z 9H486AA GSKT INT MANF UPP 000
2R3Z 6051BA GASKET CYL HEAD 000
2R3Z 6065BA BOLT CYL HEAD 000
VC 4A 000
2R3Z 9L437BB GASKET INTAKE MANIF 000
F1AZ 6731BD ELEMENT ASY OIL FILT 000
PM 1 000
F7AZ 3F823AA 000
YN 19 000



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

05/29/2003 DEALER: Meridian Ford Sales, Inc.
WARRANTY CLAIM NUMBER: 025262 ODOMETER: 009563M
PART NUMBER PART DESCRIPTION QUANTITY
LABOR OP
CONDITION CODE
CONDITION DESC
XO 5W20QSP 007 MT6007 42 DOES NOT OPERATE PRO
F7LZ 6584BA GASKET VALVE ROCKER 001
2R3Z 6020BA GASKET CYL TIMING GE 001
F5RZ 6A340B BOLT-CRANKSHAFT PULL 001
2R3Z 9H486AA GSKT INT MANF UPP 001
2R3Z 6051BA GASKET CYL HEAD 001
2R3Z 6065BA BOLT CYL HEAD 010
E2FZ 19549AA 012
2R3Z 9L437BB GASKET INTAKE MANIF 001
D9AZ 6731A ELEMENT ASY OIL FILT 001
OSP 000
F7AZ 3F823AA 002
YN 19 000

DIAG FOUND ENGINE HAD BAD CYLINDER #7 REMOVED ENGINE TO VERIFY WARRANTY IS V OID DUE TO CHIP THIS WAS NOT ON OASIS 9.9 MT TIME PER FIELD ENGINER LEW CA RVER OASIS DID NOT STATE THAT THE WARRANTY WAS VOID

END OF OASIS REPORT FOR

No we would not be able to work on the engine under warranty. Sucks for him but hey, thats the risk you take when you want the extra performance and bring it in modified though.

5.0's 4 ever said:

No we would not be able to work on the engine under warranty. Sucks for him but hey, thats the risk you take when you want the extra performance and bring it in modified though.

Click to expand...

What sucks is someone is trying to sell this car and not telling the buyer the whole story. This car and the same scenario came up about a week ago on SVT Performance.

Thats pretty sad that people won't come straight forward and tell the potential buyers that car has the warranty void. Looks like its going to be mandatory to get an oasis report done on the 03-04s before you buy them now.

5.0's 4 ever said:

Looks like its going to be mandatory to get an oasis report done on the 03-04s before you buy them now.

Click to expand...

Anyone who doesn't would be a fool....

U.M.