I went to start my Cobra the other day and it cranked normally, started to fire so I let off the key and it died. On the re-start attempt, it would crank but not start. My battery is old and weak, so I put it on the charger and waited. Same problem with the charged battery. I tried jumping it and even borrowed the battery from my truck. No luck. Towed it to a local shop I know and trust.
I don't know exactly where they started with their troubleshooting, but they reported extremely low to non-existant compression on 7 cylinders. The car does have 102,000 miles, but I have owned it since new and changed the oil regularly with Mobil 1. It does not smoke or use any significant amount of oil between changes. There's just no way the rings are toast in 7 cylinders and even if they were, it would start and blow blue smoke
The shop pulled the valve covers and noted that the valves are all moving but they suspect that I may have jumped a tooth or two on the timing chain, which seems plausable to me based on the symptoms. They are worried that one or more valves may have contacted a piston. You can't hear any knocking or metal on metal contact when the starter is turning the engine over. They are going to dig into it and check the valve timing next. They looked into the possibility of an engine replacement from Ford and apparently this is not an option. If there is serious internal damage, I am going to need to find a shop to rebuild my engine, preferably in the St. Louis area.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Kent
I don't know exactly where they started with their troubleshooting, but they reported extremely low to non-existant compression on 7 cylinders. The car does have 102,000 miles, but I have owned it since new and changed the oil regularly with Mobil 1. It does not smoke or use any significant amount of oil between changes. There's just no way the rings are toast in 7 cylinders and even if they were, it would start and blow blue smoke
The shop pulled the valve covers and noted that the valves are all moving but they suspect that I may have jumped a tooth or two on the timing chain, which seems plausable to me based on the symptoms. They are worried that one or more valves may have contacted a piston. You can't hear any knocking or metal on metal contact when the starter is turning the engine over. They are going to dig into it and check the valve timing next. They looked into the possibility of an engine replacement from Ford and apparently this is not an option. If there is serious internal damage, I am going to need to find a shop to rebuild my engine, preferably in the St. Louis area.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Kent