my cobra has been getting hot when idiling. not to the point where it reaches hot but goes up alot. i have flushed radiator, check thermostat. any reason for this? car has only 30k miles on it. thought about purchasing a griffin radiator but not sure i want to drop 500 dollars in cooling. anyone have any suggestions on what might be going on. thanks
1996 cobra overheating
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it only overheats when it is ideling. i let it run hot then took the cap off. there was no water flowing when i took the cap off. (is my water pump bad) all of this is new to me but really driving me nuts. i took it to ford about the upgrade they told me i was full of it and there is no such thing. so i took it to 2 more ford dealerships they told me the same thing. what about getting a pusher fan installed in it? would that help? any advice would be great.
Sorry I didn't mean to come off as a ****. I'm having a bad day and I am about 10 secs away from burning my Cobra to the ground. There is a TSB on 96 Cobras. There was never a recall on it. Typically the cooling problems are due to Ford screwing up when they made the A/C condensers. There are too many fins per inch and it doesnt allow air to pass through properly to the radiator. They will happily do the upgrade to the 97 condenser and radiator for a mere $2000. 
As for your problem, do you have underdrive pulleys on it? Alot of times that is when you see a cooling problem at idle. It also is possible that the water pump is going out.
As for your problem, do you have underdrive pulleys on it? Alot of times that is when you see a cooling problem at idle. It also is possible that the water pump is going out.think about this. the water pump turns the slowest at idle since its driven by engine rpm.
if there was no water flowing at all, the higher in the rpms you would go, the faster the coolant "should" move. therefore, the car should overheat worse while moving if the pump was shot. the air flowing through the radiator is only cooling the fluid in the radiator, but that fluid isn't traveling through the engine.
when was the last time you changed coolant? did you properly bleed the cooling system?
if there was no water flowing at all, the higher in the rpms you would go, the faster the coolant "should" move. therefore, the car should overheat worse while moving if the pump was shot. the air flowing through the radiator is only cooling the fluid in the radiator, but that fluid isn't traveling through the engine.
when was the last time you changed coolant? did you properly bleed the cooling system?
i just took it to ford got radiator flushed and refilled had thermostat checked everything was ok. fan works properly. not inless the gauge is not working propery i dont know what else to do. was going to put a pusher fan in it to help.
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how hot is it getting on the N O R M A L scale?
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The gauges are not very accurate, but I'd say that your getting up to the 230's and then the fan is bringing them down. I run 70% water and 30% coolant this will help, also you could wire the fan so you can turn it on with a switch or get a chip to turn it on at what ever temp you want. I would go with the chip just so you don't have to think about it.
I know how you feel, I fought the overheating gremlins for quite some time, I finally broke down and bought a fluidyne radiator, but to be honest if I'm sitting in traffic on a hot day 80+ she creeps up to the A before the fan brings it back down.
I know how you feel, I fought the overheating gremlins for quite some time, I finally broke down and bought a fluidyne radiator, but to be honest if I'm sitting in traffic on a hot day 80+ she creeps up to the A before the fan brings it back down.
some info that may help http://crunch.colorado.edu/~cobra/topics/96/96cobras.html
also a friend of mine has same problem he took out his thermostat and says its working better
also a friend of mine has same problem he took out his thermostat and says its working better
jwolf,
i too have a 96 cobra. mine, unlike yours, is fairly heavily modified. at idle, mine will get to the A with the a/c on. if i turn the heater on, it will cool it down. this is difficult now that it's summer and i am spending more time in texas... but it helps some.
i have also noticed that during "spirited" AND highway driving it will warm up to A then cool back down.
it seems that the thermostat just doesn't want to open, then once it does the engine cools off.
personally, if it were that big of a problem, i would first try a 160 thermostat, then add water, then try a secondary fan.
71k on the odo fyi.
good luck!
i too have a 96 cobra. mine, unlike yours, is fairly heavily modified. at idle, mine will get to the A with the a/c on. if i turn the heater on, it will cool it down. this is difficult now that it's summer and i am spending more time in texas... but it helps some.
i have also noticed that during "spirited" AND highway driving it will warm up to A then cool back down.
it seems that the thermostat just doesn't want to open, then once it does the engine cools off.
personally, if it were that big of a problem, i would first try a 160 thermostat, then add water, then try a secondary fan.
71k on the odo fyi.
good luck!
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644 Posts
my old saleen used to read that. Turns out the temp sender for the gauge was shot, and it would always read hot. Its only like $10 tops from napa, thats a cheap way to check if its just a sensor before dropping 400 bucks on a radiator
hey, I have a 96, did you take off the filler cap on he upper radiator hose, its a metal black hose that runs up from the radiator to the top of the engine, there is a plug on the hose that you have to unscrew and fill some water in that whole. It called burping the system, if you do this I will almost promise that it will solve your problem. Send me a pic of your engine bay and I will circle it and send it back to you so you know exactly where to fill. I had the same problem, with my 96 cobra, air gets caught in the line and then coolant cant be pushed up the hose do to low pressure. My car was doing the exact same thing, and does the car get real hot real fast, like from the n and then goes like stright over to the a and l. Let me know if you can figure out where to fill it, I will try to send you a pic of mine with the fill spot circled. Russyo
sorry i have not replyed in a while. russyo a picture would be great.or i can send you a picture of my engine if you want. i have a few days off work for the 4th so i will be putting alot of time in my car this weekend. would be great to fix this problem without buying a 400 dollar griffin rad. i no nothing about cooling systems at all. today i am going to buy a 180 thermostat. i had radiator flushed and refilled, water pump was also checked, pressure check was also performed. ya it does go up quick for the r to the a on normal gauge in about 5 seconds.
thanks for everyones help
emial: [email protected]
jere
thanks for everyones help
emial: [email protected]
jere
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