97 cobra knock/tap

[Night/MareCobra]

i just bought a 97 cobra about a month ago and about a week or 2 weeks after buyin it it started to get a little engine noise to it. i drove it for a few days like that and the noise got noticably worse fast. when you start it up the tapping/ knocking is pretty loud but if you drive it around for about 5 min the noise gets quieter but doesnt go away, if you drive it for about another 5 min the noise gets pretty loud again and stays that way...i drained the oil to check for any metal flakes and it has none. the car still has amazing oil pressure...any ideas i really need the help? thanks.

[DSSKing68]

Maybe a lash adjuster? Although I would think the noise would be quieter on startup due to the thicker oil until it warms up.

I know oil pumps became an issue on these cars, but you say oil pressure is fine. Maybe someone else can chime in...

Chains? Tensioners? Bent rod?

[Blackout]

Do an oil changes first. I have seen mod motors do some crazy stuff. I had one that wanted to have engine noise about every 4k miles.

[blown96cobra]

#7 main bearing is gone. start looking for another motor.

[700hp04mystic]

the last one i had had a loud tick on start up and got quiter as it warmed up. put new ifters in it and nothing got any better. never figured it out. id say its not a rod if its a rod it would not come and go on those. try this pull all the coil wires loose and just set them on top the coil packs and then go thru and lift them away from where they go 1 at a time and see if the noise goes away when u make the cylinder quit firing. thats how i found my cylinder on another one i had. good luck

[Night/MareCobra]

I've done an oil change and didn't help any there was no metal shavings or nothing I had my dad listen to it and he said sounds like a main bearing also but that it sort of sounds like a wrist pin also. I'm just very confused because I'm getting alot of different answers omb going to pull the motor apart and see but I was just curious if any of you has heard or seen this b4. Or know whats wrong

[700hp04mystic]

try to pull your wires off one at a time on the coil packs see if it changes the sound

[Night/MareCobra]

alright i'll try that. thanks for the help

[mad max]

I just rode in justins car and gave him my opinion on what it might be. But im no mod motor mechanic, is there anyway it could be a cam tensioner or something like that ? It made more noise when coming to a stop or sitting at idle then it did while driving.

[chris91]

Could be a Timing Chain Tensioner. Mine was doing that.

[mad max]

Thats what i thought , when driving the car it has a load on it and when you come to idle it loosens up and makes the noise .

[700hp04mystic]

im just saying by doing the wires like that if it is in the rotating assemly it will usually stop knocking or ticking. it wont help if it a valve issue or chains.

[Evolved]

I told him I would think it is a rod bearing, I read the early Cobra Mod Motors were know for bad rods. I don't know how true it is just what I read. He really needs to cut open an oil filter and see what he finds.

I also read that some of the back cylinders were know to run lean and hotter and it created a valve tick issue. But it doesn't make any sense that it is loud then qiuet then loud again. Sounds more like a bearing, also electric gauges can't always be trusted best off to put a mechanical in for the time being to see how oil pressure is for sure.

[2007ShelbyCobra]

my guess, piston slap or valve guides. Very common on the Mach 1 4vs and they are pretty simaler to the early Cobra 4vs...

[Night/MareCobra]

Thanks alot you guys have been a great help on working with me on this and gave me alot of ideas and things to try unfortunatly someone who uses my garage also threw away the oil filter before checking it like ricky said but you guys have been a big help especially ricky billy and 700hp04mystic thanks guys imma start posting problems on here more often...keep ya on your toes lol...just hopefully their not problems of my car.

[fasthawk]

This is great to no i was looking at buying one so i dont no what to do now.

[Brandon Alsept]

Check your crank end play. I have saw a few wipe out thrust and will give a weird knock sound. If it has a set of piggy back under drive pj lies it is even more likely that.

[Night/MareCobra]

well i had 1 before this 1 and had it for 2 years amost and they were not easy 2 years i beat the hell out of that thing wherever i went and it ended up being the most reliable car ive ever owned. theres a bad apple in every model unfortunatly mine ended up being 1 of them bad apples lol... and brandon it actually does have bbk under drive pullies on it

[Night/MareCobra]

Well I managed to get the motivation to pull the wires 1 by 1 while it was running and the sound never changed.someone else told me if it was a main that wouldn't help any