Infamous Cobra "Tick"?

Hello everyone!
This is my first post as a member, as this forum page has helped me a lot with finding various issues with my recently purchased 96 Cobra. I come to you all because I am honestly stumped on this issue thats been plaguing my cobra ever since I bought it. This issue is a "ticking" sound very similar to lifter tick. This particular cobra has had a history of overheating as well as many other issues found at the time of purchase. It has 128,000 miles and was completely stock when I bought it. It was stupid cheap, and I decided to go ahead and buy this basket case.

Here is all the information and clues I have gathered in trying to pinpoint this issue:
-Ticking is constant and dies off after 2300 rpm
- It is a consistent tick and goes in sync with the engine speed, it does not sound like an injector
- I have done the timing chains, tensioners, sprockets, etc. as well as installed brand new OEM lifters and cam followers
- I found no excessive wear on the cam lobes or any of the timing components
- All the old lifters prior to being replaced seemed healthy and held tension. The cam followers were also in good shape (in line with its mileage)
- Compression on Bank 1 is a consistent 150 psi, while bank 2 with the ticking noise has an average of 120 psi. Each cylinder on both banks holds compression, there is no hissing noises or anything that might tell me the valves are leaking. Leak down test also resulted in almost no difference in compression results.
- Above 6000 rpm, there is a muffled popping sound that sounds like its coming from bank 2 or at least the top end
- Some days there will be no ticking at all, other times itll be consistent for weeks on end. I have not been able to find out whether this is related to any specific driving conditions.
- Thicker and thinner oil do not make any difference
- I added 2 quarts of atf and the rest 5w30, then let the car idle for 10 mins before doing an oil change to try and clean out anything that might be messing with the oil pressure.
- Bama has stated that the engine load reading is abnormally low at WOT (bama tuner says its at .6 WOT)
- Aside from all these issues, the cobra still pulls really well, and feels good. I have not had any issues related to performance. (as far as I can tell, I havent had the opportunity to drive another cobra to compare)

In reality, this car is probably due for an engine rebuild, or at least rebuilt heads from all the overheating I was told about. I have read horror stories that it might be a cracked wrist pin or a bent valve, however it confuses me because it dies off above 2300 rpm. I would assume that if it was either of those two, it should be consistent at all rpms? And if it was related to oil starvation, then wouldnt both banks be affected? It is currently my daily, so I am limited on what I can do in terms of pulling the engine and what not. Any information that can point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I really love this car, and this tick is the last issue that would need to be remedied in order for it to be truly healthy. Aside from the tick, everything is in complete and working order. Maintenance is up to date, and I have basically replaced/repaired everything aside from the engine. Shes got 4.10s waiting for her, but I dont want to mess with engine speed until this ticking issue is resolved. Thank you all again for any input!

A lot of the stuff you have reported makes it seem it could be a valve seat.

Don’t recall your year being an issue for that.

Sure it’s not an exhaust leak?

Compression test results are concerning.

I wouldn’t spend too much time or energy on diagnosis or repair for this specific issue with that many miles and years.


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MG0h3 said:

A lot of the stuff you have reported makes it seem it could be a valve seat.

Don’t recall your year being an issue for that.

Sure it’s not an exhaust leak?

Compression test results are concerning.

I wouldn’t spend too much time or energy on diagnosis or repair for this specific issue with that many miles and years.


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I wish it was just an exhaust leak haha. I smoked out the exhaust system in the past and wasnt able to find any leaks anywhere. But youre right, it likely has to do with the way the valves are seating between periods of idle and at high rpm. Once I get another vehicle Ill be able to do all that rebuild stuff, I was just hoping that it was something obvious I might've missed. Thank you for your input!

It's either an exhaust leak

Or

Based on what you've said bank 2 could have a blown head-gasket which would explain the overheating issues and sounds, a blown head-gasket that hasn't failed yet will often create hot spots leading to detonation(pinging)

If left un-repaired it's possible it damaged one of the valves in that case too


I wouldn't rule out an exhaust leak so easily, sometimes they only appear on cold starts since compression is higher and then disappear as closed-loop is achieved. Sometimes they don't appear until a certain level of pressure overcomes the gaskets too, which could explain why a certain RPM is noticeably louder

You have to really, really beat on these cars to break them mechanically. I saw one with 350,000 miles on it and it still ran very well. Unfortunately most people are negligent and never change fluids out on a regular basis

If you're running a tune from Bama get rid of it. If one bank is low across the board I'd guess the cams are out of time. Unless it's two adjacent cylinders. Then it could be the gasket leaking across the bores. But also head gasket leaks don't come and go. If it was a head gasket you'd have two cylinders together that are low (which I'm guessing you don't), milkshake in your oil, or tell tale signs of leakage going down the block.

I've heard a couple engines with collapsed piston skirts. They tapped, but it didn't sound like a valve train tap at all.

Usually exhaust leaks go away as things warm up because metal expands and closes the gap. But they generally don't go away after a certain RPM.

I'd put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on the engine and go from there.

Adding oil may help, Cobra's like extra oil (sometimes a bit above or even 7 quarts) from what I hear. Check around before you do that though.

SuperShuttle said:

Adding oil may help, Cobra's like extra oil (sometimes a bit above or even 7 quarts) from what I hear. Check around before you do that though.

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That has to do with the heads holding oil at high rpm. It won't help low oil pressure at lower rpm.

try this stuff..I had a tick that would come when warm... it fixed it! use 2 bottles... sounded like a lifter tick.. brand new gt500.. swaped lifter followers etc... this was the fix per online and it works!!