(Heavily modded 3.4 Whipple won't start w/ heavy fuel smell and soaked plugs)

[Ltd10th03cobra]

I just bought a 04 3.4 whipple cobra from NVR_LFT. The car arrived I guess okay. We did the deal. He left. The car started and then died. The car smoked out the exhaust. It smelled like fuel. The car has no cats. It wont idle. I checked connections in the engine. All seemed connected. I called the tuner and he said vacuum lines were not connected correctly. He fixed them to work. It was driven around for 3 hours when getting tuned and drived fine. The car was then transported to me so I could buy it. The car right now won't turnover now. The seller is unresponsive. I traded my only car to the guy so I am completely unable to go anywhere. I am unsure what to do because the Ford dealer won't look at it cause its extremely modified. The fuel cutoff was activated. I reset it and the car still won't start. I am unsure what to do. The car had the EGR delete. I need the car working so I can go to work!

 

[j-tan]

Let's do some trouble shooting. When you turn the key to the on pisition does the fuel pump prime? How's the battery connection? Is the battery fully charged? Are all the fuses good(inside the car and under the hood)?

 

[brian97cobra]

sounds like a bad situation. sorry to hear about this man, i know it can be frustrating. sounds like the seller knew he had an issue and dumped it on you.

im not sure of your automotive knowledge but if your not sure you should take your car to a good speed shop in your area.

some simple questions to start with

1. is the theft lamp flashing fast when you put the key in and try to start it?

2. have you verified the battery is good?


i feel for you man but also a 3.4L whippled cobra is not exactly a "daily driver". i made the mistake of purchasing a car once that was heavily modified. it ended up being a real shit box. i fixed it and sold it.

 

[Ltd10th03cobra]

I'll check those in the morning. The tuner suggested I change the plugs but it would still run fine with the current plugs. I have some new plugs. The car has triple fore fuel hats with ford gt pumps and 105lb injectors. The pumps do prime when I turn the key on. I hope my neighbor has a battery charger and voltmeter. I'm unsure why the car is smoking and keeps dying other than that

 

[Ltd10th03cobra]

The car was just tuned by 04sleeper and ran fine for the 3 hours of tuning. I was thinking of switching out the 3.4 with a 2.8 kb mammoth so it would be more manageable. The car has nice mods. I live in a small town and have no tuners nearby. Towing will cost a fortune. I'm so pissed because the guy took my trade in my Lexus and left me high and dry. I need to get to my job Wednesday. This is my 6th and final mustang I have owned and will never own another again because no one is honest when it comes to these cars. I am losing my retirement fixing and selling these cars.

 

[Ltd10th03cobra]

The battery is in the trunk

 

[j-tan]

How much fuel do you have in the tank?

 

[Satin03]

When you say the car won't turn over do you mean the engine is not being turned over by the starter? Or, are you saying that the engine turns over but will not fire? These two scenarios will take your troubleshooting in two completely different directions as I'm sure you know.
Sorry for your luck man! What a crappy thing to do to someone especially during the holiday's!

 

[Phantom]

When you say the car won't turn over do you mean the engine is not being turned over by the starter? Or, are you saying that the engine turns over but will not fire? These two scenarios will take your troubleshooting in two completely different directions as I'm sure you know.
Sorry for your luck man! What a crappy thing to do to someone especially during the holiday's!

Exactly what he said!

 

[Ltd10th03cobra]

The car starter is working but won't turn over the car. Merry Christmas to me. I got the lump of coal

 

[SonicBlur2003]

Good luck wit your situation. I had some shady dealings when buying my car with mods that were supposidly done when they werent so on and so forth. But off topic. Hope that you are able to get this fixed easy cause it sounds like on hell of a machine. Happy New Years and best of luck!!!

 

[GOTSVT?]

Have you tried reflashing to see if you can duplicate the problem?

 

[TrickleVenom]

I hope you figure this out soon. Sound like you may have jumped into this sale too soon? I assume no test drive was done. Also you can not say all Mustangs are junk and not worth the cash. Loo what your COBRA is, it is "extremely modified" and you sound like you may not have a firm grasp on what is all done to it. I hope the price was right. I wish we had the answers for you bud.

Another thing, sounds like you bought this car to be a daily driver. Had you done all the mods yourself, and you know it was a strong runner from the get go, I would say more power to ya. You bought something that sounds to be a headache. And yes, it may take a lot of cash to get it running right, but then your done and you can enjoy the car. Simply put, this car does nto seem like DD material to me. If you had a second car, then hell ya this car would be ideal for issues like this. My cobra is great! I have no issues at all, but once I start putting mods on it I expect to have bumps in the road, you just fix them and drive the DD untill you get the cash to fix your ride.

What I think you should do is simple. Put the cobra on the back burner for now. Try to find something for a DD. It does not have to be anything special. You can get a nice car at your local car dealer, or if you really wanna get cheap find a 500-1000 car privately. Point is, with those mods, although the car should be fine, yours just needs some TLC.

I hope you can figure this out! Your car sounds like one hell of a machine! :burnout:

 

[Mulldune]

hope you can get your car smoothed out.Ive learned a hard lesson ,when I bought a someone elses project car.(67 Fairlane) When all this is over ,you will have learned alot about these cars/mods,you'll then be able to help someone else that might find themselves in a similar situation.

 

[lemosley01]

What does 'not turning over the engine' mean. We can't help you even being to troubleshoot if you aren't 100% clear on exactly WHAT you experience.

The starter works but the car won't turn over? Do you mean the engine rotates but won't fire or do you mean that you can hear the starter engage and turn, but the engine isn't rotating at all?

Perhaps it is nothing more than a broken tooth on the starter and so it can engage the flywheel?

 

[FromGTtoSVT]

I am sorry bro....that sucks...but it sounds like you have not the first clue about these cars and what you got yourself into

04sleeper is a stand up guy on these forums that's been around for a long time. He will eventually see this thread and chime in.

I find it hard to believe you bought a car from someone and don't have any contact information for them?

It sounds like we are only getting half the story here

 

[Booky]

Is the car you purchased from NVR_LFT the one they are talking about in this thread with electrical problems?

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...91-f-s-04-oxford-white-cobra-3-4-whipple.html

 

[Blueline]

OK Im going to try to help you out because I know how your feeling.

First is the car "turning over" which means the motor spins when you crank but does not fire? Im assuming it is turning over and not firing because if it wasnt then you would say it does nothing when you engage the starter.

Now:

You already said you hear the pumps priming. Check fuel pressure at the rail. Does it have a fuel press gauge to read fuel press? If no gauge, then put a rag around the shrader valve and push the valve in and see if fuel comes out. If fuel comes out then we will move on. The car has a Fore hat so no PPRV. Have someone turn the key to prime the pumps as you keep the rag around the valve and check for fuel. If no fuel comes out you have to check the fuel filter and lines. If fuel comes out, we will check for spark next.

Make sure all of your connections are good. Especially, MAF, IAC, TPS, etc.

Report back after you check this.

 

[Ltd10th03cobra]

Thanks everyone for chiming in. The car started yesterday but died when you would press the gas. I revved to 2k for a couple seconds and then it would settle to 1k. I would put it in reverse and hit the gas and it would die again. The fuses all looked good and the connections all looked attached other than the ones that stay disconnected due to having no EGR or pcv system. The car has 2 breathers on the head covers. The vacuum lines are unfamiliar to me because it's s 3.4 Whipple and not similar to my 2.6 kb I had on my 10th Ann cobra. The car has a killer chiller gen 3 in it. It has a SCT 5000 slot mass air. Zone 5 mdm fuel module for the triple fuel ford gt pumps. It has 105lb Bosch injectors. I got new NGK BR7EF plugs for it to put in. The motor rotates when trying to start and actually starts but immediately dies. The theft light stays solid when starting the car. The tank is 1/4 of a tank. It sounds like the pumps are priming. Yes it is that car in the link with that electrical problems. I did a search and never found that link. The guy was always getting mad about me asking him questions about the car. He said when he replaced the instrument cluster it fixed the electrical issue. The car is at a performance shop now getting diagnosed and plugs installed. Hopefully they can figure out the issue. The previous owner completely stopped talking to me after I stated I wanted to null the deal and get my Lexus back. This is the third time I've been burned. I never learn appsrantely. Hope you enjoy my Lexus NVR_LFT. I got new tires for the back because one is already flat in the back. The car smokes when started and when attrnpting to start and it smells like fuel vapors. There are no cats on it. Hopefully the shop can fix it cause right now I have no car

 

[rickrubin2]

Sounds like a bad tune or something to me sorry that this happened to you but you never know who's problems your buying when getting a used already modified car