Heres a question that I havent seen before.. or at least I couldnt find anthing on it.. What is the life span for a SVT 4V? I talked to Bob Stegiemier about a month ago and he said they just dynoed thier test cobra that had 110k on it.. thing made 540 to the gound. Yes I know maintenence it a factor, but really how long can these motors go before a rebuild is needed? I work at a Ford dealership, but have never seen a cobra with over 100k on it.. just curious..
4V Life span?
Catfiesh
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Heres a question that I havent seen before.. or at least I couldnt find anthing on it.. What is the life span for a SVT 4V? I talked to Bob Stegiemier about a month ago and he said they just dynoed thier test cobra that had 110k on it.. thing made 540 to the gound. Yes I know maintenence it a factor, but really how long can these motors go before a rebuild is needed? I work at a Ford dealership, but have never seen a cobra with over 100k on it.. just curious..
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Mine runs fantastic with 97k on it.
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846 Posts
ha.. no I said SVT 4V.. that includes all.. soyou asked for 4v lifespan not Termi
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how would you know tha heads are giving out?....also i dont know if any termis have that much milelage, there only 6-7 year old cars.
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mine has 55k on it, and well over 250 passes at the track, and probably 50 of those were done by the previous owner with a 275 shot on it. and it still runs like a raped ape. no nitrous anymore though. fact i have never and will never use nitrous on it.
My 97 is just now over 84K and I've had it since it was mint under 30K.
Runs great but I've had to really keep up on the chassis/suspension.
Ball joints, rear control arm bushings, tie rod ends, belts, clutches, fuel filter, battery, and brakes.
I've changed all of that stuff in the last year.... But motor seen 7K every day for 2 years of crazy rough driving.
My T-45 still shifts fine, no issues grinding or anything. Motor still runs great too.
Maintenance for the 4V is the key to them lasting. You gotta check that oil religiously and keep up on fluids including the diff and trans. If you have a 96-98 (B head) you need to also be aware of the gunking issues and address it.
Also let the damn thing warm up before beating on it. Seriously pretend that the redline is 4000rpm for the first 5min of driving, and wait at least 10-15min before ever seeing anything above 6000rpm.
Still love mine even though she retired from daily driving duty a few months ago for the first time.
Runs great but I've had to really keep up on the chassis/suspension.
Ball joints, rear control arm bushings, tie rod ends, belts, clutches, fuel filter, battery, and brakes.
I've changed all of that stuff in the last year.... But motor seen 7K every day for 2 years of crazy rough driving.
My T-45 still shifts fine, no issues grinding or anything. Motor still runs great too.
Maintenance for the 4V is the key to them lasting. You gotta check that oil religiously and keep up on fluids including the diff and trans. If you have a 96-98 (B head) you need to also be aware of the gunking issues and address it.
Also let the damn thing warm up before beating on it. Seriously pretend that the redline is 4000rpm for the first 5min of driving, and wait at least 10-15min before ever seeing anything above 6000rpm.
Still love mine even though she retired from daily driving duty a few months ago for the first time.
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2,300 Posts
because i have a suspected valve seal on the drivers side head going out. ( i think) When i shut the car off there is alittle bit of oil burning out of the left pipe.
I have I different set of heads and cams coming soon tho.
It still runs like a raped animal tho. Trans shifts good, gears dont wine. Im not sure that the previous owner took care of it.
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677 Posts
Mine had 55,000 on the odometer before getting rebuilt. I have no idea what kind of life the car saw before I owned it. The interior is spotless and the body is in EXCELLENT shape for being 14 years old. It's in the process of receiving a F1-A Procharger and supporting mods.
The body has held up incredibly well. I bought the car with 50k on it and it was already hurt but I didn't know being new to the car.
The first thing that went sometime in its life was the valve guides. The engine builder said the guides were toast and that's why the car poured oil out at high RPMs. (The blue smoke was horrendous.) One of the heads was also "chewed" up a little bit. Honestly I'm not the person who would have any idea what was wrecked but my options were a new head or apparently a bearing or something... I don't remember the story. The end result is the head was damaged a bit and I bought a new one.
The block, pistons, everything on the lower end was fine. It's all coming out but there was nothing wrong with any of it.
The first part to give out in the drive train was the transmission. When it was taken out you could hear pieces rolling around inside. I suspected it was going to check out and it definitely did at the track. Replaced with a TKO-500 and Spec Stage 3+ Clutch.
Now the rear end also gave out (this is all on a bolt-on car.) The gears were reinstalled once because of how ridiculously loud they were. The second time it was quiet but not "perfect." It drove fine. Eventually last year at the NMRA v. NMCA meet the spider gears went out. Replaced whole rear end with a Strange 9".
Am I unlucky? Was the car ridiculously beat on? Who knows.
Hopefully what this fills people in on is that any smoking issue is probably your valve guides. I tried EVERY possible fix short of fixing guides and seals. PCV, air/oil seperator, motor oil, every engine additive known, multiple Lucas products (I still don't believe in them but when you're trying to lie to yourself you'll try anything.) Just throwing it out there - don't fool yourself. If it's smoking at high RPMs you need to dig in there if you want it fixed. For those of you with the T-45 and having great luck I hope it holds up. If you're not launching on slicks you're probably fine. My rear end going was completely random and may or may not have had to do with a poor gear installation. The two major problems with the SN-95 are the T-45 and valve guides / seals. I had them both go.
The best part in the end is when something breaks you have a reason to upgrade it. Fixing what isn't broke is insane. It's so much easier to rationalize irresponsible spending when something is broke.
The body has held up incredibly well. I bought the car with 50k on it and it was already hurt but I didn't know being new to the car.
The first thing that went sometime in its life was the valve guides. The engine builder said the guides were toast and that's why the car poured oil out at high RPMs. (The blue smoke was horrendous.) One of the heads was also "chewed" up a little bit. Honestly I'm not the person who would have any idea what was wrecked but my options were a new head or apparently a bearing or something... I don't remember the story. The end result is the head was damaged a bit and I bought a new one.
The block, pistons, everything on the lower end was fine. It's all coming out but there was nothing wrong with any of it.
The first part to give out in the drive train was the transmission. When it was taken out you could hear pieces rolling around inside. I suspected it was going to check out and it definitely did at the track. Replaced with a TKO-500 and Spec Stage 3+ Clutch.
Now the rear end also gave out (this is all on a bolt-on car.) The gears were reinstalled once because of how ridiculously loud they were. The second time it was quiet but not "perfect." It drove fine. Eventually last year at the NMRA v. NMCA meet the spider gears went out. Replaced whole rear end with a Strange 9".
Am I unlucky? Was the car ridiculously beat on? Who knows.
Hopefully what this fills people in on is that any smoking issue is probably your valve guides. I tried EVERY possible fix short of fixing guides and seals. PCV, air/oil seperator, motor oil, every engine additive known, multiple Lucas products (I still don't believe in them but when you're trying to lie to yourself you'll try anything.) Just throwing it out there - don't fool yourself. If it's smoking at high RPMs you need to dig in there if you want it fixed.
For those of you with the T-45 and having great luck I hope it holds up. If you're not launching on slicks you're probably fine. My rear end going was completely random and may or may not have had to do with a poor gear installation. The two major problems with the SN-95 are the T-45 and valve guides / seals. I had them both go. The best part in the end is when something breaks you have a reason to upgrade it. Fixing what isn't broke is insane. It's so much easier to rationalize irresponsible spending when something is broke.
This site rocks, I m new to it and I have been glued to this computer reading all the info you all have posted. Its great to read and learn from others experiences. Both good and bad. Got just over 82g on mine, doesn't burn or leak anywhere. At about 50g had to replace a oil cooler fitting that's the only time had anything coming out. I switched to synthetics at 65g. I'm in the Marines so over the past few years it has sat 4 times for several months at a time and runs strong after each deployment. Haven't heard of too many 4v letting go from a good beating. I don't drag race it though, I like the twisties. Only thing I ever get is a little bacon from the original clutch after running it up high for extended periods. Besides that only complaint is my pocket can't keep up with my pipe dreams.
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:welcome and stick around weve all got good information:yes
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7,577 Posts
^^^especially this guy! if you have electrical issues, he is THE MAN.
There's a guy on here I can't remember his sn, but he did a write up last year about doing his 100000 mile tune up. He has an 03 Cobra. Mine's got 35000 miles on it, so it's got a ways to go.
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welp.. this is good to know.. on a related note I found a complete `04 cobra motor for $3800.. I mean complete.. all accesories.. blower to ps pump.. even has clutch and flywheel.. this engine only has 50 mi on it.. yes.. (50).. good buy?
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