My friend is looking to buy a 97 Cobra with 115K miles on it. How good and durable are these engines? Are these engines known to hit 200k miles? Are there any common problems?
http://www.sn95forums.com/showthread.php?60028-Common-4-6L-V8-4V-Problems It's all about how its been taken care of. And how its driven. Not really a yes or no question. I've seen them with lot of miles..
Oil is crucial...... clean and lots of it.... the major cause of failure on them is spun rods from running them with low oil or dirty oil..... doesn't hurt to overfill
Wipe the dip stick of and not the color of the dipstick. Its good if its shinny or slightly brown. Not so good when its darker. Also the irmc butterflies will need cleaning and the secondary port as well. Altogether, a solid strong reliable car with tons of potential, but it falls on how well it was maintained.
Maintenance is key. Like the above have mentioned, oil is crucial on these motors. 7 quarts not 6. Imrc will need cleaning. I'd get a C head 4v if possible.
An ex girlfriend of mine bought one with 150k and it's still running clean and strong with almost 200k and not a single issue. I'd say go for it, 115k is very reasonable mileage for a 17 year old car. Obviously, as has been said, how it's been maintained means everything.
