my cobra was ran low on oil unintentionally for a short time and now there is a knocking coming from the pass side back of motor i am bought 95% sure its a rod bearing, the car only has 100,000 miles on it and did run like a champ i was wondering what wouold be the easiest wasy to go about the fix and if i shoould freshen up the rings and some other stuff i was just thinking bought pullin the motor flippin it over taken off the oil pan and doing one rod bearing at a time any suggestions please and i do have access to a lift!

 

Okay. When the rod bearings go in our engines, GENERALLY, it means the motor is junk.

The clearances are TIGHT in our engines, so when you get a lost or junked bearing, the piston starts to slap the bottom of the head, and that causes piston fragments to score up the cylinder walls, and pretty much trashes the valves.

More than likely, you will need that head to be machined, get a new set of valves, get the block bored 20 over, and get a new set of pistons/rings... While your in there, might as well upgrade the whole rotating assembly. I am sure your crank will need to be machined as well...

If you want to go cheap, and the knocking is not that bad, you MIGHT be able to get away with just machining the crank, and putting in oversized rod and main bearings, but that most likely will NOT be enough...

First thing, pull the motor, take off the oil pan, and start at the bottom to assess the damage...

Oh, and don't forget that you will most definitely need a new oil pump as well...

 

+1^^ metal+oil pump = recycle for beer $$$

 

i dont know why ford didnt put a low oil sensor in these frickin motors...

 

thats what the non working oil gauge is for

 

My 98 cobra ran low on oil and was knocking. I had the motor pulled and torn down. We had 2 spun rod bearings so the crank had to be machined and the block bored .20 over. We went with forged rods arp studs And a master overhaul kit. My car only had 40k miles so we were able to reuse the timing sprockets and guides. (new chains) They are doing a five angle valve job and im going back with long tubes and a custom h-pipe. 6,000 dollars later....It should be finished in two weeks

 

I think the engine has to be torn down and assessed from there!

 

how low did it go?

 

how long do you think it went with low oil too

 

well thats the funny thing i washed it and checked the oil about 3 days prior, then drove it about 5 miles and heard a slight knock only when i rev the motor up so i pulled into the gas station and checked the oil and it WAS 4 QUARTS LOW... i didnt understand this being i had checked it and there was no oil in my parking space and the car dosent smoke (dont think any car can smoke that bad) so it is not a ba knock it went from where you can only hear it when you rev it up to by the time i got back home after filling her up with oil to a light knock when its idling, i dont think the damage is that bad but im going to pull her out next weekend and see what i am up against, thanks for all the info though.