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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
        
(Message started by: Scorpi098 on Jul 20^th, 2007, 9:13am)

Title: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by Scorpi098 on Jul 20^th, 2007, 9:13am

Good Morning All,

I currently and for the last three years have enjoyed owning a 98 Ultima 2.3, currently with 110k mileage.
This afternoon I shall be viewing a lower mileage two owner 2.9 Cosworth.

Not being familiar with this variant very much any information as to what I should particularly watch out for or listen for would be most welcome. I believe a lot of the mileage over the past 18 months may have been on shortish trips of 5-7 miles

By the way I have a sent a similar e-mail to this, to the simplelists e-mail address, as I know not all members use both options available.

All comments from Cosworth owners and/or devotees will be gratefully received.

Many Thanks!

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by dave82506 on Jul 20^th, 2007, 11:49am

Hi mate. I am a newbie. I purchased a 24v cosworth around 6 weeks ago. Firstly, I should point out that I paid very little for the car, and had budgetted for some problems. Biggest problem so far has been having to replace the radiator. So have a good check for signs of ballooning on the rad (see other posts on here about this). Don't forget to check it has its battery cover. Especially with todays rain. I have also suffered various electrical probs. They seem to come and go as they please. I would suggest A REALLY GOOD test drive, different speeds, use E S and * settings on the gearbox, and make sure the overdrive switch works (thumb position on gear lever). Keep your eye on the temp gauge. Dont forget, there is so much equipment on these things and you want to test it all if you can.
I have worked for car dealers in the past and was always told to feel the bonnet on arrival to view a car to see if it was warm, as this could suggest the owner does not want it heard from cold start up. The next and most important lesson I was taught was NEVER EVER EVER view a car in the rain! might be a problem this one :-/
Oh yeah, and no matter how nice the seller may seem. Keep your guard up.

As I said, I am a newbie. Sure others on here will have much more advice. I wish I had joined this site before my purchase. Then I could have spent a week or so ;D reading the problem/advice threads. All the common faults are on here.

Good luck. Let us now how it goes.

Dave

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by Scorpi098 on Jul 20^th, 2007, 12:27pm

Thanks for your response Dave, I'll certainly bear your comments in mind.

Keith

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by tintin on Jul 20^th, 2007, 2:22pm

ask to see it from cold, as some problems only exist cold. then take it for a looooong test drive, some problems only show up sat in traffic etc. my woes :

make sure you check for clunking from the front suspension (wishbones are expensive).
water leaks can come from lots of places, so get it up to temp and let it sit for 10mins, see what leaks and if it overheats. check the autobox engages quickly, even from cold, and all the usual stuff with the box.
check idle from cold and also warm, and also check how it restarts from cold and warm.
the engine power should be fast and smooth, any hiccups/flat spots, and could be cats/coils etc.
check for damp carpets !!

my experience has taught me that cossies have problems that come and go, and can be hidden on short tests, so really give it a thorough run, to ensure any problems are rooted out

hope this helps,

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by Waglet on Jul 20^th, 2007, 7:57pm

Wouldn`t part with my Cossie despite all its gremlins, and the running costs. Superb motor, where else would you get all the goodies at these prices? Just had mine MOT`d so am cool for another year. ;D

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by Matt on Jul 20^th, 2007, 8:11pm

on cold starts expect a timing chain rattle! this should last between 1 and 3 seconds, any longer and they may be a problem with the engine

the engine loom crack in these cars due to the way its run and just the general heat of the engine, normally you wont have a problem, but if the intake/heads have been removed then problems may occur!

believe it or not the cossie works incredibly well on just 5 cylinders, so it if seem to hold back when flooring it it may be miss firing

make sure you hold on tight when doing that and make sure there is plenty of space, cuz' when these cars kick down they dont half go ;D

check the auto box oil, if its anything but red/reddybrown walk away

with the bonnet up and the engine running, get some one to rev it up and listen for a' sucking' noise, this indicates an air leak in the vacuume somewhere and will cause problems

rough idels and poor gear box changes can be caused by a dirty MAF sensor

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by Dave on Jul 21^st, 2007, 8:02pm

5-7 miles is a lot better than many cars get so don't worry unduly about that. Not long runs but not half a mile to get a paper and back. As long as it has been serviced regularly, had decent oil put it in and not thrashed - much more important :)

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by dogma on Jul 22^nd, 2007, 3:08pm

Hi mate, one more thing, when you test drive the car never let the owner have the stereo on, it was an old trick ive heard about to mask any noises, also check all the lights, if there not working it may be a bulb but could also be electrical probs too
jim

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by nice_1 on Jul 23^rd, 2007, 8:44am

Hi, I would make sure the heater works. the matrix getting blocked is a common fault. make sure it gets hot and stays hot. I guess you want to leave it on for a couple of minutes to be sure. Changing it is not a job you would want to do.......just my two penneth.

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by pappa on Jul 30^th, 2007, 10:52am

Hi !

Have had my Cossie over a year now, here's the story in short:

First appearance:
* Bought it in the mid winter - starting was very difficult, the battery had gone flat.
but when it started, no rattle from the timing chain - maybe a burb.
* Nice to drive, lot of power was in there. Noticed that the EGR hose was plugged.
* All gadget's seemed working ok. (It's a Ghia extra, with almost all of the goodies
except leather + cruise control)

First 2 -3 months:
* Car behaving nicely. Starts up from cold ok, rattling noice becoming louder.
* No electric gremlins, even though I had no battery cover.
* Slight jerkiness in the speeds at 80 to 100km / hour.
* Hesitation on on lower rpm.

3 to 6 months:
* Rattling noise became worrying, even when engine is hot it burbs
* Jerking at 80 to 100km/h annoying
* Kick down - mmmm... still nice to do that :D
* Took it to Ford and had a timingchain job done on it. Took them
2 months, one to wait for the parts and one to trying to put in
to their places in between other projects. Scorpio was never imported
into Finland after -95, so there was no maintenance instructions on
it. They did a great job with it and I had them doing many other
neglected maintenance at the same go. A job welldone!
* Got the car back and was told that the drivers side cat was glogged.
Did this: http://www.issikka.net/make/cat_project.htm
* Still jerky ride, so I ended up glogging the EGR and got rid of the
jerks!
6 months to this date:
* IDLE problems rpm indecisive, runs between 600 to 2000rpm
* Holiday started and so I started doing the 24v to 16 downgrade
(had a factory built new 16V engine with a new A4LDE)
* While removing the engine, found out the potential reason for
the idle prob. EGR pipe from exhaust manifold is very loose, allowing
it to leak

Summarize it:

Cossie is a nice engine and produces a lot of bhp, but it is quite complex
and vulnerable on the vacuum and electrical side. Mine had a brittle
wiring loom, ballooned radiator (due to a glogged thermostat I assume),
glogged catalysator, loose EGR pipe, loose / broken vacuum pipes, clunking
wishbone bushes, loose headlight/parklight/etc wire in the lamp switch...
crooked front discs, front and back bearings were gone, rust in the
rear side of the car... Broken down trunk lock... There must be something
I'm missing... All these have been fixed and some more I guess, but it has
been a very very educating (even though expensive and time consuming)
challenge. I still like the car and have been building it for keeps, it is absolutely
a great thing to drive when the bushes etc. from the steering has been
sorted. A quality car indeed.

That about sums up what to look for, right? Mine has been a worst case scenario
having had all the trouble (except the fusebox, but it may yet emerge!)

Title: Re: Possible 2.9 Cosworth Purchase
Post by dave82506 on Aug 1^st, 2007, 2:26pm

So. Did you buy it then???