03 cobra Engine ECU not responding.

[2011 gtcs]

Hey guys, Ok so last week I put a new engine in my brothers 03 cobra and the car hasn't ran in over 6 years. So I pretty much finish everything up on the engine install, I know I'm missing a couple things.

I got in the car to turn everything on and I was greeted with a flashing THEFT LIGHT and the ODO reading -------

I've tried leaving the key on in the ignition for 10 minutes and I've tried locking the steering wheel I also tried plugging in the SCT tuner and it says no communication with ECU, I've tried a couple other little things but no luck at all. I'd like to know if anyone on here has every experienced this and maybe guide me in the right direction. I'm kinda worried the ECU is dead.

 

[Blkkbgt]

Did you clean the electrical connections?

I would first see if there is power to the ecu and work from there.

 

[T-bird88]

Check the connector behind the battery.
It's just a 1-pole for ground to the ECU.
I had a problem with that due to I hadn't the connector pushed in far enough.

 

[hotcobra03]

Check ground and power

Hard to see battery area in pics but see a lot of wires hanging

Ground wire from battery to radiator support

This I had issues with it burning up inside casing

Replaced with a large wire

Next to this is is another ground towards headlamp

This is pcm ground
I had the eye hook crack and caused this issue while driving

 

[04whitesvtlight]

I’ve had the same exact thing happen in my ‘04 and the computer was toast. Had to replace the ecu and have kurgan turn the theft off in the tune. other wise you have to take it to ford to reprogram the ecu to the gauge cluster

 

[BLOWN9646]

Check ground and power

This is pcm ground
I had the eye hook crack and caused this issue while driving

What issue did you experience during driving, wanting to stall?

 

[hotcobra03]

What issue did you experience during driving, wanting to stall?

I was pulling away at a green light

Car just died as I started to drive.

While stranded dash did the same

Theft flashing
Dashed in odometer
Hand held wouldn’t comuncate with pcm

Luckily a wiggle test had made ground break off

Reattached and all has been good

 

[2011 gtcs]

Did you clean the electrical connections?

I would first see if there is power to the ecu and work from there.

I cleaned off all the connection I could when I was putting the engine back in, everything was very dusty, I checked all the fuses to the ECU and everything is good, The car hasn't ran in so long so I'm just trying to check everything.

Check the connector behind the battery.
It's just a 1-pole for ground to the ECU.
I had a problem with that due to I hadn't the connector pushed in far enough.

I keep thinking it might be a ground issue, I need to pull the battery back out and double check every ground wire.

Check ground and power

Hard to see battery area in pics but see a lot of wires hanging

Ground wire from battery to radiator support

This I had issues with it burning up inside casing

Replaced with a large wire

Next to this is is another ground towards headlamp

This is pcm ground
I had the eye hook crack and caused this issue while driving

sounds good, I'm going to go over every ground wire this weekend, the car hasn't ran in so long it's hard to say if something is damaged

I’ve had the same exact thing happen in my ‘04 and the computer was toast. Had to replace the ecu and have kurgan turn the theft off in the tune. other wise you have to take it to ford to reprogram the ecu to the gauge cluster

That's exactly what I'm thinking, I plugged the SCT tuner in the DLC port and it powers on but I have no communication with the ECU, there's power at the DLC port but it's like the ECU is dead. I wouldn't think the ECU would get damaged from the car just sitting.

I was pulling away at a green light

Car just died as I started to drive.

While stranded dash did the same

Theft flashing
Dashed in odometer
Hand held wouldn’t comuncate with pcm

Luckily a wiggle test had made ground break off

Reattached and all has been good

I really hoping it's something simple like that.

 

[2011 gtcs]

Figured I'd give you guys a update, it was a bad ground that was shorting out the ecu and blowing a 30amp fuse, anyway issues is fixed and we should be doing the first start up tomorrow in 6 years on her.

 

[hotcobra03]

Fingers crossed

Also can you be more detailed on issue for maybe someone being lead here with similar issues