dies and won't start. Any ideas?

[austin-tatious]

Sorry to say, it's been over a year since I last checked in. Been too busy with family, the '66 stang, and work.

I am the proud owner of SergntMac's original #1 fastest N/A MM in North America., and my ex-SergntMac 2003 MM has been great UNTIL :depress: this week. Now it won't start after it died several times while driving.

It has the Dennis Reinhart chip and several other mods that make it such a pleasure to drive. I now have about 33,500 mi and last week I had a couple of episodes where the engine died when driving less than 30 mph. It restarted fine. Then this morning it refused to start the first one or two times I tried it. Thought maybe the sift lever was not quite all the way in Park. Got to work with no other problems.

Tonight it would not start after 5 or more tires. I tried to switch the DR chip to off but the LED stayed green After switching the DR chip between on, off, valet a couple of times, it finally started with the switch set to off (I think...the LED stayed green and the switch is in the middle position). As I pulled out of the parking spot I saw the fuel cap loose light was on. So I got out and reseated it and the light stayed on. Thinking it would clear if the car was restarted, I pulled back into the parking spot, turned it off, and it would not start again. By not start I mean there was no mechanical response to turning the ingnition switch to "start". But there are some "entertaining" light displays. The factory alarm LED on the dash would sometimes blink at a rate of 2 or 3 times per second. The dash warning lights would display various patterns on and off. I could not hear the fuel pump come on. The starter motor would not run...except one time and since the fuel pump was not running the engine would not catch.

I sorta gave up, and called for a tow. While waiting I kept switching the DR chip between settings and trying to start it. After 20-30 tries I finally heard the fuel pump come on and it STARTED UP:confused: . The DR chip was in the valet mode (I think...the LED was red). So I called off the tow truck, and headed for the dealer.

It ran ok all the way. Got to the dealer, turned it off, and we could never get it restarted though sometimes the starter would crank. It's in their hands now, and I hope they find it quick.

Has anyone had something similar happen ever?

I'm thinking something has come loose or the DR chip has flaked out or some wire is frayed etc.

I'll let you know how it goes after they get a look at it tomorrow.

[austin-tatious]

BTW, I have a CarChip on the MM. I pulled it out before leaving the dealer and it does not show any trouble codes. In fact, it has never reported any trouble codes and sometimes I wonder if it can't report them. For what it's worth...

[DEFYANT]

Fuel pump?

Do you hear the FP whine when you turn the key on? It stops when the pressure is up.

[austin-tatious]

Yeah, I know the fuel pump stops running when the pressure is up. In this case, I do NOT hear the FP whine when turning the key to "on". The time it finally started, I did hear the whine for a few seconds after turning the key to "on" and then turning the key to "start" got the engine going.

[DEFYANT]

I will go out on a linb. Based on what I heard, my guess is the FP.

[carfixer]

It sounds to me like your chip is bad or the connection between the PCM and the chip is bad. A simple check would be to pull the chip out and retry.

[Marauderjack]

Sounds like you have a bad ignition switch or a faulty relay of some sort??

Be sure to ask the dealer if he reflashed the EEC when he did your diagnostics as a reflash might alter you calibration code and render your chip useless!!??:argue: Don't ask me how I know about this!!:mad2:

Good Luck!

Marauderjack:burnout:

[SergntMac]

Bob! Good to hear from you again! Hope Sharyn is well.

Looking at all your symptoms, my first thought was a chaffed wire harnness, the early '03s had some issues. Check both driver's side and passenger side, both have been reported to suffer from getting pinched between the firewall and valve covers. BTW, your fuel system is all OEM stock.

Keep us posted?

[Zack]

Sounds like the chip or the switch. They do go bad

[FlyinMerc]

I had a no start condition over the New Years weekend. Engine would not turn over. Had it towed to dealer and they found a faulty alarm device I had installed 18 months ago. Alarm device had a remote disable feature to prevent car from moving after it had been stolen. Remote disable feature definately works, just at the wrong time.

[merc]

I am the proud owner of SergntMac's original #1 fastest N/A MM in North America., and my ex-SergntMac 2003 MM has been great UNTIL.

Cruztaker are your hearing this ?, anyway it's nice to be back on the road again. :beer:

[CRUZTAKER]

I am the proud owner of SergntMac's original #1 fastest N/A MM in North America....

Why I outta....:fishslap:

:nono:

[austin-tatious]

Why I outta....:fishslap:

:nono:
OK, OK... Maybe not the fastest now:o . However, more can be done if I ever get my '66 stang finished so I can pay attention to the MM! If so, watch out Mr fish-slapper!

Sharyn is fine. Loves her car and we sometimes fight over who rides shotgun. But she is now more cautious driving these roads in the hills of Westlake...lots of deer. A few weeks back one hid behind a car on her left, and when it saw it had a clear shot at the Marauder without her being able to see it, it ran across the road and knocked the driver's side mirror off and put a dent in the door! Sharyn says it was offended by the exhaust noise. I have another theory. Anyway, I got the mirror back on, and will consult my body man (who is also painting my stang) about the dent soon.

Back to business...

My take on the problem was the chip or the PCM was messed up. The dealer found the PCM is kaput and he claims the DR chip is the cause. I doubt that Dennis' chip would do that, but the car is out of warranty anyway. I should get it back tomorrow with a new PCM and latest program from Ford. However, the speedo will not show the correct speed because of the 4.10 gears. They say they cannot adjust that when they flash it.

The service records do not show a re-flash done by the dealer, which I understand from talking to Dennis today could have zapped the chip.

The Xcal 2 from Dennis is in the mail since he no longer sells or programs those chips. Should be here by Monday. That should get things back to normal, maybe even better than normal.

More later...

[rayjay]

FWIW, I have yet to hear a case where a dealership service dept did not blame a chip for what ever problem is presented to them. I remember stories on the Focus forum that went to absolute assine absurd levels blaming chips for problems that they had nothing to do with. When I mentioned putting a chip in my car the female service writer started seizing....

[austin-tatious]

:D Finally...received the Xcal 2 last week from Dennis. I drove the car with the latest stock flash from the dealer for several days and noticed 1) poor shift points - car wants to get into OD as quick as possible so I found myself manually shifting a lot and 2) WOT would spin the rear wheels from 5 mph or less but acceleration was not maxed out until 4,000 rpm or so...it seemed like it bogged down between 2000 and 4000 rpm also, 3) idle was too low, and 4) on the positive side it seemed as fast as it was with the chip that had been in the car. After flashing the PCM with Dennis' settings this weekend, the difference is very noticable. 1) shift points are very good, no more manual shifts, 2) idle is up, and 3) most important, acceleration is solid and smooth all the way up at WOT. Thank you DR!:burnout:

If I can get around to it, I'm going to get it on the dyno to see how it really compares to the way it was when I bought the car.

[Glenn]

Just for future use, when ALL of the dash warning symbols are lite and the FP and engine are DEAD it is usually a PMC or program related computer problem.

Glenn

[austin-tatious]

Just for future use, when ALL of the dash warning symbols are lite and the FP and engine are DEAD it is usually a PMC or program related computer problem.

Glenn
In my case, the dash warning symbols were never all lit. Each time I turned the key on, different symbols would light up. Sometimes the factory alarm LED would blink at 2-3 times/sec. Once in a while the starter would turn the engine, but no FP. Bottom line, the PCM got scrambled but was not totally dead.

[SergntMac]

:D After flashing the PCM with Dennis' settings this weekend, the difference is very noticable. 1) shift points are very good, no more manual shifts, 2) idle is up, and 3) most important, acceleration is solid and smooth all the way up at WOT. Thank you DR!:burnout:

If I can get around to it, I'm going to get it on the dyno to see how it really compares to the way it was when I bought the car. Congrats and WTG Bob!

Many of the original SCT tunes from back in 2002 were cut on your MM by Jerry W. Now that you have upgraded from the original chip to a flash tuner, all of the tunes have improved too. Yes, get it dialed in on a dyno, it's going to be even better.

[CRUZTAKER]

Until a short time ago, I still had a few of those Diablo chips with the first Jerry tunes on them.

Glad to hear all is well again.

And you're up to date now. :welcome: