ValleyKing

I literally just said I don't have the asbuilt files

Its the same trans and engine but it is coded to use ABS to calculate vehicle speed, whereas my car uses the TCS, so it will run the engine but wont detect speed (hence wont ever change out of 1st gear) The data for that is in the VID block which apparently on this model can't be written to without flashing the entire unit (according to forscan). Full vehicle .ab file is not available to do a flash. Been searching far and wide but no-one seems to have it or be willing to share it (and no its not available from motorcraft) . Kinda frustrating to know exactly what the issue is but being unable to fix it because it was deliberately or idiotically designed to be unfixable. A single byte of data needs changing. I know what needs to be done but lack the software to do it Again, if anyone has a full spreadsheet of data locations with a piece of software that will write them directly, or a complete .ab file for the BA PCM unit, those the only things that will get the job done. Otherwise my best bet is to find an exactly matching unit and hope it doesn't have same issue

More specific information from some further research. The "Speed Signal Output Control" setting in the new unit is "ABS only" and in the original ECU it is "Traction Control System". For this unit FORscan says it can't write it directly (which is ridiculous given that it is able to rewrite data to that section during a full flash). The motorcraft website from which they download asbuilt data files (.ab) returns a blank file for the BA VIN's I was able to try. Without a copy of the .ab files, or a spreadsheet with the data locations/vales, or a proper piece of software that is willing to write that data directly, this is a dead end. If anyone has a .ab file for the BA, please let me know. Alternatively if anyone knows an autoelectrician who can flash that specific unit let me know because all the ones I have contacted so far can't do it

I seem to have hit a brick wall with Forscan. The replacement ECU does not have a VIN and there seems to be no way to write a VIN to the PCM. From what I have read this could be the cause of the lack of communication with the speedo/trans. Can anyone recommend other software to do this?

Progress update: 1. Received the replacement ECU. Opened it up from underneath for practice and to have a look at its condition. Its a slow and fiddly process cutting away the silicone seal and gradually levering the bottom panel open, but overall not difficult. The underside cover is thin aluminium and will bend when you take it off. Overall its a safe process as there is a good amount of space between the seal and the board. The unfortunate thing is the entire board was sealed with clear silicone and this has it stuck to the inside of the case even when the screws and bolts holding the board are undone. That is going to make checking the board a lot more difficult that it needed to be and may necessitate cutting open to ecu along the sides to access the top side of the board. 2. Resealed the replacement ECU and installed it. After some fiddling with Forscan I got it programmed to my keys and recalibrated the control panel (ACM) to get rid of the security code error. 3. Now, the engine starts fine in the cold (double confirming ECU was the problem) BUT its not connecting to the speedometer, meaning it wont change gears So some progress, but still a bit of work to do. Not going to open up the old ECU until I have the new one fully functioning

I have the Barra

Yeah $4.5k for a Haltech ECU is extortionate if you just want a basic ecu and don't need all the high performance tuning software options it comes with, especially when your car has a market value of $6K. The job of an ecu can be done by an Arduino board which costs less than $50. There is actually an open source project called "Speeduino" which does exactly that, but so far I have only found the necessary code for a few European cars, and I'm not kitted out to extract and assemble the necessary code to run a BA. Its a shame no-one with the appropriate skills has made a basic replacement ecu, because it seems like there's a market for it and if it was under $1K I'd go straight for it. But $4.5k to fix a 20 year old car is a bit harsh on my budget

Will do. The plan is to get a replacement, clone the original, and put that in before opening up the old one. Found some pics on google of cut open ECUs and there is a good bit of room inside to safely cut it open without damaging the board. From an initial look I think the problem stems from the side mounting screws holding the board too stiff, so when it gets cold the board doesn't shrink with the components. There are mid mounting bolts holding the connectors to the board which should be sufficient to hold the board in place. I think removing the side bolts and adding some dabs of silicone to make sure it doesn't vibrate should prevent the problem from recurring, but at this point mine probably has some cracked connections from the shrink/expand cycle that need resoldering. The other option if the circuit layout allows would be to drill out the holes in the board slightly to let it flex at the bolt point, then just loosening the bolts very slightly

Would you mind posting your BF schematic? I have a copy of the pinout differences between the BA/BF so I can probably work it out from there

Equally that information is the intellectual property of the Ford motor company. They can't just watermark it and claim it as their own. If they are directly or indirectly selling access to it, that's super illegal. If you're not comfortable posting it you could email it to me

"ValleyKing, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons: Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page" Wild that you can have that information, claim to be a place that is about helping people, and deliberately choose not to share it. Most unAustralian thing I've seen in years

It would be really helpful if you are able to just post it here, or have another location to find it, as opposed to waiting around for their administrator to approve my account and hope that it isn't locked to certain privileged members only

"you do not have permission to access this page"... Could someone post the relevant data here please

I recently encountered the apparently common issue where the engine won't catch if the temperature is under 15C. After warming the ECU with a heat gun it starts normally and everything runs fine, so problem identified. Notched the cover bolts with an angle grinder and unscrewed them so it is ready for a swapover. Bought a cheap second hand replacement ECU from another unspecified 4sp Petrol Barra. Now the problem with this approach (apart from the surprisingly expensive recoding) is that part is also 20 years old and may easily develop the same problem. I feel I have enough electronics skills to fix a cracked connection on a circuit board but tracking it down without a circuit diagram might be tricky. Does anyone have a full circuit diagram of the PCM/ECU?