THE END OF THE BA FORD FALCONS

[RainingPistons]

THE UNFORTUNATE END TO ALL BA FORD FALCONS ARTICAL HERE!

 

 

ALL BA PCM/ECU'S WILL ALWAYS FAIL THERES NO PERMANENT FIX ONLY TEMPORARY AT GREAT EXPENSE AS OF 2025 ITS 2K UPTO 3K FOR REPAIRS ITS NOT IF IT WILL FAIL ITS WHEN SADLY
countless workshops have customers coming in for failed PCMs in the BA series Daily at one stage at its peak there had been 8340 people around Australia in 24 hours with BA PCM Failure Extensive Research and Automotive Experts have found the following. -

so after doing tons of research again and speaking with Haltech, and Hootons harnesess which they done whats needed for the whole permanent fix on the Mighty Car Mods XR8 Series videos,

so I found with the BA ECUs they actually used Lead Free solder, as to be more environmentally friendly which  is why they ended up failing XR6T and XR8 Fail quicker because the engine bay temps are way higher

but ALL BA PCM/ECU'S WILL ALWAYS FAIL ITS NOT IF ITS WHEN SADLY  as it's 110% unavoidable but you can stretch the life of it for like 12 months by paying 2k to repair but even then it could break the next day because these BA ECUS are all bad and being 20 years old they are all moments away from failing the same way if you hit a pothole speed bump anything ready since all the BA ECUs are made the same way and there is no permanent fix its only all temporary only permanent solution is haltec which is all up 5 to 6 grand

I was looking online just before to see if it was possible to reflow the joints with lead solder so that even the repaired ecus that you send to get repaired can be permanently fixed but it's basically impossible,

so when you send you're pcm ecu to be repaired they have to use the lead free solder on the repaired ecu, which after asking a few people on the xr8 page and xr6T pages aswell they also confirmed they had to end up getting a whole stand alone haltech ecu setup which cost around 6k with all the adapter harneses and so on for the XR8 models and around 5 5500 for 6 cylinder models  with the BTR 4 speed and manual versions which is a crazy price

So when it went over that bump that would of caused that lead solder to end up cracking or snapping apart when was why when I poured boiling water over the ecu it was able to start up untill it cooled down and then wouldn't be connected to the solder and shut off So it would of happend any time any day anywhere and just driving to the shop then parking getting shopping you can come out goto start you're BA and it'll have cracked or snapped and won't work anymore if it does it'll have misfires or basically limp mode very sluggish and just absolutely terrible to drive which you can't avoid and eventually it'll snap or crack more and then it'll simply not start the car anymore and you're choice is either keep repairs them for 2-3k with prices rising weekly or go the haltech route 5-6k
but beware if going haltech you're car is now illegal to be on the road and will be impounded instantly which is a real shame sadly but it's the same laws in all of Australia so basically the days of the BA FALCON are coming to a close and soon everyone will just have a garden ordiment to look at and remember all the memories it's sad but it's unfortunately how it is with the BA falcons, everything was fixed in the BF FG Models and this PCM issue is non exisistant in the BF FG Models but for BA sadly there time has come to a end.

 

- Raining Pistons

[xr6tForMe]

1 hour ago, RainingPistons said:

countless workshops have customers coming in for failed PCMs in the BA series Daily at one stage at its peak there had been 8340 people around Australia in 24 hours with BA PCM Failure Extensive Research and Automotive Experts have found the following.

While I have heard of PCMs failing, it cannot be anything like as bad as you are presenting.

 

After some simple maths, I am going to call bullsh*t on the failure of "8340 in 24 hours" figure presented.

 

Firstly, how would anyone ever find out that figure of "8340 in 24 hours" in any accurate way?  It is not possible for someone to contact every single workshop and ask "Did you have a BA falcon with a damaged PCM today"?  Even if they did call every workshop, they would not get to talk to the right staff and get an accurate answer.

 

Secondly, if there had ever actually been 8340 failed in 24 hours, then every single BA would have already failed many times over

 

From a quick search  "The Ford Falcon BA sold 281,197 units between 2002 and 2005."

 

8340 is just under 3% of the BAs produced.  At the same rate of 8340 per day, virtually every single BA ever made would have failed in only 1 month.

 

Even if you said "that was a bad day" and the rest of the days they failed at only half that rate (4150), it would still be all over for every single BA in 67 days.

 

I think we can all see that is not the case....

 

While there might be an issue, it is important to make decisions based on facts.

[k31th]

some serious doomerism by you there @RainingPistons... just because you're personally affected by it, there's no reason to push that clearly written by you but also badly written article on everybody...

[El Andrew]

Haha I was about to reply with exactly the same thoughts - over 8000 a day would wipe the entire BA population in a month, ignoring the fact that lots of them would already be off the road by now.

About as reasonable as saying 110% guaranteed to fail.

I imagine now BAs are getting to the stage where either they are not worth fixing, or if a well kept Turbo owners would think they are worth putting a couple of grand into for a Haltech upgrade.

[Dave Kriedeman]

Hi everyone,

It has been many years since I last visited this great FORUM.

I see that there are still SOME issues with a few factory ECU's here and there.

I am trying to find somebody from this FORUM, or someone who may know someone who has vast experience in regards to the XR6T CAN BUS COMMUNICATIONS CODE.

I am making this post on behalf of a good friend of mine who has been chipping away on a FULL STANDALONE PLUG and PLAY alternative to what's available to the public at present, at a more affordable price.

So far, everything is working and running very well.

The final icing on the cake is the ICC system.

The following areas are what needs to be confirmed,

The ICC REQUEST CODE (CAN-ID) or COB-ID.

My friend is confident he has this part of the code sorted in regards to the REQUEST CODE, but requires HELP with the RESPONSE or REPLY CODE.

He has the CAN BUS interface equipment and software, but the main issue is simply time and what to look for as far as the correct reply.

My friend has a day job that takes up 6 days, and on his day off and after work days, he is busy, head down, buried to his elbows building ECU's and other projects.

So, sitting down, sending request code streams and looking for answers/replies back to the ECU from the ICC to enable AIR CON, etc, to work can consume a lot of time.

The following is what he needs to be more precise,

 

Require  0x67 response (Seed Response) after Request Seed (0x27 01)

and to be able to decode the seed to send to the ICC and BCM to unlock the units.

 

So if anybody can offer some assistance or know somebody with experience in this area that can help with the final part of the puzzle, the test ECU can have the CAN CODE added and then tested in the car for the final testing, and all going well, full production can commence.

I hope the moderators, etc, are fine with me posting this.

If not, please delete it or place it elsewhere to your liking.

I thought this post was appropriate considering the OP's post and my friend having the answer to many problems and/or new options for XR6T owners to source an alternative full standalone quality ECU at a more affordable price.

If anyone can help, please respond here, or if OK with the Moderators again,

Please send me an email

[email protected]

Or call me 7 days on 0475 388 462.

Kind Regards

Dave.

[xr6tForMe]

On 20/07/2025 at 3:52 PM, Dave Kriedeman said:

Require  0x67 response (Seed Response) after Request Seed (0x27 01)

and to be able to decode the seed to send to the ICC and BCM to unlock the units.

What would help?  Access to a car?

Whereabouts is your friend located?

[Dave Kriedeman]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

My friend has a vehicle.

He is trying to get the rest of the code, as I stated.

He is an incredibly busy man and the amount of time he can invest in this project is limited due to other commitments.

Obtaining the required code is all about being able to finish the full CAN BUS code to be able to put the ECU into final stage.

This means that it can go into full production mode.

It is all about time, or the lack of.

He may not be able to obtain the code by himself for 6 months, 12 months who knows.

I am trying to reach out to help him and other XR6T owners who want a great quality full motorsport function plug and play ECU for a more affordable price.

This ECU is in his vehicle now and driving full DBW full sequential fuel and ignition, boost control, launch control, nitrous control, plenty of other options also.

I remember a number of very smart people on this FORUM many years ago when I used to frequent it religiously nearly every day.

I thought some of these people may still be on here or someone else may understand the code or have it.

Regards

Dave.