ECU Problem?

[Yossa]

Hi,

Girlfriends Fiesta (year/model to follow) lost power on the motorway at the weekend. The engine is running really badly and feels like it's firing on 2 cylinders tops.

It's not been well looked after, so I assumed general service stuff would fix it.

Garage has done the sparks, oil filter, air filter and are now thinking that it's the ECU (£50 to test).

The car is probably only worth a couple of hundred quid, so not wanting to spend too much.

I thought ECU was a last resort. At a guess I was going to suggest:

HT Leads

Dizzy Cap

Rotary arm

Fuel Filter

Before even looking at the ECU. Any other ideas?

Also, can you get a scrap ECU mapped to a car, or do you have to buy a new one?

Cheers for any help.

[Rikos]

Hello and welcome to the club. I would have thought they would check more parts before going to the ecu. I'm not sure if a ford is the same but i changed an ecu on my old clio to one from a scrappy and it worked fine.

[Yossa]

Hi,

Cheers for that. Apparently one of the two coils in the pack isn't firing. Coild pack has been replaced, and same problem, so the coil isn't getting a signal.....hence, the ECU.

They said that the ECU is "keyed", so it will either need repairing or a new one.

Have to see what the quotes are like.....

[Matt_focus_zetec]

AHHHHHHHHHH

Heres one for me

Coil is not getting a signal you say well check this info out for you

engine to start you need

AIR check: Blockages debris or any of the sort

FUEL check: fuel is the engine getting any easiest way to test is to take fuel pump fuse out and stick back in not the best way but a easy way

SPARK Now to get a spark the ecu does play a part in it but belive it or not THE TDC SENSOR OR FLYWHEEEL SENSOR OR STarter sensor as its refered to sends a signal to the ecu to tell the car yooo i got some air hooked me and myself up with some fuel now set me on fire baby so then the ecu sends the signal to the coil pack and bang goes ur engine if your coil isnt getting a signal ecu is last resort try checking if there is a live going to tdc sensor first usually located on flywheel or crank (you can also !Removed! timing and mess about with timing with the reluctor wheel but anyways forget about that) but if the reluctor wheel was slightly out the ecu wont now where to start the engine and will fire late or not early enough there will be a special mark on the reluctor wheel for this so it tells the tdc sensor yes i done a full spin FIRE

Check that first bud save u shed loads of doh

EXHAUST check : no blackages no holes and such like

those are the 4 things that a car needs to start if you wanted to go into detail to check injectors and what not get urself some noid lights brillant tools them are and then message me and i will tell u how to use them easy enough just cant be yarisd to type

anyways hope this helps let me know if you get it working if not i can come don and help u if u live anywhere near birmingham or within 20 miles from me

Matt

(service King) <-----lol

[Yossa]

Ah, nice one, cheers for that.

ECU seems to be a last resort. They're quoting £250, which is probably about right, but also not far off the price of the car.

I'll see if they can replace the tdc sensor first, as that looks like a cheap option compared to everything else, then see how it goes.

Ta.