Ford Ka dead ecu

[Silverradiomike]

Where do I start. New here after getting no joys and conned by everyone and anyone. 
bought a Ka mk2 2011 for my daughter for first car. 
car drove fine back home from buying it. No problems with it. Then over Christmas holidays I changed the cam belt and water pump. Done by the book (haynes manual)

Now it won’t crank. Got a mobile mechanic out who said it was the battery it wasn’t! £45 call out wasted!

got an auto spark out out £145 wasted said it was the ecu that was shot. I don’t think it was?

sent it off to ECU testing DON’T! They made it worse said they couldn’t fix it. Sent it back and it’s completely dead. So now I have no ECU. 
got a so called virgin board from eBay scammers I believe. Dashboard does not come on at all. 
 

Now got a nice wee paperweight in my driveway. Rusting away. 
is it worthwhile getting all the ecu kits? Dashboard, immobiliser key ring thingy, locks and dash?

 

how much would a Ford dealer take to fix this?

 

any help or advice greatly appreciated 

[unofix]

6 minutes ago, Silverradiomike said:

Then over Christmas holidays I changed the cam belt and water pump. Done by the book (haynes manual)

No good deed ever goes unpunished !! 

You're not having much luck. The bad news is a Ford dealer will charge you more than what the car is worth to repair it (in actual fact most will refuse to touch it).

If I'm thinking of the correct model KA it is really a Fiat 500 which means you can't use the excellent FORScan software to try and figure out the many issues you now have.

The lack of a working ECU together with an instrument cluster in an unknown state makes the car as you say

14 minutes ago, Silverradiomike said:

a nice wee paperweight

I'd like to be able to offer some positive advice but sadly have to say I think selling it 'spares or repair' is the best way to cut your losses

[Silverradiomike]

Damn! I kinda guessed so. Such a shame looks great for its age too.

[unofix]

You could of course try and buy an identical MOT failure that is being sold for scrap. Transfer over the modules and instrument cluster etc. to your car and sell whats left of the donor vehicle for a similar price that you bought it for. It's a bit of work, but it will cut your loses and get your daughters car up and running again.

[Silverradiomike]

Yeah I’ve been looking on the usual auction sites and car dismantlers like copart. Just way to expensive. Some going for more than what I bought my daughters car for. 
 

I wish I had never sent my original ecu away to the con merchants

 

[DaveT70]

Which ECU is dead?

A little bit of research may find that most of the modules are in fact common with the Fiat 500 and just need re-programming to "FORD" spec.

I would recommend joining some KA Mk2 forums and even looking at the 500 forums as they may include KA and see what level of knowledge you have got there.

In the case of it being a Ford, you can, with some level of knowledge and help, get a second hand ECU and reprogram it to your vehicle, I can't see why Fiat would be any different.

I'm sure there is a "FIAT" version of "FORSCAN" out there.

Ford charge a basic diagnostic cost, it may help to put the car together, tow it to Ford and pay for that so they can diagnose what is really wrong with it.

[BitsyBlueKa]

 

On 3/30/2022 at 11:20 PM, Silverradiomike said:

sent it off to ECU testing DON’T! They made it worse said they couldn’t fix it. 

I was literally looking at these guys on eBay this morning thinking to send my instrument cluster to! Might find a different company now.

Sorry i’ve got no great advice, but wanted to ask what the cambelt and water pump was like to do difficulty level wise? The previous owner of my ka thinks she has it done sometime in the last 5 years but i might do it to be on the safe side. 

[Silverradiomike]

I found it a really simple job to do. I even bought a proper £25 timing kit. Which means taking of the rocker cover, which was why I removed the ECU. 
other more experienced people just use tiled whilst changing it but I did t feel confident. 
so I bought the cam belt kit which included new pump and rocker cover gasket.

 

but I’m just unlucky as it has so far ended up costing me more than it would have done just to take it to a garage.