So, I bought a 1997 Cobra in 2015. After a few months of driving it it was having bad problems with what I presumed was the ECM. We tried replacing a few things throughout the last few years. Then it ended up sitting again for a few years. My car that I was currently driving was a 1998 v6 Mustang and it was starting to fall apart and I didn't wanna put money into it, since I had the Cobra that needed fixing. Took it to a dealership and they couldn't figure it out either. They told me it was either the ECM, fuel pump or one more thing, but they weren't completely sure. Got with my stepdad and his friend and we changed the fuel pump. Didn't solve the problem. Was laying in bed midday one day maybe a week after changing the fuel pump. So fed up with the car. I decided to go out and pull the ECM myself, and see if capacitors were burnt up or something. Turns out it had a chip in the port of it with some duct tape over it. Pulled it out, plugged everything back in and the car has been running pretty smooth since then (been about a month). Pretty disappointing that a 30 minute fix was all the car needed to run properly. Turns out the dealership was so lazy they didn't even check that. They just told us they couldn't get it to communicate with their scanners, and tried other tests while it sat with them for nearly three weeks. Thankfully they didn't charge me anything.
There's some background on it. The car has been running pretty well, but it has been running a little rich and I feel it's holding back a little power. I've changed the plugs to platinum, the oil, and a new EGR valve. It'll sort jerk a little on a cold start in the morning when you get to about 4-5k rpms. Almost like a tiny misfire, but after it's hot it runs real well. It still gets up and going, but that slight smell of gas when it's running is starting to irritate me too. I've scanned the car multiple times and the only code I'm getting is an EGR code, but it's not really doing much (pretty sure it's a bad pressure sensor). I don't think that could cause it to run rich. I thought after a while driving that car enough the computer would relearn and everything would go back to normal, but it doesn't seem like the case. I'm sure it needs to be reprogrammed or retuned. I called another dealership and they said if they're able to reset it to factory it would be $150 to reprogram the ECU. I was looking online at some tuners and they all seem outta my budget (car needs a new alternator soon and a few more things replaced). But I did find this https://www.americanmuscle.com/sct-4bank-custom-9498se.html Is this actually worth it? Will this thing actually be able to correct it from running rich? The car doesn't have many mods besides bilstein all around, subframe connectors, aluminum driveshaft, aluminum radiator, Borla catback exhaust, Spectre cone filter (will buy k&n eventually). I plan to do more later like gears, headers, etc. But right now I just wanna focus on getting it to run real nice. Does anyone have any experience with this specific chip, if it's worth it with my current mods, and if it'll actually correct the rich running condition? Or do I save the money and get it reset to factory? Thanks
There's some background on it. The car has been running pretty well, but it has been running a little rich and I feel it's holding back a little power. I've changed the plugs to platinum, the oil, and a new EGR valve. It'll sort jerk a little on a cold start in the morning when you get to about 4-5k rpms. Almost like a tiny misfire, but after it's hot it runs real well. It still gets up and going, but that slight smell of gas when it's running is starting to irritate me too. I've scanned the car multiple times and the only code I'm getting is an EGR code, but it's not really doing much (pretty sure it's a bad pressure sensor). I don't think that could cause it to run rich. I thought after a while driving that car enough the computer would relearn and everything would go back to normal, but it doesn't seem like the case. I'm sure it needs to be reprogrammed or retuned. I called another dealership and they said if they're able to reset it to factory it would be $150 to reprogram the ECU. I was looking online at some tuners and they all seem outta my budget (car needs a new alternator soon and a few more things replaced). But I did find this https://www.americanmuscle.com/sct-4bank-custom-9498se.html Is this actually worth it? Will this thing actually be able to correct it from running rich? The car doesn't have many mods besides bilstein all around, subframe connectors, aluminum driveshaft, aluminum radiator, Borla catback exhaust, Spectre cone filter (will buy k&n eventually). I plan to do more later like gears, headers, etc. But right now I just wanna focus on getting it to run real nice. Does anyone have any experience with this specific chip, if it's worth it with my current mods, and if it'll actually correct the rich running condition? Or do I save the money and get it reset to factory? Thanks