2001 cobra won't start--out of town!

not starting

mhorvath24 said:

I am on the hot rod magazine power tour and all of a sudden my car wont start at the hotel. I just got back from dinner, washed it and when I went to start it it turns over but the odometer has all dashed - - - - - instead of numbers and the theft light blinks really fast (faster than norma) when I have the key in and turned on. I tried disconnecting the battery and touching the pos and neg and it still won't work. any thoughts? need help ASAP! out of town with limited resources.

Thanks.

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ive had 1 strange problem on my 03 cobra..

1 night the alarm wouldnt shut off,,i even unhooked the battery,,waited acoule of mins and still the alarm wouldnt shut off...

i left the battery unhooked the rest of the night and in the morning it was fine,,,

its been over 4yrs now and its never done it again,,well atleast not that bad...maybe something got wet...we wash our car like everyother day,,black on a dirt road dont mix

Same problem here! How'd you fix it??

I just had the same problem happen on my 2001 mustang v6. Car won't start, all dashes ("-------") and no numbers on the odometer, and it turns but doesn't fire. Other symptoms include: no spark; fuel pump won't pump unless you bypass and hook directly to power; radiator fan constantly runs (in on and acc., to stop it key must be in off or out; I think it's only supposed to run when in on position); no error codes (a friend is mechanic with the $5k diagnostic software that hooks your car to the laptop, he can't even get it to communicate with the computer, which he's be able to do in the past, he's helped a lot, but is stumped now too...); odometer only reads --------- with no numbers; theft light blinks rapidly when trying to turn the motor and shortly thereafter (after blinking fast it pauses, then blinks once, a pause, 6 blinks, a pause, one blink, a pause, six blinks, a pause, etc.). Unhooking the battery for a long time has done nothing. I have replaced: fuel pump (and strainers), fuel pump control module, and constant control relay module. I've ruled out the inertia switch and bad wiring. I'm fearful that this is going to require a new computer, but really don't want to pay for it...does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone seen this before? mhorvath24, how did you get your car running again? Sounds like whatever happened to your mustang has happened to mine. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Sounds like a bad PCM to me. The radiator fan running for no reason is a classic sign. The fact that the PCM will not respond on the ODB2 part is further evidence of bad news.

The odometer showing all dashes indicates that the cluster and PCM are not communicating with each other. If the PCM is bad, all dashes on the cluster would be expected.

Good idea to check all fuses in both fuse panels.

Installing the PCM?

So from what I've read it looks like the dealer needs to install the PCM so they can program it. Does this sound right? It's not something I can just purchase and replace? Thanks.

If you get the correct PCM from a salvage yard (correct year, correct application auto/manual, correct calibration), it can be replaced by the home mechanic.

However, PATS will NOT work without programming from the dealer (or disable PATS with a tuner). The cluster is programmed for the PCM. The PCM is programmed for the cluster.

The dealer buys the PCM without calibration. The correct calibration is loaded at time of sale.

The advantage of having it done by a dealer is hopefully they will confirm that the PCM is actually bad.

Off to the dealer...

Yea, after a little more research, it seems like the PCM may (hopefully) just need to be reprogrammed, so off to the dealer it goes...Thanks so much for your input, it's been very helpful. I'll be back on to share the findings once it's up and running again.