Hey all...I joined this forum specifically to tell peop I'll e what hell I went through with a 01 mustang that suddenly would not start after just shutting it off. I messed with the battery, charged the battery...the key turned, but nothing...and after a few hours i realized that my theft light was flashing rapidly as the key was on
..AND flashing slowly when the key was off...just a brief, quick flash about every 2 or 3 seconds. I read about all the reset procedures and tried them all, watched a dozen videos...then began by cleaning my grounds going from the battery cable(s)...ones that bolted to the core support. Didnt work. I tapped on my starter, moved the engine by hand, tinkered with the position of my tilt column and made sure my steering wheel was in the lock position, as i read both of these things worked for people in certain forums...nothing. touched battery cables together to try to reset CPU, turned key on for 10 minutes, then did the lock and unlock procedure that i found online...i was getting pretty desperate and frustrated...and theres nothing like that dejected feeling you get when you hapve a computer or electronic problem with your car and it makes you want to give up and sell it cheap..
Luckily the problem was found out by chance...i went to pull the car into my garage to continue working on it...95° outside, and as i pulled it in, my cousin in the stang, i hear it start right up behind me...my cousin said he thought "why not try it again" as we were pulling it and he tried it...started up and ran great. Now before I tell you what the problem was, remember that the theft light was flashing, and it never had before...so that's the thing that got my going on focusing on the theft system...I was about to take my steering column and PATS ring off...so I was getting pretty desperate...you probably already figured out the problem...my damned shifting cable...it was stretched or just old and stiff...so it wasnt letting the car read that it was in pa0rk...but when we had it in neutral to pull it, it started up. Simple right? Now I havent even replaced the cable and checked out the shifter linkage yet because I was so relieved that it wasnt the dreaded theft system that I immediately joined thos forum in the Hope's that somebody might benefit from this. Even with the theft light on, telling you that you may have an aggravating trial before you, and before you go through all the searching and trial and error that I did...based on the fact that I was sure it was the theft system...please remember that sometimes you hapve to go back to basics and look at things you might not expect...why the theft light came on when we tried to start it not properly in the "park" position I'm sure we could figure out...but it just seemed illogical to me, and that's the whole point...its not always a logical progression from problem to fix....i had a cavalier that i replaced coil packs, ignition modules and other stuf on, and it was down for 3 months as I came back to it now and again to try different things. It ended up being the theft system..and a simple key unlock-lock procedure got it fixed and ran fine...but I was expecting the worst when I saw the mustang theft mode flashing. I still have to fix the cable, but I'm so relieved I'm gonna have a beer and do it tomorrow. Some of you are probably reading this and saying, "duh"...but the car didnt have any shift problems before so I didnt have a reason to look there. So I hope this helps...always check the basics and related things even if it doeznt make logical sense from data you already have.
..AND flashing slowly when the key was off...just a brief, quick flash about every 2 or 3 seconds. I read about all the reset procedures and tried them all, watched a dozen videos...then began by cleaning my grounds going from the battery cable(s)...ones that bolted to the core support. Didnt work. I tapped on my starter, moved the engine by hand, tinkered with the position of my tilt column and made sure my steering wheel was in the lock position, as i read both of these things worked for people in certain forums...nothing. touched battery cables together to try to reset CPU, turned key on for 10 minutes, then did the lock and unlock procedure that i found online...i was getting pretty desperate and frustrated...and theres nothing like that dejected feeling you get when you hapve a computer or electronic problem with your car and it makes you want to give up and sell it cheap..
Luckily the problem was found out by chance...i went to pull the car into my garage to continue working on it...95° outside, and as i pulled it in, my cousin in the stang, i hear it start right up behind me...my cousin said he thought "why not try it again" as we were pulling it and he tried it...started up and ran great. Now before I tell you what the problem was, remember that the theft light was flashing, and it never had before...so that's the thing that got my going on focusing on the theft system...I was about to take my steering column and PATS ring off...so I was getting pretty desperate...you probably already figured out the problem...my damned shifting cable...it was stretched or just old and stiff...so it wasnt letting the car read that it was in pa0rk...but when we had it in neutral to pull it, it started up. Simple right? Now I havent even replaced the cable and checked out the shifter linkage yet because I was so relieved that it wasnt the dreaded theft system that I immediately joined thos forum in the Hope's that somebody might benefit from this. Even with the theft light on, telling you that you may have an aggravating trial before you, and before you go through all the searching and trial and error that I did...based on the fact that I was sure it was the theft system...please remember that sometimes you hapve to go back to basics and look at things you might not expect...why the theft light came on when we tried to start it not properly in the "park" position I'm sure we could figure out...but it just seemed illogical to me, and that's the whole point...its not always a logical progression from problem to fix....i had a cavalier that i replaced coil packs, ignition modules and other stuf on, and it was down for 3 months as I came back to it now and again to try different things. It ended up being the theft system..and a simple key unlock-lock procedure got it fixed and ran fine...but I was expecting the worst when I saw the mustang theft mode flashing. I still have to fix the cable, but I'm so relieved I'm gonna have a beer and do it tomorrow. Some of you are probably reading this and saying, "duh"...but the car didnt have any shift problems before so I didnt have a reason to look there. So I hope this helps...always check the basics and related things even if it doeznt make logical sense from data you already have.
