My new Cobra has been murdered!

Destroyer442 · Dec 17, 2007

Well, my friend came over tonight and brought over his Diablo Predator thingy so we could pull codes on a check engine light. Ok, we did that bank 1 was running lean, possibly an O2 sensor or whatever. We were done. Then my buddy (he has a supercharged '04 Mach), says let me put on a Diablo tune. Me not knowing much about any of this stuff tell him as long as ***** dont get f**ked up thats fine with me. He says that the Diablo backs the settings the car already has so worse case scenario if the Diablo tune doesn't work we can restore the stock settings. To make a long story short the Diablo tune didn't work and the stock settings could NOT be restored and now I have a car that does not run. Turn the ignition on and the engine fans come on and the car just cranks but does not start. Has anyone run into something like this before?. I dont know what to do and I need some help. Does the computer need to be removed and reflashed at the dealer or what?. The guy that killed my car is my best friend of 14 years so I definately hold no ill will against him as he was just trying to help out but I need this car fixed, if anyone can help with some input it would be great. Thanks.

MrXCESSIVESPEED · Dec 17, 2007

You will most likely have to take the car (via tow) to the dealer to have it reflashed. Sorry to hear that though, it def sucks.

Destroyer442 · Dec 17, 2007

MrXCESSIVESPEED said:
You will most likely have to take the car (via tow) to the dealer to have it reflashed. Sorry to hear that though, it def sucks.

Think I can just take the computer to the dealer and have it reflashed?.

LaserSVT · Dec 17, 2007

Yup

Edit: Have you tried resetting it? Just take off the neg. battery cable for ten min and see if it works. Prolly wont but its worth a shot

Uncle Meat · Dec 18, 2007

LaserSVT said:
Yup

Edit: Have you tried resetting it? Just take off the neg. battery cable for ten min and see if it works. Prolly wont but its worth a shot

Or if you don't have 10 minutes to wait just take off the negative battery cable as stated and then turn on the headlights and/or pump the brakes. This will discharge and residual system charge thus resetting the adaptive memory tables.

I have a feeling this won't work at solving the problem. You definitely will need to have the PCM re-flashed at the dealership.

What I'm curious about is where your buddy got his hands on an 1998-2001 Cobra specific Diablosport Predator that wasn't already married to another vehicle??? Please don't tell me he used the one specifically designed for his '04 Mach on YOUR Cobra!?

U.M.

P.S. Your car was NOT MURDERED! It did however receive what I would call a lobotomy!

Destroyer442 · Dec 18, 2007

Uncle Meat said:
What I'm curious about is where your buddy got his hands on an 1998-2001 Cobra specific Diablosport Predator that wasn't already married to another vehicle??? Please don't tell me he used the one specifically designed for his '04 Mach on YOUR Cobra!?

U.M.

P.S. Your car was NOT MURDERED! It did however receive what I would call a lobotomy!

It was married to another vechicle; his mach 1. He figured because my car has an '04 Mach motor it would be ok. I dont know anything about this stuff. After this happened he's was telling me that he really wasn't sure he could do it but thought he'd be able to bring it back to the settings I had prior to hooking it up. Guess not. LOL on the labotomy thing. Where is the computer located?. Easy to remove right?. I'd like to bring the computer in for a reflash rather than have the car towed. When they reflash it will they account for the 4.10 gears and all the mods?. Thanks.

Uncle Meat · Dec 18, 2007

Destroyer442 said:
It was married to another vechicle; his mach 1. He figured because my car has an '04 Mach motor it would be ok. I dont know anything about this stuff. After this happened he's was telling me that he really wasn't sure he could do it but thought he'd be able to bring it back to the settings I had prior to hooking it up. Guess not. LOL on the labotomy thing. Where is the computer located?. Easy to remove right?. I'd like to bring the computer in for a reflash rather than have the car towed. When they reflash it will they account for the 4.10 gears and all the mods?. Thanks.

Once a Predator is married to a vehicle (like your buddies mach) it can't be used to "flash" another PCM unless it is first "Un-married" from the original vehicle. On top of that even though your car may have a "Mach" motor in it, the PCM is still the original Cobra model so there was no way this was going to work regardless.

The PCM is located behind the passenger-side kick panel. Remove the panel and I believe you'll find there are two screws holding the PCM to the metal sidewall. You'll also need to disconnect the harness from the PCM. You might want to call your local dealerships service desk and ask them if they can in fact flash the PCM without it physically being in the car. I've heard of this being done before, but I'd check just the same.

As for your mods & 4.10 gears... has the PCM been flashed previous to all of this to account for the mods? Who flashed it and how? I can tell you that when the Ford service department is done with the re-flash your ECM will be back to STOCK and none of the previous changes will be loaded.

U.M.

Destroyer442 · Dec 18, 2007

Uncle Meat said:
Once a Predator is married to a vehicle (like your buddies mach) it can't be used to "flash" another PCM unless it is first "Un-married" from the original vehicle. On top of that even though your car may have a "Mach" motor in it, the PCM is still the original Cobra model so there was no way this was going to work regardless.

The PCM is located behind the passenger-side kick panel. Remove the panel and I believe you'll find there are two screws holding the PCM to the metal sidewall. You'll also need to disconnect the harness from the PCM. You might want to call your local dealerships service desk and ask them if they can in fact flash the PCM without it physically being in the car. I've heard of this being done before, but I'd check just the same.

As for your mods & 4.10 gears... has the PCM been flashed previous to all of this to account for the mods? Who flashed it and how? I can tell you that when the Ford service department is done with the re-flash your ECM will be back to STOCK and none of the previous changes will be loaded.

U.M.

This sucks. I dont know who did the reflash but its been flashed cause the speedo and tach were right on. I bought the car from an older lady and it belonged to her husband that passed so she didn't know anything about the car. She did have receipts showing that the car had the motor replaced as well as the gears and clutch, battery, etc. My friend has had much work done to his Mach at that same shop and knows the owner. Thats how we found out the car had an '04 Mach 1 motor. I'll have to find out if that same guy did the flashing on it and what its gonna take to get the car done right. Again, this sucks. Thanks for the help.

WANNA_BE_GT · Dec 18, 2007

How do you know it has a Mach motor in it? Does it have a different upper intake manifold, or is it missing the signatures on the valve cover? You could always purchase an sct xcal2 with some canned tunes.

Good luck!

Uncle Meat · Dec 19, 2007

WANNA_BE_GT said:
You could always purchase an sct xcal2 with some canned tunes.

Good luck!

I doubt the SCT would be able to write to the memory of the PCM at this time either. Basically the memory in the PCM is corrupted. It's almost like screwing up NT loader file on a personal computer. Basically it needs to be re-formatted and re-written. His only recourse is to get the PCM to someone who can erase the existing code and then load a fresh calibration. None of the handheld tuners available today are capable of performing this. It requires some special specific software to do this.

U.M.

Destroyer442 · Dec 19, 2007

WANNA_BE_GT said:
How do you know it has a Mach motor in it? Does it have a different upper intake manifold, or is it missing the signatures on the valve cover? You could always purchase an sct xcal2 with some canned tunes.

Good luck!

Long story short. Owner of the shop that installed the Mach 1 motor said that the car came into the shop with a knock. Guy wanted another Cobra motor installed. Shop owner located a 9k mile '04 Mach motor. The cars owner said no to the Mach motor inisisting it absolutely HAD to be a Cobra motor. Shop owner could not locate a Cobra motor on such short notice, got the Mach motor and swapped induction/valve covers off the '99 and told the guy it was an '01 Cobra motor w/13k miles. Guy never knew the difference.

Destroyer442 · Dec 19, 2007

Uncle Meat said:
I doubt the SCT would be able to write to the memory of the PCM at this time either. Basically the memory in the PCM is corrupted. It's almost like screwing up NT loader file on a personal computer. Basically it needs to be re-formatted and re-written. His only recourse is to get the PCM to someone who can erase the existing code and then load a fresh calibration. None of the handheld tuners available today are capable of performing this. It requires some special specific software to do this.

U.M.

Know of any company I can send the PCM to that will reflash it and program all the mods done?. I'm being told now that I need to buy a scanner or something for $400 and then get a $300 dyno tune plus of course the money for a tow truck.

Uncle Meat · Dec 19, 2007

Destroyer442 said:
Know of any company I can send the PCM to that will reflash it and program all the mods done?. I'm being told now that I need to buy a scanner or something for $400 and then get a $300 dyno tune plus of course the money for a tow truck.

Take the car (or the PCM) to the dealership and get it reflashed. Should be able to get that done for under $100. Once that's done you should be able to drive the car to a speed shop and get it tuned properly.

Do you have a complete list of the mods currently installed? Hard to say what really needs to be done tune-wise or what the cost will be if we don't know for sure. The 4:10 gear swap and resulting need for a speedo calibration can be done by yourself by just purchasing a speedcal. Cost is under $100.

U.M.

Destroyer442 · Dec 19, 2007

Uncle Meat said:
Do you have a complete list of the mods currently installed? Hard to say what really needs to be done tune-wise or what the cost will be if we don't know for sure. The 4:10 gear swap and resulting need for a speedo calibration can be done by yourself by just purchasing a speedcal. Cost is under $100.

U.M.

I only know of the gears, the Mach 1 motor, off road h-pipe, flowaster cat back exhaust, underdrive pulleys (friend says they are steeda), short throw shifter, k&n filter. I never got a "list" of things cause I bought it from the widow of the man that owned owned it, just a few reciepts from the shop that did the work. The widow I got if from said her hubby that passed bought this car this way and the previoius owner did all the work. The speedshop told me to get the name of the guy that the reciepts are from and they will pull the record to see what else was done to it. I thought there were companies that you could send the pcm to and they would calibrate it the way you want. Guess not. I'll take it to Ford when I get the chance and see if they can do it so it will at least drive to a shop. Thanks for the help bro. This pony needs to get back on the road.

Zax · Dec 19, 2007

There is a way to completely reset the unit back to stock setting through the ignition. I had this happen to a 2003 F-150 I owned. I had to turn the ignition so may times, then it started right up. I had the same exact symptoms you are having. See if you can find the procedure here: http://www.genuineservice.com/genuineservice/en/gloveboxresults

If not try calling and have the guys walk you through it. Otherwise you will like Uncle said have to take the PCM into the dealership. They are easy to remove and if you play it right they should only charge you one hour labor $60.00-$80.00. After that I would take it(The Car) to a reputable shop and have them dyno tune (speedcal) it properly and let you know everything it has equiped to it. Do your best to track down these parts installed, but a good shop should be able to tell you what you have. As for the motor, there seems to me much confusion, I would have the shop check the numbers on it, or do it yourself if you know how, and get the exact type of motor you have. The he said, she said from a couple of owners would drive me nuts. Just get the facts yourself, and make a nice notepad file or whatever you like so you know exactly the mods you have at all times.

Destroyer442 · Dec 20, 2007

Zax said:
There is a way to completely reset the unit back to stock setting through the ignition. I had this happen to a 2003 F-150 I owned. I had to turn the ignition so may times, then it started right up. I had the same exact symptoms you are having. See if you can find the procedure here: http://www.genuineservice.com/genuineservice/en/gloveboxresults

If not try calling and have the guys walk you through it. Otherwise you will like Uncle said have to take the PCM into the dealership. They are easy to remove and if you play it right they should only charge you one hour labor $60.00-$80.00. After that I would take it(The Car) to a reputable shop and have them dyno tune (speedcal) it properly and let you know everything it has equiped to it. Do your best to track down these parts installed, but a good shop should be able to tell you what you have. As for the motor, there seems to me much confusion, I would have the shop check the numbers on it, or do it yourself if you know how, and get the exact type of motor you have. The he said, she said from a couple of owners would drive me nuts. Just get the facts yourself, and make a nice notepad file or whatever you like so you know exactly the mods you have at all times.

I'll check that website. Would be great if it worked. No confusion on the motor cause I know the shop that obtained/installed it. He said, she said isn't from the owners its from the shop that did all the work to it. I bought the car from the previous owners widow, he passed.

Destroyer442 · Dec 20, 2007

If this is possible, does anyone know how many times to turn the ignition on/off till the car starts?. Thanks.

Destroyer442 · Dec 21, 2007

Car is fixed and is running great. Had the computer reflashed at the dealer (towed car there). Car has a speedcal already on the pcm so no problem there with the gears. Gonna do a dyno tune in the near future and thats about it. Thanks for all the help!.

MrXCESSIVESPEED · Dec 21, 2007

Destroyer442 said:
Car is fixed and is running great. Had the computer reflashed at the dealer (towed car there). Car has a speedcal already on the pcm so no problem there with the gears. Gonna do a dyno tune in the near future and thats about it. Thanks for all the help!.

Glad shes back up and running

Uncle Meat · Dec 21, 2007

Sweet!

U.M.

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