So I bought a Moats Quarterhorse for my 03 Mach 1 and installed it. No problems. I had the ECU out of the kick panel area and it was just hanging out. Everything was working fine. I put some electrical tape over the J3 port where the QH was poking out to seal it off so no moisture would get in there. Everything was still fine and I drove the car like that for about a day. I decided to put the ECU back in the kick panel. I was super careful with the ECU and the USB cable that was poking out the top. I got it mounted back in the factory spot and put everything back together.
This is where my problems start. I started the car and backed it out of the garage. The motor was running rough, check engine light on, wouldn't hold idle and actually died. I got it to start again and pulled it back into the garage. I removed the QH unit, tried it again and the car still ran poorly. I disconnected the battery and let it sit for 5 minutes. I came back and started it up. Car ran fine, no problems at all. Drove it around the block, it was fine. Parked it. Started it again a few minutes later. MIL came on within 30 seconds of the motor running but the car ran fine. I parked the car last week and havn't been driving it. Picked up a code reader this morning and pulled a P1451. According to this:
http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/ford/p1451.php
It looks to be either the EVAP system or my ECU. I have tried to clear the code with my reader but it wont clear. I have checked fuses #2 and #8 under the dash and they are confirmed good with a DVMM. Now the car does have about 120,000 miles on it so the EVAP system could have a bad valve and if that is the only issue, I'll be happy but I don't think that is the case here.
Why would the EVAP valve cause my car to run like garbage from a cold start ? What I'm really worried about here is having a damaged ECU. The car does seem to run fine at the moment and I do want to be able to use my QH on it so I'm really stuck at the moment. Any help with the diagnosis would be much appreciated.
This is where my problems start. I started the car and backed it out of the garage. The motor was running rough, check engine light on, wouldn't hold idle and actually died. I got it to start again and pulled it back into the garage. I removed the QH unit, tried it again and the car still ran poorly. I disconnected the battery and let it sit for 5 minutes. I came back and started it up. Car ran fine, no problems at all. Drove it around the block, it was fine. Parked it. Started it again a few minutes later. MIL came on within 30 seconds of the motor running but the car ran fine. I parked the car last week and havn't been driving it. Picked up a code reader this morning and pulled a P1451. According to this:
http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/ford/p1451.php
It looks to be either the EVAP system or my ECU. I have tried to clear the code with my reader but it wont clear. I have checked fuses #2 and #8 under the dash and they are confirmed good with a DVMM. Now the car does have about 120,000 miles on it so the EVAP system could have a bad valve and if that is the only issue, I'll be happy but I don't think that is the case here.
Why would the EVAP valve cause my car to run like garbage from a cold start ? What I'm really worried about here is having a damaged ECU. The car does seem to run fine at the moment and I do want to be able to use my QH on it so I'm really stuck at the moment. Any help with the diagnosis would be much appreciated.