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My final troubleshooting thread

SJon85 said:
I just went to my dealer and they said that the new PCM has to be programmed to the car, and then the keys programmed to the PCM as well, which is $275 for both which seems pretty high. I am confused on why the PCM has to be programmed to the car? And for kicks and giggles I got them to give me a price on a new PCM, $911 plus the $275 to program it in, I told them where do I sign and who do I give a check to!!!!!

Anyways I am kind of stuck on do I go buy a PCM from the JY out of an 01-02 cougar mtx 2.5 and have the dealership rip me off on programming it? And then what happens if that PCM doesnt work etc, very annoyed with this car.
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PATS. Thats why it needs to be re-programmed. Ur old pcm is matched with the keys. Thats why another key could be able to enter the ignition cylinder, but won't be able to start it. $275 is a bit high, yeah. Oddly enough, the price i was given included them cutting a new key as i had only one at that point. Seems like they're charging u more than an hour of labor. Walk back in there & tell them u know for a fact it takes 5mins to take out AND replace the pcm. The reflashing takes a few minutes. One hour of labor is the max they should charge. As for the jy pcm, just get it. Mine came with a warranty. If the jy doesnt offer u one, try others. U will find one. It might have to be shipped from another state, but u should find one with some sorta warranty.
 
Not sure how much help I can be but I have a PCM out of a 99 Mercury Mystique Duratec MTX. I don't know if the cougars PCM's are different but if you upload a tune from Joey onto it it shouldn't matter maybe? Anyways, you can have it for free but it doesn't have keys (I had mine converted to the SVT PCM I bought) but it is known good, free, and I live like 45min away from you (if you haven't moved to cali yet) So all you would need is a key programmed to it. Let me know
 
Mine would need to come out of a 01-02 cougar as the wiring harness coil pack and a lot of things are different, thanks though!

I shall begin the search for a JY PCM with keys would be my best bet!
 
I heard sometimes they do, but thats just what I heard. Anyways I just ordered one from LKQ with a 6 month warranty for $90 shipped. I will see about finding a dealer to program my keys etc for cheaper. Now the next question is my tune, obviously I will return the current PCM to stock and then put the new PCM in, but is the tune on my Xcal from Joey going to easily transfer over? I know he had to have the 4 digit code off my PCM when he made the tune. Maybe I will just get lucky and the new one I just bought is going to have the exact same 4 digit code. We will see.
 
SJon85 said:
I heard sometimes they do, but thats just what I heard. Anyways I just ordered one from LKQ with a 6 month warranty for $90 shipped. I will see about finding a dealer to program my keys etc for cheaper. Now the next question is my tune, obviously I will return the current PCM to stock and then put the new PCM in, but is the tune on my Xcal from Joey going to easily transfer over? I know he had to have the 4 digit code off my PCM when he made the tune. Maybe I will just get lucky and the new one I just bought is going to have the exact same 4 digit code. We will see.
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Yes, the tunes are specific to the codes like u said. I dunno if joey charges to switch em. U'll have to ask him. And if u do get one with the same codes, then u're good.
 
Its been a while since I have fudged with Xcal...but if you connect it to the computer it should tell you how many unlocks it has left. If you use the xcal to remove the tune off your current pcm, and the xcal has unlocks left, it will unlock itself when you remove joeys tune (revert it to stock, the xcal saves the original tune file) and be ready to be linked up with a new pcm, iirc.
 
Ok got the new PCM, took it to the dealer and they are telling me that the PCM has to be calibrated to the car and then the keys can be programmed to the PCM for $280. This seems ridiculous, they are telling me that every 02 cougars calibration is different and that it wont even start if I dont have the new PCM calibrated. So basically they are telling me that every other 02 cougar runs completely different than mine in stock form.

Figured I would check on here first, but I am guessing I just need to put the new PCM in, have it towed over there and tell them to simply program the two keys I have for the car and thats it right?
 
SJon85 said:
...Figured I would check on here first, but I am guessing I just need to put the new PCM in, have it towed over there and tell them to simply program the two keys I have for the car and thats it right?
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If u can get free towing, then that would be ur best bet. Go back and tell them the new pcm is in. U just need it to match ur keys. Thats assuming coogs arent any different from contours...
 
Man I absolutely LOOOOVE the feeling of wasting another $300 on something I apparently just wasted $20k and 3 years of my life on, goodbye cougar I officially hate your guts!
 
You know I'm just going to throw this out there... did you check to verify that the coil pack capacitor connector was hooked up (grey 1 pin connector next to coil pack on my car the wire is purple with a blue line) and that the capacitor was bolted underneath the coil pack and properly grounded? When this wire had the insulation breaking off of it and the wire broke on my car it had spark problems too. If it was unplugged I could see you having the same problem.
 
CSVT#49 said:
You know I'm just going to throw this out there... did you check to verify that the coil pack capacitor connector was hooked up (grey 1 pin connector next to coil pack on my car the wire is purple with a blue line) and that the capacitor was bolted underneath the coil pack and properly grounded? When this wire had the insulation breaking off of it and the wire broke on my car it had spark problems too. If it was unplugged I could see you having the same problem.
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Kinda know what your saying, since I have 04+ valve covers I dont have the coil pack actually bolted down, I have it wedged and zip tied to I think the A/C lines behind the intake manifold, I know that sounds ghetto rigged but I am very comfortable with it, and remember the 01+ coil pack is smaller and slightly different from all the others. Now that capacitor is bolted to one of the valve cover bolts on the very back of the engine near the stock coil pack location, so it is indeed grounded, wiring on all that stuff looks fine as well as having swapped the wiring harness from my DD verified that the wiring is fine.

At this point I dont know where to go, I believe I have verified all wiring and sensors etc that is related to the spark are good. Maybe its the tune?
 
MidOH3LCougar said:
I was going to ask this, but wasnt too sure.
Did you try running the car at all on a stock 2.5 tune ?
Maybe he should start with a complete default 2.5 tune and go to town on it just to make sure.
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Actually when I did the PCM swap I did start and run it on the stock tuned PCM, and it would start up instantly rev to 2k rpm and instantly die. Now when I had the stock intake manifold on long ago when I initially finished my build with no tune I was able to drive the car and it would idle and not just die with the stock tune. So either the new ST220 intake causes it to not idle, or there is some problem somewhere hiding far far away.
 
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