Multiple error codes out of the blue

[Tbrjo]

@ Tbrjo. Congrats for the real cool Stang you have !

About your issues... is the battery fully charged ? i.e more than 12,7 V . Modern cars like to shop a hundreds of TCs when the battery is not fully charged. Friend of mine had the same with his Audi TT..

Thanks!! Battery is in great condition, alternator is charging 14.3 at idle but i am thinking it might still be a diode or something in there with an intermittent issue. Maybe even the brushes or rotor is cloe to being worn out or something.

 

[JC SSP]

Yes, ECM does go bad, but usually it's the alternator.

Let's not forget we are dealing with 20+ year old electronics.

 

[DieHarder]

Hate to say it but errors came back again today. Same codes and actually my Diablo tuner from Edelbrock lists even more error codes than Hptuners does so it is more or less all solenoids in the transmission plus all o2 sensors and a bunch more codes. This just hac to be a common ground or common 12v issue. Disconnected all three ecu connectors an pulled on all wires and they all seem solid so no corrosion or anything there. Going to add an extra ground cable from the engine block to the battery just for good measure. Dont remember where the ground cable from the battery connects to the engine block but it is down under there somewhere but cant get to it in the parking lot here. Starter motor works great thou so a bad engine ground would have caused the starter to be slow I think. Next would probably be the fuse box. Is the fuse box a problem on these cars? I used to have Corvette C6 and they were plauged with bad connections in the fuse box... never going to have a C6 again. What about the ECU itself - do they go bad? Any other ideas are welcome !!

Wow! Impressive improvisation... and cool. Nice job! Got any engine pics?

Agree with your thoughts the problem is likely common to several systems. Regarding recommendations for way ahead... When you add the ground, run it from a bolt that connects to the body of the alternator (usually a mounting bolt) back to a body ground (normally it's on the passenger strut tower (though not certain in your case) or the negative terminal for the battery. 4 ga should suffice. Whichever is easiest). That said, your idle voltage is fine. You might want to go thru all of your 12v positive connections as well to be sure they're tight.

I'd also pull the SJB and check it for signs of water intrusion (a green patina/water tracks); can't begin to tell you how many problems that little sucker causes. If present, get some electrical contact cleaner and a toothbrush and do your best to clean up the terminal connections. Since it showed up after going thru heavy rains I'd start looking at connectors likely exposed to water during that even.

Fuse boxes are not normally a source of trouble... other than the low speed radiator fan terminal connection burning out...if you're okay there that shouldn't be a problem area. However, that said. May be worthwhile to pull it apart to check for water intrusion as well.

FYI: The stock location for a 2006 battery ground runs from the negative battery terminal and snakes it way down to a post underneath the passenger side motor mount. It's a bitch to get off/on (speaking from experience). Good luck.

 

[Tbrjo]

Does somebody know if this will work with any 05-07 ECU for an automatic as long as I turn off PATS with Hptuners?

 

[Kev555]

@ Tbrjo. Congrats for the real cool Stang you have !

About your issues... is the battery fully charged ? i.e more than 12,7 V . Modern cars like to shop a hundreds of TCs when the battery is not fully charged. Friend of mine had the same with his Audi TT..

I was going to suggest battery/voltage issues with that many fault codes popping up at once. Not sure if that kind of issue can arise on the S197 but I see it plenty in modern day stuff

 

[Tbrjo]

I only have an older picture from just befor the car was finished. Engine bay is tight

 

[Pentalab]

While measuring the battery voltage..... with eng OFF, it should be aprx 12.2 to 12.5 vdc. With eng ON ( idle) it should be 14.5 vdc or more.
With eng ON, switch the DVM to AC voltage.......and you should see no more than 20-80 Millivolts of AC voltage. IF it's a lot more than that, one or more diodes has failed shorted inside the alternator. What happens then is..... you are pumping raw AC into the battery...and everything else.

 

[Tbrjo]

While measuring the battery voltage..... with eng OFF, it should be aprx 12.2 to 12.5 vdc. With eng ON ( idle) it should be 14.5 vdc or more.
With eng ON, switch the DVM to AC voltage.......and you should see no more than 20-80 Millivolts of AC voltage. IF it's a lot more than that, one or more diodes has failed shorted inside the alternator. What happens then is..... you are pumping raw AC into the battery...and everything else.

Thanks! The battery (Optima red top) is at 12.5-12.6 when it has been sitting overnight. Going to check the alternator as suggested. Did not know I could test the diodes like that. Tis measured between the battery posts right? However I am back i Norway now and the car is in Spain so I wont be able to do anything else until november 7th when I go back.

 

[Pentalab]

Thanks! The battery (Optima red top) is at 12.5-12.6 when it has been sitting overnight. Going to check the alternator as suggested. Did not know I could test the diodes like that. Tis measured between the battery posts right? However I am back i Norway now and the car is in Spain so I wont be able to do anything else until november 7th when I go back.

yes, directly across the battery posts.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

So just all of a sudden all of these codes came up with really no issues with the car. I have had the car for 10 years and it has been running flawless and it started with the o/d light blinking which is the transmission codes. Just after that the engine light came up as well but the engine is really running fine. I clear the codes and it is fine for some time and suddenly the codes come back. Engine has died on me a couple of times but fires right back up and runs fine.

Anybody now if there is a common ground or power wire to these sensors and relays? That is just about the only thing I can think of that will generate that many codes at once.View attachment 109325

Really cool car BTW!
Having read your posts, these are my thoughts:

1. I can rule out any problem with the BEC and the SJB based on your fault codes.

2. Your alternator is properly charging the battery.

3. I really doubt you have any problem with the 12v supply or the engine grounds since the engine starts easily. If you want to rule out the latter, use a DVM to check the voltage between the passenger strut tower grounding point and the alternator casing. There should be no measurable voltage. You might want to check the contacts of the B+ cable from the alternator to the positive battery post in case any are loose or contaminated.

4. You might want to perform an AC ripple test to rule out the possibility of a bad alternator diode, since a raw AC current can play havoc with electrical systems.

5. Check the connection between the engine harness and the main body harness for any sign of water contamination (in case it was drowned by the rain when you drove through Germany).

One thing I can almost guarantee is that a single electrical glitch is causing all your fault codes.

 

[Tbrjo]

Really cool car BTW!
Having read your posts, these are my thoughts:

1. I can rule out any problem with the BEC and the SJB based on your fault codes.

2. Your alternator is properly charging the battery.

3. I really doubt you have any problem with the 12v supply or the engine grounds since the engine starts easily. If you want to rule out the latter, use a DVM to check the voltage between the passenger strut tower grounding point and the alternator casing. There should be no measurable voltage. You might want to check the contacts of the B+ cable from the alternator to the positive battery post in case any are loose or contaminated.

4. You might want to perform an AC ripple test to rule out the possibility of a bad alternator diode, since a raw AC current can play havoc with electrical systems.

5. Check the connection between the engine harness and the main body harness for any sign of water contamination (in case it was drowned by the rain when you drove through Germany).

One thing I can almost guarantee is that a single electrical glitch is causing all your fault codes.

Thanks. My thoughts exactly. I am going to put in a new alternator as soon as I get back to spain in november. pretty sure that will solve the issue. if not it will have to be the ECU but I really cannot see how the ECU can have an intermittent failure.

 

[Tbrjo]

Soooo...a little update to this issue. I am back in Spain for a week now and brought a new alternator with me from Norway that I installed yesterday. Things were fine yesterday and for a 20 mile drive this morning but now suddenly the codes popped back up again. So definately not the alternator. I also managed to check the connector at the transmission and rechecked all grounds in the engine bay. I think I am at the point where a new ecm is the next logical step.

But - the Ford stuff does not seem as easy to use as the GM stuff which I do a lot of programming on. My ECU har part number 6R3A-12A650-FB. Do i need that exact number? i think I have a ECU at home from a 2006 manual car but dont know the number as of now. How do i program it?
Can I use Hptuners and do a write entire or is the Ford stuff more complicated so not possible to program that way?