ECU Engine Failure

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amorgan2017

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Here we go again, another issue, the ECT Failsafe came on today. I'm not exactly sure why this car is such a pile but apparently it is. I can't go more than a 2 days without having to pull it back in the shop. Well to begin, I was driving to work today all normal no misses then or ever since I've had it. I probably traveled around 15 miles and I got stuck riding behind a semi. So I passed the semi and another vehicle. I gave it a lot of gas when I did it maybe to the floor even idk. But it got me up to around 85 and I wasn't far from my work place so I just let it slow down till i got the the turn lane. The Failsafe never came on until I pulled in, I then tried to give it some gas and it set off the ping noise for the ECU. I kinda didn't know what to do so I just drove it over to my parking spot with it riding rough and slow. I got to my parking spot and shut it off. Turned it back on no light and it was running like normal. I had to get to work so I didn't have time to piss with it then. So I got out and drove home right away never had any issues but i babied the thing because I'm worried it will happen again. So my question...what in the world would randomly just go bad just because i gave it gas-related to this. I mean I read around throttle body, TPS, coil #4, but i have no running issues now I don't think. I've only put 600 miles on the car since I've got it and had to pull it in 4 times. Should I do a test driving to see if I can do it again? Like give it full throttle? Do I have to fix anything or could it just be a random occurrence? I better wrap this up..thanks for any help in advance,

It's got 94,000K miles on it, 05 V-8 and his name is the money pit.
 
If would help if you correctly referred to the problems you are having. There is no "ECU Engine Failure", but there is an "ECT failsafe" warning message. I'll have to assume that is what you have. It could be lots of things, but usually it is caused by RFI coming from one or more marginal ignition coils. The most common working fix is to replace all the coils (must be with Motorcraft) and all the plugs (must be set to 1.0mm). If you added an aftermarket intake, then you should also look at the MAF.
If you have the attitude that your car is a POS, then just get rid of it now. If that's that way you feel about it, then that's the way it will be. You are really surprised that a car that you "bought a 05 LS8 at a salvage auction" has a lot of problems and a lot of deferred maintenance that has caught up to you? Your car stickered for over $40K. How much did you pay for it? Has that plus the repairs added up to anything close to $40K?
 
Alright thanks for the input guys. And joe, i think your reading it in a different tone they I meant. Obviously a guy is going to be ticked when he spends more time working on it than driving it. And for the record, the cars are not worth anyway near original value as you know. I bought it used yes, at a salvage auction (Copart). The damage was the outer tie rod broke and the tire let loose, busted up the fender and bumper and all the other suspension, no check engine light when it was all repaired. I probably expect to much from such a place but hey who cares anyhow. I'll take up your suggestion and buy coils/plugs. I like to buy through eBay so hopefully I find something of quality. It's not a real issue where I shouldn't drive right? I'll get the codes tomorrow and tell you guys more as it goes. I did do a run with it repeated what I did and put it to the floor for sure held it double what I did the first time but all was ok full power still. Tach meter is still at idle easy to rev and all.
 
amorgan2017 said:
... And for the record, the cars are not worth anyway near original value as you know. ....
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No, I guess I didn't know. I am one of the idiots that bought two of them when they were brand new. I still have them, and I am still happy with them. However, I am now sad to know that I was ripped off so badly...
 
Alright man, I was just stating facts. I was also giving my own opinion I don't see what the big deal is. I said the cars not your car.
 
Morgan, Joe is real knowledgeable, and if you can get the scan codes for him he will pin point issue with accuracy - if possible. Forgive him though for being a little gunshy maybe, a couple of new owners have come on and unreasonably picked issue with him and other long term posters.

That said, be aware that your car like mine is right at the 100k point where Lincoln requires a solid once over on all systems. In my search for my second one, it became obvious that there were a lot of owners that neglected these cars. If maintained they are great cars. My owner was meticulous, gave me all the receipts, and hand written notes each month of what was done to the car (2001) and its mileage. Yet here I am doing:

- Transmission control rebuild (in pan not internal)
- Timing chain tensionor (2001 issue)
- 5 original cops must go
- spark plugs, since I cant trust the mech that did it at 90k (100k now)
- Valve gasket that still leaks that the mech above charged to replace

For you, I bet you have factory plugs still, change is supposed to be 100k, probably the coils, and since Lincoln says the tranny is sealed and needs no service original fluid there. I suggest changing all those, which by the way if Lincoln was doing all the scheduled maintenance 100k is the major overhaul, and then you well be on the way to another 100k.

Good luck
 
grizzlyls said:
...Lincoln says the tranny is sealed and needs no service original fluid there. ...
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Actually, the maintenance schedule does say to have the fluid completely exchanged every 150K miles.
 
Yeah it's ok I can understand that. After work I'll head to advanced auto and see what we find. I think I may have noticed a miss today but not for sure. At about 60 I tried to accelerate same and it felt bogged. Rather be safe than sorry so I'm ordering the coils and plugs ahead of time. I probably have a throttle body and TPS sensor somewhere. Not sure on the pedal though..are the adjustable ones different from non adjustable?
 
And on the tranny maintenance it seems alright I've read that they're never perfect. Mines smooth when it's warm, you can feel the shifts a small amount when it's cold. Or shifting into gear. That's something I'll cross my fingers on because I don't know jack about trannys haha.
 
joegr said:
Actually, the maintenance schedule does say to have the fluid completely exchanged every 150K miles.
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And the guy that headed the calibration of the auto said he would do it every 30K-40K. He says to always use the Severe Service schedule.
 
joegr said:
Actually, the maintenance schedule does say to have the fluid completely exchanged every 150K miles.
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Hehe, didnt look that far ahead. Definitely seems they gauged that one wrong when so many peeps start to talk about issues a little earlier than 100k. Either way, just letting morgan know catching it earlier rather than later may save him a couple bucks.
 
LS4me said:
And the guy that headed the calibration of the auto said he would do it every 30K-40K. He says to always use the Severe Service schedule.
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grizzlyls said:
Hehe, didnt look that far ahead. Definitely seems they gauged that one wrong when so many peeps start to talk about issues a little earlier than 100k. Either way, just letting morgan know catching it earlier rather than later may save him a couple bucks.
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I'm not disputing that more often is better, only saying that the manual says no more than 150K miles before changing it. (BMW says to never change it on the E46, and you can't get them to do it.)
 
Alright got it scanned tonight. As suspected coil #4 is the culprit. I would list all the codes but I guess there is 21 of them lol. I assume the coil is making things go crazy. On my way to town it started running horrible engine light came on then started blinking so I turned off and restarted it. It was a bit better with no blinking light so I went got it checked then right back home. Bought one coil to replace #4 will have a set of 8 on the way tonight anyways.
 
im just going to throw this out there... if you have a coil bad enough to throw a code, it is already been causing damage to the catalytic converters... if you don't get this fixed right away, your repair bill is going to raise 4x what it would be! (I hope too much damage has not already been done to them.)
 
Im not sure I didn't drive it far like that at all. When it was missing badly I drove maybe a mile then stopped. I went again and it was still missing but not near as bad. This was the first day it ever was noticeable. The good news is I got the new coil installed and it seems to run great again. I used the cheap mans scanner and cleared the codes no tomorrow I'll see if my come back. Tonight I'm ordering up a new scanner I bought the Launch X431 which looks pretty good for what I need. The one I had was old haha, wouldn't even read the Lincoln codes just clear and say how many. Anyone else have this brand of scan tool.
 
im just saying, before it ever gets that bad, its already slightly messing up.

as far as only driving a mile... depending on how bad it is, that may be long enough. in my specific case, 2.25 miles was too far :(


im telling you, its some BS you don't want to have to deal with.
 
the cats got so hot that they melted solid and once pressure built up the engine couldn't run anymore.
 
Did that happen right after or take awhile to affect the engine? About to take it to work so I hope it will be ok. I only did a short test drive-2 miles.
 
Some get away with it for quite a while. For others, it would seem that it only took a few miles.
 
Ok car has 2 codes now. PO106 and PO408. Map sensor and EGR. You can't notice much but it doesn't run 100%. I have a EGR from a V6 would it work? I think I'd just change both even though I'm pretty sure the EGR would throw the Map sensor off.
 
FDR said:
What's the general consensus on this among owners?
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That it should be changed a lot more often than never. Like the LS, there is no dipstick. (The newer ones have no dipstick for the engine oil either.)
 
amorgan2017 said:
Ok car has 2 codes now. PO106 and PO408. Map sensor and EGR. You can't notice much but it doesn't run 100%. I have a EGR from a V6 would it work? I think I'd just change both even though I'm pretty sure the EGR would throw the Map sensor off.
Click to expand...

It'd be really hard not to change both at the same time. The MAP sensor is a part of the EGR valve assembly and can't be serviced separately. The set of hard line vacuum tubes that go to the EGR and fuel pressure sensor get very brittle with age and heat.

BTW, the experience on this board is that aftermarket EGR valves don't work on the LS.
 
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