No start, no CEL codes ( but light is on) 2003 lincoln ls V6

[Dewanjd]

Okay so I was driving down the street and my car starts to shutter (WTF)!!!!!! Check engine light flashes and then turns off....so I keep driving, then out of no where it cuts off at a stop light (OMG seriously)!!!!! I get it started after finding a blown cop fuse 15A in the engine bay, but it still stutters and shakes so I goto autozone up the street. I find out I have a misfire on cylinder #1, #3, and #6....P0356, p0303, forgot the last one......Not sure why I have these codes because all the coils are new and spark plugs are new. So what could be the problem now. After I left autozone on my way back home the car starts slowing down and cuts off on me....I wasn't worried until that happened because now it will not start at all. Tried to check the CEL to see if any other codes would show up but now it says 0 codes with the CEL light on. If any of you guys have ever had an issue like this or have any suggestions please reply. I hope its not my PCM I know that part alone could cost a good amount of money.

 

[chris2523]

sounds like you need coils.
what brand coils did you use?

 

[Dewanjd]

sounds like you need coils.
what brand coils did you use?[/QUOTE.
I used the accel brand for my coils and the ngk plugs.......just took the pcm out and it smelt burnt.....I took it apart and found some residue on the circuit board. So I went and ordered a new one from car quest, should be in on Friday next week...One question for you guys.....what would cause the pcm to burn out like that.

 

[joegr]

Bad coils is one suspected cause.

 

[Dewanjd]

Bad coils is one suspected cause.

My first thought was the coils but seeing that I replaced all my coils and plugs with new ones and had no check engine light on it makes me wonder if there is a another cause of the pcm going out. I did find out that two of my coils were loose because of the bolts holding it in place. I guess with 187,000 miles on it I was bound to go out eventually. I know it is not the engine it self due to having it rebuilt earlier this year. I did order the pcm and I should have it by this Friday or sooner. I will post an update once it is installed hopefully I can get it going with the new pcm installed.......

 

[purevilpleasure]

ACCEL's?

How long have you had them installed?

When you did the wire switch on the coil connectors did you double check you don't have any possible shorts?

 

[Dewanjd]

ACCEL's?

How long have you had them installed?

When you did the wire switch on the coil connectors did you double check you don't have any possible shorts?

I thought about that as well!
I changed my coil connectors last month when I did the switch. I made sure all my connections were secure and tested the voltage as well. I had no prior warning signs or check engine lights once I made the change. I am so lost on this one, but I will check everything again and see if I can find any lose connections at all. I'll update any new information if I find anything.

 

[jjcool00]

Did you also ensure that you disassembled the connectors from the wiring harnesses and reversed the pins?

 

[Dewanjd]

Did you also ensure that you disassembled the connectors from the wiring harnesses and reversed the pins?

Yes sir! I learned from the best, a previous post about the swap mentioned that as well. To save the headache later I made sure to cover my tracks and insure that I had a solid connection all the way through. Giving the current situation I am going to disassemble the harness and make sure there are no issues with the connections, its not going anywhere, lol. Might as well make the use of it at least....

 

[Dewanjd]

Got the Pcm and installed it last week. Had the car towed to the lincoln dealership so they could program the keys and flash the pcm. They couldn't get to it the first day, which I was prepared for. When the next day comes their computer craps out on them so now its gotta sit there over the weekend until they fix their cpu. Now here we are today and they say oh you may have a problem with your pcm or cluster. Dumb asses the pcm is new duhhhhh.
What would you guys say it is the cluster or wiring issue. I'm leaning towards cluster issue because it will not start.

 

[joegr]

You may or may not have a cluster issue now, but it's not what caused your problems in your original post.

 

[Dewanjd]

Updates so far from the original post. Okay, so the dealership calls me and tells me its the pcm that is bad. I'm thinking to my self should I entertain this or tow it somewhere else. Its been over a week now and I still do not have my ls back yet. Well, I figure instead of spending more money having it towed let them do it. Since I originally purchased the pcm from carquest I contacted them so they could order another one for me. Now I have to wait until tomorrow and get the pcm and have the dealership install it. I hope and pray that this gets the car going so I can enjoy riding in my ls again. I hate driving my fiances car it is so small and not luxurious at all. I feel like I'm a sardine in a can driving that thing. One thing is for sure the dealership did check all of the wiring from the coils to the pcm and cluster so I'm okay with that. The only thing I can think of is the loose coil bolts on cylinder #1 and #3 which I have tightened and secured. I will post more updates on the progress this week. Also, thank you everyone for your input and help while trying to figure this thing out.

 

[LS4me]

Updates so far from the original post. Okay, so the dealership calls me and tells me its the pcm that is bad. I'm thinking to my self should I entertain this or tow it somewhere else. Its been over a week now and I still do not have my ls back yet. Well, I figure instead of spending more money having it towed let them do it. Since I originally purchased the pcm from carquest I contacted them so they could order another one for me. Now I have to wait until tomorrow and get the pcm and have the dealership install it. I hope and pray that this gets the car going so I can enjoy riding in my ls again. I hate driving my fiances car it is so small and not luxurious at all. I feel like I'm a sardine in a can driving that thing. One thing is for sure the dealership did check all of the wiring from the coils to the pcm and cluster so I'm okay with that. The only thing I can think of is the loose coil bolts on cylinder #1 and #3 which I have tightened and secured. I will post more updates on the progress this week. Also, thank you everyone for your input and help while trying to figure this thing out.

If this is an aftermarket PCM I wouldn't be surprised if the "new" one also has issues. Sometimes it's best to just suck it up and get the factory parts. Just sayin'.

 

[Dewanjd]

If this is an aftermarket PCM I wouldn't be surprised if the "new" one also has issues. Sometimes it's best to just suck it up and get the factory parts. Just sayin'.

Yes, you are right! Considering I already paid for one and its under warranty I figured I would give it another shot. Plus it was a rebuilt pcm so hopefully this one will work this time around.

 

[joegr]

Yes, you are right! Considering I already paid for one and its under warranty I figured I would give it another shot. Plus it was a rebuilt pcm so hopefully this one will work this time around.

A used one pulled from a wrecked car, I could see. However a bad one that someone tried to repair (rebuilt), I would be very doubtful about.

 

[Dewanjd]

A used one pulled from a wrecked car, I could see. However a bad one that someone tried to repair (rebuilt), I would be very doubtful about.

Yeah, I don't typically do rebuilt parts, but with no luck finding one at the junk yard I had to purchase one at carquest. Hopefully it will work out though. Plus. the ones online where priced too high from a junked car in my opinion....

 

[linc249]

PCM replaced now misfiring engine

Yeah, I don't typically do rebuilt parts, but with no luck finding one at the junk yard I had to purchase one at carquest. Hopefully it will work out though. Plus. the ones online where priced too high from a junked car in my opinion....

Any luck yet with your situation? I'm having the same problems.
03 LS V6 120k miles, started to shift hard in reverse and 2-3, 3-4, pcm problem replaced with re-manufactured pcm. Transmission shifts fine now, but engine is now misfiring p0353, 355, 356 (these codes weren't coming up before when pcm was bad). Coils, plugs (changed and swapped around to no resolution), connectors checked out ok, changed the fuel filter still to no avail. Right now I'm left at it may be the valves, heads, or possibly exhaust manifold gaskets or even the manifolds themselves. I'm starting to reach for anything because I've done a lot of troubleshooting and not getting anything back.

 

[joegr]

Any luck yet with your situation? I'm having the same problems.
03 LS V6 120k miles, started to shift hard in reverse and 2-3, 3-4, pcm problem replaced with re-manufactured pcm. Transmission shifts fine now, but engine is now misfiring p0353, 355, 356 (these codes weren't coming up before when pcm was bad). Coils, plugs (changed and swapped around to no resolution), connectors checked out ok, changed the fuel filter still to no avail. Right now I'm left at it may be the valves, heads, or possibly exhaust manifold gaskets or even the manifolds themselves. I'm starting to reach for anything because I've done a lot of troubleshooting and not getting anything back.

You are wrong about the codes, so you are about to look in the wrong places. P035x codes are not misfire codes (the condition that they indicate does cause misfires though). These codes indicate an electrical problem with the primary circuit on those coils. There's no way that valves, gaskets, or manifolds can cause these codes. (If you had P030x codes, then you would need to look at all those things plus the fuel injection.) Either the wiring, connectors, coils themselves, or the rebuilt PCM is the source of your problem. I'm betting on the rebuilt PCM. It seems to happen a lot. Either get a working PCM from and wrecked car, or buy a brand new one.

Why are 3rd party rebuilt LS PCMs a problem? Because they don't have a good way to really test that they are really correctly repaired.

 

[Dewanjd]

A used one pulled from a wrecked car, I could see. However a bad one that someone tried to repair (rebuilt), I would be very doubtful about.

So, I got a call from the dealership they got it started but, they had to jump one of the fuses in order to get it started. Any ideas on this or have a solution for this issue. They said it is also running ruff as well trying to figure this out...Any assistance would be great....

 

[joegr]

I will only say that bypassing a fuse is a very bad idea.

 

[linc249]

You are wrong about the codes, so you are about to look in the wrong places. P035x codes are not misfire codes (the condition that they indicate does cause misfires though). These codes indicate an electrical problem with the primary circuit on those coils. There's no way that valves, gaskets, or manifolds can cause these codes. (If you had P030x codes, then you would need to look at all those things plus the fuel injection.) Either the wiring, connectors, coils themselves, or the rebuilt PCM is the source of your problem. I'm betting on the rebuilt PCM. It seems to happen a lot. Either get a working PCM from and wrecked car, or buy a brand new one.

Why are 3rd party rebuilt LS PCMs a problem? Because they don't have a good way to really test that they are really correctly repaired.

Update to my issue... So, I dropped the car off at FLM dealership on 7/27 afternoon. They call me today 7/29 and are still diagnosing the problem, but are leaning towards the pcm being bad. A little history about this situation, 6/21 car is taken to independent mechanic and diagnosed w/pcm problem, they "fix" it in less then a day and a half (had the part on hand?) and tell me it'll be a couple of weeks for the car to relearn (I expected this). Drove for 2 weeks and transmission is shifting just as hard as original complaint when I took the car in. I took it back on 7/12 and told them I was getting codes 606 and 2107. They looked and decided the pcm they installed the first time was bad and went on and replaced it free under a 12&12 warranty (this time it takes them a week to "fix" it). I pick up the car on 7/19 and car shifts fine, but has 2 misfires per their scanner and 3 misfires according to my scanner, A/C isn't working either (which I find out while troubleshooting the misfires they never reconnected the fan for the A/C!). I take it back to them after driving 5 miles, they tell me that the misfires will negate the new warranty unless I have them fix it and the A/C won't work b/c the CEL is on (I've had CEL before and A/C worked fine). That brings me back to today and waiting on final word from Ford...

 

[RigsLS]

​

 

[linc249]

You are wrong about the codes, so you are about to look in the wrong places. P035x codes are not misfire codes (the condition that they indicate does cause misfires though). These codes indicate an electrical problem with the primary circuit on those coils. There's no way that valves, gaskets, or manifolds can cause these codes. (If you had P030x codes, then you would need to look at all those things plus the fuel injection.) Either the wiring, connectors, coils themselves, or the rebuilt PCM is the source of your problem. I'm betting on the rebuilt PCM. It seems to happen a lot. Either get a working PCM from and wrecked car, or buy a brand new one.

Why are 3rd party rebuilt LS PCMs a problem? Because they don't have a good way to really test that they are really correctly repaired.

So, picked up the LS from Ford today, Coil Drivers are burned out of PCM, PCM is bad and needs replacement. I take the car back to the original shop and service writer doesn't wanna have anything to do with it and commented the PCM wasn't warrantied b/c I turned down the misfire repairs (which begun as soon as they installed the new PCM). Misfires weren't present when I took the car in a month ago nor were they when I took the car back in 2 weeks after the 1st PCM repair (which didn't get repaired). I spoke with the mechanic at Ford and he mentioned that they had the same exact PCM/misfire issues on another LS a few months ago to no resolution. At the original shop today the service writer and I got into a nice back and forth until the manager stepped in and said they'd re-diagnosis it and if it is the PCM they'll warranty it. On top of that he said it would take a week or 2. So, is that code for the car is gonna sit there and we'll call you to let you know that we can't fix or find the issue and make the customer feel good b/c they say they're looking at it again. Or, is this it for my LS b/c there's some weird ass mystery w/coils and PCMs in FLM vehicles?

 

[joegr]

No weird mystery. You're getting one bad PCM after another. I don't know why, but PCMs for the V6s seem to fail way more often than for the V8s. New PCM or working PCM from wrecked car.

 

[Dewanjd]

No weird mystery. You're getting one bad PCM after another. I don't know why, but PCMs for the V6s seem to fail way more often than for the V8s. New PCM or working PCM from wrecked car.

Well here is the update so far. Talked to the dealership and they were able to get it started only by jumping it off. They tested the vehicle to find out why it wasn't starting on its own and found out that the front fuse box was bad. So I went on and ordered a new one online. Also, when they got it running it was misfiring horribly. My question for you guys is would the replacement of the fuse box help the misfiring issue or am I looking at new coils once again?