Throttle Body/PCM

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Benjaminws

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Ok here we go, here's the story...my 06 LS v8 has had service parking brake in the screen, and also the etc fail safe mode comes on after about 20 minutes of driving, my gf works at cadillac, took it to them told them all the issues, so they plugged it in and the code for throttle body comes up, they replace it and it did nothing, had them take the throttle body out....decide to take it to Ford, told them the issues, they tell me throttle body needs replaced, mass air flow needs cleaned, PCM needs updated and they would retest...$1100 later they tell me the PCM won't respond to the work, and it needs to be replaced...can anyone please give me some knowledge
 
We really need the exact five character OBD II codes that you are getting to be able to give good help.

Absent that, common problems that cause ETC failsafe (and can cause EPB problems) and that stump people are:

1. Marginal COPs (coils) - #4 is most often the one that causes ETC issues, but it can be any of them. The solution is to replace all eight, and all eight spark plugs at the same time. Motorcraft coils are good. Most cheap coils are not. It's not impossible for this to cause EPB problems, but certainly not common. Usually when ETC is caused by bad coils, engine power is limited.

2. An issue with the ABS system can cause an ETC failsafe mode that does not really limit engine power, and can also cause electronic parking brake problems. Be sure that the code reader you use can pull ABS codes.

3. A failing DCCV can cause EPB problems. I haven't heard of it causing ETC problems, but I suppose that is not impossible either. A Ford specific code scanner (Forscan is a good and cheap one) can also pull climate control codes, which would cover this specific DCCV problem.

4. A weak battery can cause EPB problems, but not usually ETC.

Of course, it's possible that these two problems are unrelated.
 
I have tried everything before initial PCM gut feeling. My new to mee 2005 ls v6 made it an 40 miles before shuddering horribly and eventually limp mode. 1am alone on mt pass i slept w dog and shuddereds another 25 miles home. Handling gingerly helped but ultimately: wiper cowl>water on coils>misfires toasty sparks>destroyed drivers? Or possibly wrong control mod to begin with(one theory just not sure can u put any old pcm in a car and hooe for best?) Had mechanic/buddy change the six coils boots plugs seal the f*er from elements and due to lack of hardware knowledge towed to trusty local ford dlrshp. Ford tells me they have one 170$ pcm they will replace/program for me? Does this sound right. Its been there for a month. I have a commuter so I don't want to bug then for that sounds like a deal(if even possible?) Need enlightenment for I'm a girl in a auto world I long to understand...
 
$170 is a great price for a used PCM + install + programming. However, it is unusual for a bad PCM to be the cause of ETC problems. Your V6 does not have a message center, so no ETC failsafe warning. How do you know it is ETC failsafe? What warning light are you getting?
 
nikki6Volt said:
I have tried everything before initial PCM gut feeling. My new to mee 2005 ls v6 made it an 40 miles before shuddering horribly and eventually limp mode. 1am alone on mt pass i slept w dog and shuddereds another 25 miles home. Handling gingerly helped but ultimately: wiper cowl>water on coils>misfires toasty sparks>destroyed drivers? Or possibly wrong control mod to begin with(one theory just not sure can u put any old pcm in a car and hooe for best?) Had mechanic/buddy change the six coils boots plugs seal the f*er from elements and due to lack of hardware knowledge towed to trusty local ford dlrshp. Ford tells me they have one 170$ pcm they will replace/program for me? Does this sound right. Its been there for a month. I have a commuter so I don't want to bug then for that sounds like a deal(if even possible?) Need enlightenment for I'm a girl in a auto world I long to understand...
Click to expand...
I agree that price is almost unbelievable for a power train control module but I say more power to you if this all pans out and Ford gets it right....this could be multiple problems and I wouldn't leave them alone at all I'd if nothing else pretend that you're concerned with there progress and I would request weekly updates to what's going on with your LS ...I cherish my Cars and very blessed to have one ...many ppl don't ...all my best and I hope you have a positive update for us on LVC
 
. How do you know it is ETC failsafe? What warning light are you getting?[/QUOTE]
when i bought this car it had no warning lights. drove around short distances (no more than 12 miles) running my errands in the city. all good was my new beauty. then 25 miles out of city last gas station engine light pops on. against better judgement i forged the mt. and shuddering started after another twenty mi and about 8 after that engine light blinking and to me that means pull over. at the time i was thinking oil? water? tran fluid? all of which i stupidly did not have but HAD checked at gas station engine light stop. So waited til day light and checked vitals after stuttering shuddering 6 miles to res t autant assuming the heads blown radiator was dry any bad situation that my un educated mind at the time could grasp. but everything checked out. oil water all fluids great now im thinking bad gas on and on for the remainder 10-15 miles of steady 50mph no brakes really needed and seemed so much better than in the hills with stop accel up down steep incline sharp corner etc..also light did not start blinking again until small town where i live . i could go from stop sign and shoot out into flow but once inflow and have to slam on brakes...shudder shudder gradual loss of power that takes the right tiuch ti regain if abke but eventually into 10mph at best. turn off /on ignition and you cld go for awhile but not to long. ran some codes misfires on coil 2 3 5 etc...relaced spark plugs boots on all. coils on the ones that were required. the three that are easily accessible are also the three that due to incorrect wiper cowl replacement were filling up with rain water and its doesnt stop here. tge rain. ever. so after a friend who is knowledgeable with checking O2, camshaft sensors the lean rich and how it should be adjusting @nd testing retesting all coils i dont know what else(cat conv) secondary circuit malfunction on c d and e i belie ve was the code that never wld go away and sometimes throttle body control and c@m shaft cdes i think would come and go but constant was secondary circuit malfunct. tested fir vacuum leaks batter connections the feul infectors spark coils all of it please tell me i missed something simple but if its the pcm ecm brain whatever..or cld it just be bunk car is this lossible HelllP!
 
Okay, so you don't have ETC failsafe, and you are in the wrong thread. Please post in the one you already started or do a new one. It is unkind to Benjaminws to confuse his thread with unrelated stuff.
Flashing check engine means misfires. It always means misfires, and it does mean to stop as soon as possible. Going too long with misfire can damage the PCM, so you may have the correct diagnosis.
I promise you that whoever claimed to test the coils did not do it right. It cost more to correctly test them for marginal stress issues than it does to replace them. You need to replace all six coils with new Motorcraft ones (yes, another $300 +), and all six spark plugs again. Otherwise, that new used PCM will be toast as well before long.

Lastly, you would get better help if you would take some care in writing your posts. Make proper sentences and paragraphs. It is very difficult to figure out what you are saying.
 
Why why why is it that people can not search/read this forum and come to the conclusion this Fn Lincoln LS needs brand new OEM coils and quality NGK plus gapped correctly installed ???

You’re risking burning out hard to come by PCM’s and expensive CAT’s if you continue to drive this thing with even the slightest sign of misfire symptoms !!!

Downstream O2 sensors telling you it’s running too rich, why you figure it’s doing this ??? PCM can only adjust fuel trim so much on a cylinder that refuses to light up ever other or fourth stroke.

Honestly, the constant issues related to ETC fail safe limp mode and false TB codes is all related to marginal failing coils distorting the nearby not shielded enough PCM.

Why don’t we get this folks ???

Thirdly - as coils n plugs are wear items, we need to understand these 10+ yr old cars, have gaskets, particularly the passenger wiper arm, that go bad and allow rain water to seep into the engine bay, landing on top of the appearance cover then finding its way down onto the coil cover in past, down into the plug wells. Shorting out coils causing misfires, freaking out Mr. PCM whom then goes wonky and throws all sorts of sickness into the mix.

KEEP THE WATER AND MOISTURE OUT OF THESE ENGINE BAYS FOLKS !!!!

It’s not that difficult of a concept to grasp !!!!

Clean engine = Happy engine

Clean up those engine bays. Ensure the glass to cowl seal is properly snapped in place. Make sure the wiper cowl gasket is doing its job. Make sure the plastic washer tubing isn’t cracking and dumping blue smurf juice all over the coil covers.

Stop running these cars through puddles of water and wondering why it won’t start afterwards, like seriously .... folks .... replace ALL the ROTTING plastic cooling system parts. Put new OEM coils and plugs in .... all at once, NOT one little part here and there with crap aftermarket junk.

Lincoln LS ownership = OPEN WALLET

Stop running to the junk yards finding old control arms to replace old worn out control arms with. ( .... wait ... guilty myself of this! )

// END SOAPBOX //
 
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... and another thing, why is it after all these years of effort, the site owner or so-callled STAFF, can not find it within themselves to correctly and properly organize the ‘STICKY’ section to reflect this with more vital, valuable and relevant information ???

Given the much importance of such information related to this ailing car, the current situation of STICKY’s can only be described as a waste of time and nothing short of a mess.

Rest assured, I would have already had it cleaned up by now .... to the point where it would make most sense with important information dominating.

:mad:
 
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I have a 2003 ls v8 and I was getting a throttle body code so I cleaned it and reconnected the battery then when I get in the car I see my message center had a bunch of weird symbols scrolling and changing occasionally I would get English like low level then seconds later oil level ok but still it would go back to the weird symbols and beep like it is cycling through some checks but I can't see what it says. Wondering if I damaged my pcm or shorted it out somehow. Please help and if I'm in the wrong please redirect me to help
 
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It bugs me that so many disconnect the battery so much. It doesn't really accomplish anything. The errors/codes will clear as the PCM discovers that the condition is corrected. At least when you leave them to clear on their own, you know that the problem is corrected. If you reset them by disconnecting the battery, then you don't know if you fixed it until the code doesn't come back after x days. Why add the wear to the battery clamp and risk killing the electronics with a spike?

Anyway, you should check battery voltage with the engine off, and with the engine running and report that back. Also, make sure the battery clamp is tight and undamaged.
 
joegr said:
It bugs me that so many disconnect the battery so much. It doesn't really accomplish anything. The errors/codes will clear as the PCM discovers that the condition is corrected. At least when you leave them to clear on their own, you know that the problem is corrected. If you reset them by disconnecting the battery, then you don't know if you fixed it until the code doesn't come back after x days. Why add the wear to the battery clamp and risk killing the electronics with a spike?

Anyway, you should check battery voltage with the engine off, and with the engine running and report that back. Also, make sure the battery clamp is tight and undamaged.
Click to expand...

Yes I was under the impression that disconnecting the battery to reset the pcm to calibrate the throttle body. I don't have a volt meter but clamps are good battery is less than a year old and wasn't disconnected long. Anything else that could be causing the weird characters mostly ababababbababbabab but he a's have a symbol on top of them.
 
Several things are possible, but they all require tools to check.

There is no calibration/adjustment for the throttle body. All adaptations for it happen automatically, and quickly. Disconnect of the battery is not required for this.

You can try a clean disconnect/reconnect of the negative cable to the battery to see if it will clear the message center problem. However, without knowing that the battery voltage is good, you might make it worse instead of better. Alternately, a spike may have damaged the message center processor. If so, only replacement would fix it.
 
lincoln_zero said:
Which leaves me with a question. When I did my coils on my 02, I always pulled the battery. Is this the proper way of doing it?
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No need to do that at all. There's nothing to reset about the coils anyway.
 
joegr said:
Several things are possible, but they all require tools to check.

There is no calibration/adjustment for the throttle body. All adaptations for it happen automatically, and quickly. Disconnect of the battery is not required for this.

You can try a clean disconnect/reconnect of the negative cable to the battery to see if it will clear the message center problem. However, without knowing that the battery voltage is good, you might make it worse instead of better. Alternately, a spike may have damaged the message center processor. If so, only replacement would fix it.
Click to expand...



Disconnecting the battery cleared up the strange symbols. Thanks for the help and info
 
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