I read your reply to my 1st post when you wrote it, you ended with I'm going away will test when I get back.
Your next post was about purchasing an ECU so I offered one, did you do the other tests? How high can you get the engine to rev? Every blown ECU I have encountered wont allow more than 3000rpm, make more power at 2000rpm (10hp) and can barely move the car at 3000rpm (1hp) in 1st gear. I will be honest I never tried second gear because you know it's just going to get worse, runs just as bad in reverse. At idle and on throttle the ignition timing and fuel are way off, sputters, arcs, has mini backfires.
You say you are getting a code reading form the ECU, usually when they go they wont throw any codes.
Disconnect the ground at the battery and hold the brakes for a bit to reset the ecu, don't star the car just turn the key and check the codes, if the ECU is throwing codes properly (still functioning) and code 17 is still present it's a signal/wiring issue, if you have to start the car to get the code it's sensor or vacuum or mechanical related.
That being said code 17 isn't going to keep you car from running, O2 sensor will make it run rich, vacuum leaks will make it stall at idle but will run under throttle and the more gas you give it the better it runs because the vacuum leak becomes less significant. Fuel injection issue works in revers of a vacuum leak the more throttle and higher the fuel requirements the worse the car runs.
Check your engine and harness grounds.
The 1988 wsm will do for an 89 f2t.
You mentions it stalls after warm up, thats not a symptom of a blown ecu. When the engine reaches operating temps???
So the coolant temp idle valve should close and the electric idle valve should be the only thing controlling idle, one of the solenoid valves on the firewall opens or closes (in the book) the blue vacuum thingy under the intake manifold closes (it is screwed into the coolant section of the intake and bleeds off vacuum to the fuel pressure regulator and so does the firewall solenoid valve if I recall, both can be bypassed with the vacuum hoses without the engine throwing codes). O2 signals are used to control idle fuel, either they are used for enrichment maps during idle or injector duty cycles are fixed and the FPR does all the warm up enrichment by vacuum signals.
When a car gets to operating temp it can effect bad wires, the more heat a wire absorbs the less conductive it is for example a car that will only turn over fast enough to start when cold has a wire issue in or to the starter, when the wire heats it can't conduct enough amperage to run the starter motor fast enough. Every corroded strand of in a wire is one less strand transferring power at that point in the wire.
Use the manual and check stuff based on symptoms.
I'm not sure your ECU is the issue if your goind to buy one I will sell you one but because I suggested it could be the ECU if it turns out its not the ECU that makes me an asshole, if you buy it somehere else for more does that make me a bigger asshole. I want ti help you trouble shoot not buy more parts to swap, if your are going to buy an ECU just to try I will grab the ECU from my shop Sunday, box it and weigh it. We can figure out shipping options and cost Sunday.
The ECU I would sell you is sitting in a car that ran when it was parked a couple years ago. I don't have one that is running at the moment to test it in. I will replace it if you have issues.
Give me more info and I will give you more trouble shooting advice. I am working with a long list of swapped parts and a short list of symptoms.
Thank you again for you reply man. Honestly, I've been sort of vague as far as describing symptoms. I've been dealing with the issue for years and have not gotten anywhere with it myself and have not been given good troubleshooting advice. I've had a couple older guys look at it and they threw their hands up at it. So it's been pretty frustrating and I truthfully didn't think that I would be getting any helpful advice by posting to this forum, but here you are proving that wrong. So thank you again for that.
I've made a list of the things you wanted me to check. I also have some other troubleshooting flowcharts I've printed from the manual that I'll be working with today.
I can confirm that there is fuel running through the rail, still haven't gotten around to checking pump pressure.
I've reset the ECU and it is not currently giving me any codes.
Starting the car from a cold start: It will fire almost immediately. Will start to idle up to about 2k and begin to come down to an idle then will quit. All of that will happen in about 10 seconds.
Trying to restart the car after that: (engine is still cold) Will crank, but won't willingly start like it did initially. Get on the throttle while cranking and the engine will eventually fire and will run and die the same way it did from the initial cold start.
The engine will do that all day and never actually idle.
The engine will rev through the full range of rpm, but suddenly will start falling on its face. Give it throttle (about 50% throttle) to keep it from dying and it will sputter and breakup terribly (around 1k) then suddenly again will rev up and give me full range of rpm again. This cycle will repeat all day and never actually idle. Can't drive the car right now because of this.
This is the worst the problem has ever been. This is what I ended up with after I removed the BAC for inspection and cleaning. The BAC was very clean and it looked intact. Didn't really know what else I could do as far as testing its functionality. I made a new gasket for it and reinstalled along with replacing and cleaning other parts mentioned in my first post.
Last time I played with it: I disconnected the connector to the FPR solenoid on the firewall and the engine seems to run a bit longer and a bit smoother, but still dies after about 6 seconds.
Overall, the engine will not idle longer than 10 seconds. The ECU is not throwing any codes at the moment. Even after all the starting, running and restarting.
I'm going to try it all again today and go through the list of things to check you've given me. The only thing I may not be able to get to today is checking continuity on the distributor circuit. I'll need to bring my good meter home from work.
As for the ECU, I'll still take it. Whether my current ECU is bad or not, I'd like to have a spare and my current ECU still has boost cut. It's not very important right now that I have boost cut removal, it will be if I can get this engine running properly again.
Will be back later today with more info. Thank you again. let me know if there is a better more direct way to contact you about this.
