tomcamaro97

Hi,

Ive been doing some poking around here and other sites, and i think im close, but not sure im comfortable with my stang knowledge yet.

Picked up an Awesome FL 1989 gt hatch with an Auto trans as my winter project.. fairly safe to say a complete basket case, but definately worth the effort.

Im working on getting it running right.. cant pull codes/ tps voltage is all wrong, bounching idle, loss of power .. after you shut the car off after it heats up to 170 it wont restart untill it colls down.. After research and diagnosing the car.. i guessed it was the ECU.. After pulling the ECU its an A9L and its got the common ground wire burnt up. Ive kinda got two issues here..

1. Ground wire is east to solder back together..
2. After i do this im guessing ill still have plenty of issues as my car is an Auto, and from my reading Autos should have the A9P ECU. .. is the wiring work to make this ecu easy to do? or should i just buy the correct Ecu, i just want a good running car.
3. How do i determine what ECU to get, i want a new remanned one, but of course have never driven the car so dont know if its 4 spd or 5spd, I assume its a 4spd.
4. where to get a new ecu, parts store has um all over the price range , and ii dont trust um to get me the right one.

Thanks much for helping out a new stang owner.

65Raven65

Most Foxes this old are basket cases, welcome to the club! LOL


As far as messing with the ECU or finding one that's already working? How much is your time worth? Personally I'd find one that works and call it done, but my tinkering time is very limited. I've got parts I bought for my '87 back in July of this year that I still haven't put on.

YMMV


Welcome to the forum!

88 orangepeel notch

When I had a bad ECM, I bought a reman. from Autozone for $100. That was 5 yrs ago and all is still fine.

That ground wire from computer is a fairly large wire, it burnt off ??? I personally wouldn't trust that computer anymore, just replace it for peace of mind.

And yes your AOD is considered a 4 speed, 4th being overdrive.

tomcamaro97

To clarify, when i said it burnt the grount wire, it burnt a ground lead in the ECU, I took the ecu apart.. so a very small wire.

Yeah.. i did some more research, only v8 auto trans offered in 89 was a 4 speed, parts store asked if it was 4 or 5, i assumed 4 , but figured ide check first.. just a parts person not knowing anything ... nothing new there.

Advanced has it for $160 including a 45 core.. which is annoying, but not a bad price. one of my buddies has a schmucked old police notch back im stealing some parts from. It was auto, so im sure ill be able to steal the ecu from that.. and if it works shoot him $50 or something. if it doesnt ill just go buy the "new" remanned one. and get this thing running right..

Yeah.. the guy who owned it before me must not have been mechanically inclined at all.. my list of horrible stupid stuff ive fixed is up to like 12 now, a few examples i find funny.

1. hood latch was un-usable as hood pins were adjusted to high (stupid locking ones.. long gone now)
2. no dash lights worked.. power for radio was spliced into the curcuit stealing all the power from the lights.
3. ground wire for the radio.. was ran through the firewall all the way to the battery,
4. someone literally unplugged a remote start system and aside from hooking up the ignition wire, did nothing else, to reconned the power locks or anything else
5. unplugged windshield wipers and controll modual

6.. my favorite..... had a flip out dvd player , that was mounted using a pice of sheetmetal, ( cuz the $6 mounting kit is too expensive when you install a dvd player..) and oh yeah.. had to start the car in neutral so the dvd pleyer didnt smash into the shifter when it flipped out.

oh yeah .. and now added to my list .. they put the wrong ECU in the car..

Theres plenty more but those are the funniest.

Cant wait to have this thing done in spring.. its getting aleast a 100 shot of NO2on it, cuz why not.. this car will be a straight up toy..

88 orangepeel notch

Glad to hear, my car was the same way. PO really hobbled some stuff together for a quick sell. Oh well, you get to know the car better this way lol.

Good luck on the rest of it, and waiting till spring.

tomcamaro97

thanks orange peel..

ill provide updates as i get this thing going./ and after i install the new ecu.

if got enuf work theres no way itll be done before spring, lol.. all the fixes, not to mention the new paint job i plan on as well, returning it to stock, all white. I see your in WI, im in milwaukee, so maybe ill see ya rolling around if your local...

My buddy has a 88gt with a 347 supercharged 6spd that been rolling around.. that thing is nuts.

88 orangepeel notch

Yeah, I'm a little north of you, West Bend area. I don't get to Milwaukee much, but did do the Hwy 100 thing this year. That was fun until a cop informed me about parking there, and had to chuckle saying "we usually don't get cruisers your age here". ??? Whatever, those guys had their hands full with all the ricers.