Dead Cougar

[MikeCad]

Well my Cougar is sitting outside my house waiting for the AA to arrive, engine is cutting out sporadically and starting again even more sporadically. I wish I had a clue about these car things, do I need to apply service pack 6a? :)

[NorCalCoug]

Sounds like you need a reformat and reinstall to solve your intermittent rebooting problems. :biggrin: ;)

[Cliverea]

Might be a virus!!! Ha;) Do you have a firewall??? is your antivirus up to date:biggrin:

Hope you get fixed
Clive:cover:

[NorCalCoug]

Perhaps he simply needs a faster CPU. Time for a 3.0 litre motor! :biggrin:

[Cliverea]

Intel or Athlon?:confused: Make sure there's enough Ram-air .
CLive

[MikeCad]

Well the latest news on the dead Cougar.

I called the dealer today who informed me this was a strange case and then asked me if I had a superchip fitted which I admitted. They then told me they had been looking for the source of the problem for two hours and I should have told them I had the chip fitted, therefore they will charge me for the wasted time in investigating the problem (bastards). They told me therefore they believed the superchip to be the cause of the sporadic engine dying.

Secondly they tell me the superchip has replaced the existing module and that they would need to order a completely new ECU module which retails around £570 (holy ****). I wasnt sure at this point whether Superchips had replaced the module, reprogrammed the existing one or put a bolt on chip but Ford insisted it was an entirely new module.

So I call the guy who fitted the chip and he told the for the Cougar the superchip just clipped into the existing module and was held in place by friction and tape (no soldering) therefore all the dealer had to do was untape it and unplug it and voila, factory specs again.

Anyways to cut a long story short Ford are going to attempt this (at the moment I would have a hard time trusting them to start a fire with a can of petrol and a box of matches) and they will let me know what happens.

First thing is, they are going to charge me for their own incompetance in not seeing the superchip (I dont think I should be paying for that after all I am sure their diagnostic computers would sniff a difference). Secondly they are blaming the superchip (although I dont have any proof of that yet, I guess I will just have to drive around a bit once its removed). Thirdly they wanted to charge me through the nose for a new part which may be unnecessary, etc etc etc.

This is just what I come to expect from Ford, eager to sell then the after sales service is ****e. If anyone can recommend a service department in a Ford dealer I would love to hear about it, I would rather drive a hundred miles and get a decent service than the festering ****e I get from PEOPLES FORD in LIVERPOOL, SPEKE BOULEVARD.

[NorCalCoug]

I guess I wasn't too far off in my 'new CPU' joke, eh? custom_images/emoticons/shocked.gif ;)

Sounds like you've been jacked by the dealership. I don't know that their diagnostics would detect a chip attached to the ECU, and I also don't think that it would be something they would look for (ECU) when diagnosing a dead car problem, but they shouldn't have tried to sell you a new ECU, or been such jerks. :)

I know a great dealership in the US, but that doesn't help you much. Sorry. ;)

[Fern]

Quite a few people have had problems with the superchip. I wouldn't be surprised if the superchip had something to do with your problems.

[Cliverea]

Just confirms my belief that car dealers are on the same evolutionary branch as lawyers and real estate agents. ie just below pond life:mad: I got stiffed when I ran a Vauxhall (GM for our US cousins). My sons were involved in a car smash and I had to cancel a service. I rebooked a week later but the too and fro-ing to the hospital put me over the service limit so they cancelled out my warranty!!!custom_images/emoticons/shocked.gif

I have yet had to deal with my local Ford dealer but I do not expect miracles...
:cover:

Clive

[huggyd]

I hope you have got a open cheque book,but am sorry to say i would have removed the chip myself befor it went in and not said a thing(if it that easy to remove)fords are just going charge(sting)you to remove it and say what whey like to bump the price up(EUC mod etc etc)because of this alien..I normally find fords will bend over backwards for you,but if you cross a invisable line the text(dark)book comes out and normally your cars in bits in the workshop

i would go(run)down to fords and check to see what happened to my £570 +EUC unit,if its missing(the car wouldnt start without it)what happened too it!!if its not the stock module get them to show you befor you pay out or order a new one:mad:

[MikeCad]

Well I have my car back now, they eventually decided that yes the superchip was a plugin module, no soldering so they unplugged it, gave it to me and asked me to try out the car for a bit. So far no problems so I will give it a week, if still no problems than I can safely say piss off superchip. By the way, there is absolutely no difference in feel to the car, still pulls the same, except now it sounds nicer, less stressed, smoother. mmmmmmmmm. Best downgrade I ever spent money on :)

I am wondering now all these people who think mmmmmmm my car is performing a lot better now with the superchip are a case of feeling the pea through the dozen mattresses, either they are super human or the difference in performance is psychological. Any views on this?

[Cliverea]

Glad to hear you are back on the road Mike..Often wondered about these chips...I know that a lot can be done to the mapping. A friend of mine has a Subaru Legacy Auto and that started misbehaveing. The Subaru people plugged in a laptop totally remapped his car to smooth out the Auto upshifts as his gearbox was shagged. Transformed the car and put less stress on his Shagged out Gearbox. Don't Know wether Ford CPU's are similar. Too clever for me!!!:confused:

I think you are right when you say that you paid out the cash so the car MUST be better but you are only fooling yourself. I think the true benefits come if a lot of work has been done on the engine ie different intakes and exhaust etc. Then I am sure a remapped CPU will be able to make the most of the changes.

I know on Motorcycles once you mess around with the induction and free up the exhaust then a Dynojet kit and tune up is a must. Just hope you can get some money back from superchip.

Clive

[MikeCad]

I have a nice big K&N filter and a dual sports exhaust so I was expecting something from the chip, although I will leave superchipping now for automatics and turbos where they give the noticeable gains.