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1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks 1987 - 1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 and larger pickups - including the 1997 heavy-duty F250/F350+ trucks

Looking for a computer for a lightning

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Old Sep 21, 2016 | 10:40 AM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by '89F2urd
That's a strange set of symptoms you've developed, the "351 e4od" computer may not be for e4od at all, pulling codes would shed some light on that.

Hard shifts are a result of a miscommunication with the tranny...can be a bad sensor, bad computer, or perhaps a computer that isn't designed to control it. I've never put a non computer controlled computer into a computer controlled trans so I dunno what the results would be for that.

I don't have the code with me right now and can't remember it, I'll post it when I get home. It started with the od light flashing, and a bad miss both only after you tapped the gas. The truck sat for a while and the battery went bad. Swapped out batteries and was going to pull it in the garage for some other work and the fuel pumps would not work. Was spitting out out some odd codes, like fuel pump driver and other odd ones. Jumped the fuel pumps in the test port and they started working and continued to work. After doing the other work, everything was working except hard shifts with no check engine light. I had a suspicion of the computer from the get go because the truck sits so much. But thought it could be the psom or speed sensor. My FIL thought it was the tps because it did something similar years ago without a code and that fixed it. He replaced it, but no change. Ran the codes, and the only code given was ecu failure, that's the code number I can't remember. That's when we found the bad capacitor and the burnt spot on the board.
 
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Old Sep 21, 2016 | 10:47 AM
  #17  
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Repost, delete
 
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Old Sep 21, 2016 | 12:42 PM
  #18  
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Ok, it's actually got two codes, 624, 625. Doing some searches, several people have replaced solenoid packs only to come back to the computer. One guy had a picture of his Broncos computer, and it looked just like this one, with a burnt spot around the same capacitor. So I'm nearly 100% sure it's the computer.
 
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Old Sep 21, 2016 | 03:15 PM
  #19  
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Yes without a doubt, don't touch the trans til you know you have a good computer.
 
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Old Sep 21, 2016 | 04:01 PM
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I noticed that a lot of sites say the F3TF-12A650-AC computer will fit a 1993 and 1994 lightning truck.
How can that be if all 1993 Ford truck take the push start computer and all 1994 Ford trucks take the CCD computer.
Those are two different stile computers and I can find no 1993 Ford truck wiring diagram for a CCD truck.
 
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Old Sep 22, 2016 | 06:38 PM
  #21  
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My father in law went and saw an old friend that is a ford mechanic. He asked him if he happened to have a computer for a lightning. The mechanics son said, "we have a bunch of ford computers in some boxes over in the corner". While he was looking through them, the mechanic went to the lower portion of his tool box and dug way in the back. He pulled out a computer and handed it to him, "it's out of a 95 white lightning and has a jet chip in it. Take it home and see if it works" he said. FIL put it in and problem solved. Everything works. He pulled it back out and opened it up and it's got the updated capacitors in it. I wonder if that's the only difference in the numbers on the lightning computers? When he went back, the mechanic asked if it fixed it and said "I hope not". He really didn't want to sell it, but they settled on a price of $100. We had found one in a junk yard in PA, and they wanted almost 500 plus shipping. The one we had found on eBay turned out to not even be for a lightning. Talk about a stroke of luck, He is a happy man this afternoon.
 
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Old Sep 23, 2016 | 03:07 AM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by Ron94150
My father in law went and saw an old friend that is a ford mechanic. He asked him if he happened to have a computer for a lightning. The mechanics son said, "we have a bunch of ford computers in some boxes over in the corner". While he was looking through them, the mechanic went to the lower portion of his tool box and dug way in the back. He pulled out a computer and handed it to him, "it's out of a 95 white lightning and has a jet chip in it. Take it home and see if it works" he said. FIL put it in and problem solved. Everything works. He pulled it back out and opened it up and it's got the updated capacitors in it. I wonder if that's the only difference in the numbers on the lightning computers? When he went back, the mechanic asked if it fixed it and said "I hope not". He really didn't want to sell it, but they settled on a price of $100. We had found one in a junk yard in PA, and they wanted almost 500 plus shipping. The one we had found on eBay turned out to not even be for a lightning. Talk about a stroke of luck, He is a happy man this afternoon.
Sounds like something my dad would do. He was a Ford mechanic for many years, and often has just the parts I need, stashed away...justincase.
 
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Old Sep 24, 2016 | 07:16 AM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Ron94150
That's funny, newer cab and chassis actually come detuned. I've driven a cab and chassis 6.2 gas, and it was a dog compared to mine. I believe they are about 50 hp less. I guess they are doing it for longevity.

Thanks for the insight on other computers, he has gone looking at a couple local salvage yards, I'm going to look on the lightning forums for an actual lightning computer.
I realize you already found a computer that is in working order. But, i wanted to follow up with the ecm i was talking about. I would have posted up sooner, but i couldn't find the Bookmark to the thread I was referring to because it was on my super old DESKTOP running WINDOWS XP lol.

The link goes to another Ford Fan site but the guy has a early 90s F150 351/e4od and used a computer from a E250 AMBULANCE same combo and noticed more power and MPG gain. he also has linked youtube videos of before and after the swap, and it seems to be a significant differece.

Ambulance EEC swap
 
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Old Sep 24, 2016 | 01:58 PM
  #24  
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I could see that possibly with an ambulance. Makes more sense than the cab and chassis trucks.
 
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