2001 Cobra race car won't start

[wesdearing]

American Iron race car with teksid block (big bore) with Livernois forged stroker kit, magnesium intake, supercar cams, mild head work, long tube headers, tuned chip in computer, cold air intake, msd coil packs.

During a race the car just cut off. After inspection, the wiring harness that holds the crank trigger sensor wire was found chewed up (4 wires in harness with foil). Fixed wiring harness, checked crank and cam sensors, checked for spark, checked fuel pressure and injector spark, checked maf sensor, no codes found, I think we checked all plug ins on the motor and all checked out.

Car turns over but will not fire. We installed new plugs and it still won't fire. It fired off one time then shut off when we let off the starter button. When we turn the ignition on, the red light on the computer flashes and it flashes again when we hit the starter button. ?????:??:

Am I missing something? Spark, fuel, won't start. HELP!!!!

 

[Double"O"]

what red light?

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

Is the theft light flashing?

 

[Lightning&Mach1]

Have u tried flooring it while trying to start it?

 

[3B99SVT]

Well, it's not my race car, but I grounded the crank sensor wire on my Suburban once and it blew the fuse to the module that controls the fuel pump. I noticed that you checked your fuel pressure already so it's not the same as a Chevy, but did you check any/all fuses?

 

[wesdearing]

I have checked the fuses, tried more throttle while starting, the red light I am talking about is either in the ecm or the chip i had installed in the ecm, the car no longer has the stock dash and the anti theft has been turned off.
??????????????

 

[2013 Laguna Seca]

Make sure pcm is connected tightly. If you have spark ,fuel the only things left are
compression and possibly some sort of pcm/chip issue. If possible disconnect or remove chip and connect only pcm and see if that helps.

 

[suprsnke]

I run in American iron as well. I was in a race last year when the car just shut off. I had cracked the trigger wheel. The car would crank and i had fuel pressure but no spark without the trigger wheel. I would imagine you probably fried the circuitry inside the ecm for your trigger sensor. When the wiring harness for your sensor got chewed up the wires may have shorted to ground or shorted to other wires and possibly did damage to the ecm. I would recommend researching the Ford shop manual under diagnostics. Im sure theres a voltage/continuity check you can do to check the signal and/or voltage to and from that trigger sensor. Again, without the trigger sensor working properly, you wont get spark. If you check fuel press, or if you smell fuel, you're most likely not getting spark. I think its too coincidental that the damage happened with your harness and now the car won't run.

Ray Prato
#91 AI northeast

 

[99COBRA2881]

I think Ray nailed it. This sounds like classic broken trigger wheel symptoms, I dont think the trigger wheel is broken in this case but definitely look at the wiring, try swapping ECUs. Turn PATS off in the new ECU or else that wont allow the car to start either.

Anthony Dail
AI #28
NASA Central Region

 

[wesdearing]

Thanks Ray. New computer on Monday. Come on down to VIR if you get the chance.
Wes

 

[Lightning&Mach1]

Very nice info I'm putting this in the memory bank haha

 

[na svt]

Who recommended the very mild gt cams for a big bore/stroker? Those cams have less duration than the stock 96-01 cobra cams.

 

[Ironhand]

Who recommended the very mild gt cams for a big bore/stroker? Those cams have less duration than the stock 96-01 cobra cams.

But they are SUPERCAR cams..... ;-) lol

 

[wesdearing]

The cams were in the motor when I purchased the car. The motor makes more power than I need for American Iron rules at 9.25 lbs of car to every 1 horsepower.

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Wes is a noob!

Don't listen to anything he says.


Just kidding. I race with Wes and he and I have been going through some pains together with engine trouble.

Wes-Did you fix it? Did you swap the computer? Did you pull the crank sensor and cam sensors and look in the holes to make sure all the timing stuff is intact? When my trigger wheel came apart last year, it damaged the end of the crank position sensor.

 

[encasedmetal]

are we all not able to get our car to start? ****!

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

We've both changed engine builders. Mine starts, it just won't idle...yet.

 

[encasedmetal]

I'm blaming it all on the recent solar flares- lol

 

[Gs96cobra]

Wes,I'm having the same issue,I had Les at Performance Automotive tune it and burn a chip and was running fine so after a few weeks it just quit running.so did u get your car running if so can u pass on some info?

 

[wesdearing]

Put the new computer in and had a friend (service manager for Ford Dealership) come down and hook the dealership's scanner and computer up to the car. He reflashed the computer and ran a diagnostic test. He did this while talking to the best Ford tech in the area (also a racer). The codes that came up were normal for a race car (evap, etc.). The car has fuel, spark, all fuses and relays have been checked, crank and cams sensors replaced, SCT chip was checked and ran in another car, PATS cut off in SCTchip, plugs are sparking when pistons are at the top of the cylinders, injectors are squirting fuel in the cylinders. What's the deal?????????????????????
Is the PCM relay in the CCRM a possibility? If it was bad it doesn't seem like it would get spark.
PLEASE HELP!!!!