Going with the Megasquirt ECU is the way to go! A lot of these older EFI computers are starting to crap out, and no amount of playing capacitor changing hokey-pokey is gonna solve the issues.
It's called "Digital Fade" or "Digital Creep" and it's what you get when the original software in the PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or EROM, starts to degrade, and the program and/or map have bad data. It's been a serious problem with the classic computers (1970s & up) as well as early digital vehicle control modules.
I've been programming since the 1970s including burning proms. I've programed thousands. Yes, proms can fail, but "digital fade"??? No. Bits almost never get corrupted. There are checksums to catch that. You're blowing smoke
Take you time to learn how to tune and you will be unstoppable. Love to see Grams Truck finally get to run the way it was meant to. I want to see it get up those hills in the other truck reviews and show those new kids how it was done in the 90’s.
Hey, Sarah, yay MegaSquirt! This is literally what I do. I have a VERY noob friendly series of videos for MS tuning on my channel. Learn at your own pace and teaches WHAT is going on rather than just the how.
That's awesome that you were able to find not only a real solution to the problem but a customizable one at that. I imagine that having that sort of control over the programming might allow you to not only improve performance but also fuel economy potentially. I'm excited to see what you end up learning.
Your passion for cars and mechanical knowledge is awe inspiring. Love watching your vids for how excited you get about your projects as much as for the content. 👍🏼 🎉
I can feel a bit of your pain. I had a 2009 Chrysler T&C that needed an ECM. Dealer wouldn't sell it, found them on the net at the "Rebuilt" places... after doing some research on the companies that were doing the rebuilds, I found that most had poor reviews and most had many complaints with the BBB. So I looked on ebay and found one from a wrecked van for $25. Dealer had to reprogram for $125 and it worked great. Don't trust people just because they have a "business" on the internet.
Yeah.. so I had over a decade of experience as an aerospace technician/supervisor/instructor and quality assurance inspector before doing TH-cam. I’d hope I already have those down by now. Haha
i would hope so too. 🤣 i remind myself all the time about this to simplify tracking a problem and tackling new things. i do think your viewers would like to see you have a crack at tuning a ECU but i understand time is limiting factor for ya. i look forward to the rally car build, rallying is the best fun you can have with your pants on.
Your explanation of jumpers in the ECU as " neurological pathways" was brilliant. You should trademark that, because no one will ever explain it more succinctly. Excellent video, by the way! Thank you.
Sarah, please watch you hair with running vehicle. Tie it back maybe. I've seen what can happen. Love all your vids, wonderful presentation and respect your ability. AWESOME!
Think this is one of my favorite vids you've done Sarah.Content spot on ,You spot on .Doesn't get any better than this.Until the next vid,right?Thanks for doing a great job.We all think so.
Once again, I'm impressed by your dedication to bringing Gram's Truck up to spec. Your OCD is on full display, but in this case, probably necessary just to be persistent enough to get to whatever little glitch is making the problem in the first place. Looking forward to the next installment.
You are soooooo cute!! 😃😃. Your face, when you are talking about explaining computers. No matter how i feel during the day or night, I can watch one of your videos and feel even better! Keep up the great work Sarah.
I thought I suffered a little OCD when restoring my cars but I have nothing on you Sarah! Great video and you should be proud of your builds. Watching from Australia 🇦🇺
Outstanding Video I went through similar experience with a 98 Corvette LS1 when i put in a 2001 PCM and had to repin two connectors of 150 pins each then restart via security protocol. When the engine fired I ran out into the street about 10PM screaming "ITS ALIVE!!!!" and my neighbor yells out "Yeah we heard it start!, No go to bed!".
Another older video I watched, as I’m catching up. Slowly. The truck is a blessing to have no matter what. I know you get this resolved. Gramms is proud!
Last time I used jumpers was setting up IRQs on a Sound Blaster and a NIC some time in the 90-s. Jeez, I'm feeling old 👴 Seems like a proper way to easily configure a stand alone ECU for a 94 truck, though 👍
13:50 NOOOOOOO don't mess with the throttle stop screw!!! Idle speed is set with an IAC valve, controlled by that fancy computer you just installed. Use the tune to set idle air control duty cycle, not set screws.
When the temps here in the wintertime get below 20 degrees my 94 runs super rich as well until the system goes into closed loop. Hope the next episode comes up with a simple cure. The check engine light comes on as well.
10:24 Lacuna Coil reference. Love it Sarah - LC is one of my favorite bands! I've seen them every time they've come through Denver in the last 15 years!
8:14 I think you have stumbled on a video series idea! We would definitely watch you educate yourself about Modern ECUs and how to tune them. I envision a 5-10 episode series where you learn and implement this new found knowledge. No additional flexibility in your schedule needed. The ECU study IS the project. Then as new developments/products in the industry arise, your can do the occasional video. Maybe one where you interview significant people in the industry (developer, innovators, Techs, entrepreneurs, etc.). Give it some thought!! We'd watch it!!
Great episode! We are all smarter for seeing it. Watching you geek out over tech is awesome, and Charlie is always a great addition to your already excellent content. Keep it up Sarah!
That's just an early pcm ford issue. Had similar in my escort. Wrecked that and went to 30 plus year old volvos before obd1. Back when bosch electric components truly lasted forever. I just have to add, I love that 90s color.
My apartment Microwave is from 1996, it's from the year they built this complex. Other than the handle recently broke it's a great old school powerfull microwave. Saddly about to get them to replace it with some other things as I been here 16 years and would like some new stuff lol.....but 1996 and it still pops popcorn like a champ.
Old capacitors can be a real drag. One of my hobbies is restoring vintage radios and test equipment. Some of those old capacitors used oil-impregnated paper as the dielectric and encased everything in a cardboard tube dipped in wax. Their failure mode can (literally) be explosion!
I hear you on not having time to learn tuning! Maybe you could do a video on your learning tuning. I bet it would be entertaining and fun for a lot of viewers.
You actually answered your own question, Do a TH-cam Video on you learning how to Program it! problem over. yeah, I know that you have probs with sweating the small stuff but hey it might help others with it also!
Interesting! I recently inherited a 94 ranger with 4.0 too. Since I got it , it was really struggling. Finally determined the PCM had the leaky capacitors. They will eventually go bad on all of them. Then it goes into limp home mode and performance really suffers. Eventually I did get a rebuilt one that worked perfectly. After that mine ran like a champ!!!!! But it was really hard to find.
@@BillySBC nah, it's like saying "3 pints of month old milk and they're all mouldy! What are the chances?". 90s caps deteriorate, pretty much 100% of the time, often corroding a chunk of the board as well meaning you have to solder on jumper cables across the board. On top of that they'll be other potential snags, such as dry solders and other component failures. Fortunately you can normally just work through any issue until it works, and most components on the board will be generic.
@@stuartgreenshields5591 I get where your coming from. I was working on these things when they were new, and they were garbage then. One thing is for certain, they did not get any better with age. Far from it.
You’re experiencing all of the ECU problems I experienced as a Ford and Mercury car owner in the 70s 80s and 90s. My cars would just shut down while I was driving them.
In '97 the plastic intake manifold on the 4.0 was prone to having vacuum leaks where it is sealed to the cylinder heads. On mine changing the seals worked for maybe 40k miles and the second time around the desks were changed again plus a liberal application of silicone form-a-gasket.
Also, note that this ECU has an "auto tune" feature so once you've got the wideband wired in and calibrated, you can enable this feature and once the engine is warmed up it will dial-in the air/fuel ratio for you while you just drive around. How to enable this feature and use it is also covered on our support forum.
Yeah.. not sure if I’m going to wire it in. I’d have to cut up my o2 harness to add the 5v reference. I’m on the fence since this truck should be easy to tune with the external LC2.
Note: dodge when first introduced efi had an integral map sensor inside the ecm. They found that in cold climates that condensation would build up in the map sensor and freeze thus blocking off the map.
Awesome technical video… I just bought a 1998 Single Cab Step Side/Style Side with the 2.5L… my kids and I are swapping out the 2.5L for the 4.0V6 SOHC… Your videos are Awesome!
@8:30 I sure wouldn't mind a series of videos around "Sarah-N-Tuning" while you figure it out. I've considered an ECU swap in a project car I have, mostly to play around with the drive line without needing the $400 tool from GM to do it. Edit: Yay!!! More braining detail next video!!
I have this truck. While I don't have this particular issue, I've never used the AC because it feels like I'm asking too much of a truck this old. I baby it like it's my baby, baby.
Do a video series of you going to EFI University, they are in AZ, they have been around forever and are a very reputable tuning school, we would love the content, and I'm sure they would love the exposure from a TH-cam content creator.
Tuning is always tricky. Thankfully though you e got resources available to you. No worries. You’ll get her running better and smoother than the old school ECU. 👍🏻😎
charlie's reaction and explination of PCM issues is spot on. he's my spirit animal for that.
Direct 👍🏻
20 years in IT, his assessment was accurate for most situations.
@ 11:30 ... lol, Charlie dropping truth bombs!! Yeah, buddy...
I was thinking this exactly!
I love the ranger. Sarah you’re a great mechanic.
Very cool that there is such modern ECU tech available for older vehicles like your Ranger.
Yeah! It’s really going to be critical for 90s vehicles going forward as their primitive ECUs age and break.
@@SarahnTuned - For Sure!
@@SarahnTuned < - 1999 Mazda Miata. I'll be watching with interest.
Thank you for blazing this trail and sharing with us.
@@richardhobbs7107 Would you care to try and rewrite that in human-readable form?
never knew you could do this.. wonder if this is the fix i'm looking for on my 91 s10..
Everyday we learn something new. We so appreciate you.
Nothing better than digging into problems. That said, it is fun unless you are rushed.
Going with the Megasquirt ECU is the way to go! A lot of these older EFI computers are starting to crap out, and no amount of playing capacitor changing hokey-pokey is gonna solve the issues.
It's called "Digital Fade" or "Digital Creep" and it's what you get when the original software in the PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or EROM, starts to degrade, and the program and/or map have bad data. It's been a serious problem with the classic computers (1970s & up) as well as early digital vehicle control modules.
I've been programming since the 1970s including burning proms. I've programed thousands. Yes, proms can fail, but "digital fade"??? No. Bits almost never get corrupted. There are checksums to catch that. You're blowing smoke
Take you time to learn how to tune and you will be unstoppable. Love to see Grams Truck finally get to run the way it was meant to. I want to see it get up those hills in the other truck reviews and show those new kids how it was done in the 90’s.
Hey, Sarah, yay MegaSquirt! This is literally what I do. I have a VERY noob friendly series of videos for MS tuning on my channel. Learn at your own pace and teaches WHAT is going on rather than just the how.
Haha I was using your videos to learn! I shouted you out in the next video not even knowing you commented this 😂 so wild! Thanks!
@@SarahnTuned Haha, awesome!
That's awesome that you were able to find not only a real solution to the problem but a customizable one at that. I imagine that having that sort of control over the programming might allow you to not only improve performance but also fuel economy potentially. I'm excited to see what you end up learning.
Oh yeah, sky’s the limit. I could do flex fuel, forced induction, no lift shift, launch control everything is possible with further expansion.
That truck is going to run so much more efficient and clean.
11:25 LOVE Charlie's response! Just LOVE it!
Your passion for cars and mechanical knowledge is awe inspiring. Love watching your vids for how excited you get about your projects as much as for the content. 👍🏼 🎉
I want to personally thank whoever gave you that pointer finger thing because it is hilarious.
Had no idea that for a vehicle that old you could get a modern ECM. Props!
I can feel a bit of your pain. I had a 2009 Chrysler T&C that needed an ECM. Dealer wouldn't sell it, found them on the net at the "Rebuilt" places... after doing some research on the companies that were doing the rebuilds, I found that most had poor reviews and most had many complaints with the BBB. So I looked on ebay and found one from a wrecked van for $25. Dealer had to reprogram for $125 and it worked great. Don't trust people just because they have a "business" on the internet.
Learning and tuning this aftermarket ECU will make you a better mechanic. Its only air, fuel and spark. Don't give up, you got this!🔧
Yeah.. so I had over a decade of experience as an aerospace technician/supervisor/instructor and quality assurance inspector before doing TH-cam. I’d hope I already have those down by now. Haha
i would hope so too. 🤣 i remind myself all the time about this to simplify tracking a problem and tackling new things. i do think your viewers would like to see you have a crack at tuning a ECU but i understand time is limiting factor for ya. i look forward to the rally car build, rallying is the best fun you can have with your pants on.
Your explanation of jumpers in the ECU as " neurological pathways" was brilliant. You should trademark that, because no one will ever explain it more succinctly.
Excellent video, by the way! Thank you.
I concur!!!
You can't trademark an explanation.
@@Jumalten001 The point is not to "trademark the explanation". The point of the statement is to praise her on the QUALITY of the explanation.
Glad to see your grandma truck back on the channel.
Sarah, please watch you hair with running vehicle. Tie it back maybe. I've seen what can happen. Love all your vids, wonderful presentation and respect your ability. AWESOME!
Think this is one of my favorite vids you've done Sarah.Content spot on ,You spot on .Doesn't get any better than this.Until the next vid,right?Thanks for doing a great job.We all think so.
Wow! Diagnostic and explanation was very well done. Thank you for a great learning video.
Luv that truck! Luv the Destinations, perfect look for the truck!
Thanks! I wish you and your gang a Happy Thankgiving And Charle feels better soon
WOW! 2.3k views in 12 minutes! You're killing in on viewership. Kudos on your work.
Cool video Sarah. Learning everyday makes you a great professional. Love how you embraced that. :)
Once again, I'm impressed by your dedication to bringing Gram's Truck up to spec. Your OCD is on full display, but in this case, probably necessary just to be persistent enough to get to whatever little glitch is making the problem in the first place. Looking forward to the next installment.
You are soooooo cute!! 😃😃. Your face, when you are talking about explaining computers. No matter how i feel during the day or night, I can watch one of your videos and feel even better! Keep up the great work Sarah.
Hello Ranger my old friend. I've come to work on you again.
Be sure to follow up with G'ma's truck soon!!! We love this project!
Your skills, determination and dedication are second to no one. You are the best.
I thought I suffered a little OCD when restoring my cars but I have nothing on you Sarah! Great video and you should be proud of your builds. Watching from Australia 🇦🇺
Outstanding Video I went through similar experience with a 98 Corvette LS1 when i put in a 2001 PCM and had to repin two connectors of 150 pins each then restart via security protocol. When the engine fired I ran out into the street about 10PM screaming "ITS ALIVE!!!!" and my neighbor yells out "Yeah we heard it start!, No go to bed!".
Another older video I watched, as I’m catching up. Slowly.
The truck is a blessing to have no matter what. I know you get this resolved. Gramms is proud!
great video. its cool seeing you do stuff step by step.. hope charlies better soon..
I love love love her humor and her knowledge is amazing…
Last time I used jumpers was setting up IRQs on a Sound Blaster and a NIC some time in the 90-s. Jeez, I'm feeling old 👴
Seems like a proper way to easily configure a stand alone ECU for a 94 truck, though 👍
13:50 NOOOOOOO don't mess with the throttle stop screw!!! Idle speed is set with an IAC valve, controlled by that fancy computer you just installed. Use the tune to set idle air control duty cycle, not set screws.
When the temps here in the wintertime get below 20 degrees my 94 runs super rich as well until the system goes into closed loop. Hope the next episode comes up with a simple cure. The check engine light comes on as well.
10:24 Lacuna Coil reference. Love it Sarah - LC is one of my favorite bands! I've seen them every time they've come through Denver in the last 15 years!
Love a Charlie to the rescue moments!!! He's a mint flavored life saver!!!
I'm sucking on a Wint-O-Green right now. 🙂
Great video - Its a cross between an Agatha Christie mystery and hot-rodding
Saw this truck going down my street a few weeks after you finished it
Your tenacity is your superpower.
Nothing more to say other than:Dog Gone... Sarah: You are absolutely Remarkably Amazing! J
That became an expensive truck. What a pity. Its a nice looking rig. You did an awesome job. I am glad I was here to see it
major upgrade! I love when something old is made current in machines. Thanks for sharing the journey!
8:14 I think you have stumbled on a video series idea! We would definitely watch you educate yourself about Modern ECUs and how to tune them. I envision a 5-10 episode series where you learn and implement this new found knowledge. No additional flexibility in your schedule needed. The ECU study IS the project.
Then as new developments/products in the industry arise, your can do the occasional video. Maybe one where you interview significant people in the industry (developer, innovators, Techs, entrepreneurs, etc.).
Give it some thought!! We'd watch it!!
Meow soundtrack when mentioning the toasted cats, that's attention to details right there 😂
Great episode! We are all smarter for seeing it. Watching you geek out over tech is awesome, and Charlie is always a great addition to your already excellent content. Keep it up Sarah!
I knew that the truck isn’t smarter than you!
Nicely done Sarah!
Fascinating Sarah
I think we should have a Charlie life size cut out on hand for days he’s unavailable. He’s earned a spot
The Ranger looks great
Quickly becoming my favorite channel!
Very educational, keep at it, configuring a modern ECU is something few will tackle on a 90’s vehicle, don’t sell yourself short, you’re brilliant.
Great video! Yes electrical components do have a shelf life and everything today is computer controlled....
The Ranger content is always my absolute favorite!!❤️
Hi Sarah, I would happily miss an episode just to hear your comments while doing a tune, a source of humour, I'm sure.
That's just an early pcm ford issue. Had similar in my escort. Wrecked that and went to 30 plus year old volvos before obd1. Back when bosch electric components truly lasted forever. I just have to add, I love that 90s color.
Thanks for covering this!
My apartment Microwave is from 1996, it's from the year they built this complex. Other than the handle recently broke it's a great old school powerfull microwave. Saddly about to get them to replace it with some other things as I been here 16 years and would like some new stuff lol.....but 1996 and it still pops popcorn like a champ.
Old capacitors can be a real drag. One of my hobbies is restoring vintage radios and test equipment. Some of those old capacitors used oil-impregnated paper as the dielectric and encased everything in a cardboard tube dipped in wax. Their failure mode can (literally) be explosion!
Wow massive change of that old Beatle!
Great job on the tuning. I have a megasquirt on my 78 Porsche 911
It's like having a Playboy Playmate of the year as a top mechanic technician.
Damn, Charlie is a wizard. So glad you have him as a resource.
You'll get it figured out.
Your description of jumpers is completely correct
Thanks!
Glad to see the Danger Ranger back. And Jimmy with the technical support!
Highly instructive to show what happens in the world of laptops, connectors, and tuning.
I hear you on not having time to learn tuning! Maybe you could do a video on your learning tuning. I bet it would be entertaining and fun for a lot of viewers.
That truck is ridiculously clean
That was very interesting. Great job figuring it all out. Great lookin truck. Colonel Chip
I’m impressed you bothered restoring a 90s ford ranger. That’s interesting.
You actually answered your own question, Do a TH-cam Video on you learning how to Program it! problem over. yeah, I know that you have probs with sweating the small stuff but hey it might help others with it also!
I can't believe what you have done with that truck. It is entirely brand new looking. It's a time machine!
You need to take the board out and heat it precisely at the temp to melt lead for about 8 minutes in a toaster oven. You have tin whiskers.
You are one tenacious human!! Love it!! I learn more and more with each new video from Your fantastic channel. Keep the great videos coming.
Interesting! I recently inherited a 94 ranger with 4.0 too. Since I got it , it was really struggling. Finally determined the PCM had the leaky capacitors. They will eventually go bad on all of them. Then it goes into limp home mode and performance really suffers. Eventually I did get a rebuilt one that worked perfectly. After that mine ran like a champ!!!!! But it was really hard to find.
Yeah, so many hack job “rebuilds” out there. Most of them are likely bad pcbs
@@BillySBC nah, it's like saying "3 pints of month old milk and they're all mouldy! What are the chances?". 90s caps deteriorate, pretty much 100% of the time, often corroding a chunk of the board as well meaning you have to solder on jumper cables across the board. On top of that they'll be other potential snags, such as dry solders and other component failures. Fortunately you can normally just work through any issue until it works, and most components on the board will be generic.
@@stuartgreenshields5591 I get where your coming from. I was working on these things when they were new, and they were garbage then. One thing is for certain, they did not get any better with age. Far from it.
Thats why I like your way Sarah. You made everything to know how it work. Nice. Triple thumb up!!! or more for you!!!!
Like - @11:45 - Yesterday was a great success. That's Sarah -n- Tuned Winning Learning... Gracias Jimmy Oaks Gracias Fabricobbler. 👍
The Pimp X - Megasquirt ECUs are very popular in the old-school Turbo Ford (Mustang SVO/ Thunderbird Turbocoupe) crowd. Great Choice!
I would LOVE to watch a series of you learning to tune!
Pleasee include where you placed the jumpers!!!! And the complete info on how you connected the cars electrical to the ecu!!!!!
You’re experiencing all of the ECU problems I experienced as a Ford and Mercury car owner in the 70s 80s and 90s. My cars would just shut down while I was driving them.
This is EXACTLY the issue I'm having on my 1997 Ford Ranger! I've been trying to figure this out!
Likely a PCM. If you use a breakout box and follow the test procedures in All-Data it will tell you exactly if the PCM is bad.
In '97 the plastic intake manifold on the 4.0 was prone to having vacuum leaks where it is sealed to the cylinder heads. On mine changing the seals worked for maybe 40k miles and the second time around the desks were changed again plus a liberal application of silicone form-a-gasket.
@@SarahnTuned most of the time diagnostic trees give you the run around leaving you back to square one. I usually look at pids relevant to symptoms
@@geraldabrams2719 I ain't a liberal, I'm American (sarcasm, just a joke)
@@ismaelescalera7879 tell us you have zero professional experience/education in this field without telling us..
Also, note that this ECU has an "auto tune" feature so once you've got the wideband wired in and calibrated, you can enable this feature and once the engine is warmed up it will dial-in the air/fuel ratio for you while you just drive around. How to enable this feature and use it is also covered on our support forum.
Yeah.. not sure if I’m going to wire it in. I’d have to cut up my o2 harness to add the 5v reference. I’m on the fence since this truck should be easy to tune with the external LC2.
You are just friggen dreamy. All that and mechanically inclined. Great entertainment. Thank ya much.
P.S. That black outfit really works for you.
I had a not dissimilar issue on a 1994 Windstar. Three different PCMs all developed the same problem, dropped an injector.
Note: dodge when first introduced efi had an integral map sensor inside the ecm. They found that in cold climates that condensation would build up in the map sensor and freeze thus blocking off the map.
That is so cool to have your grandmother's truck. A nice truck at that.
I never thought we would hear Sarah talking about a MegaSquirt. I mean, ya know, because of the OEM thing, not the other reason.
Awesome technical video… I just bought a 1998 Single Cab Step Side/Style Side with the 2.5L… my kids and I are swapping out the 2.5L for the 4.0V6 SOHC… Your videos are Awesome!
I have no patience with electronics in mechanics,you go girl!
@8:30 I sure wouldn't mind a series of videos around "Sarah-N-Tuning" while you figure it out. I've considered an ECU swap in a project car I have, mostly to play around with the drive line without needing the $400 tool from GM to do it. Edit: Yay!!! More braining detail next video!!
I have this truck. While I don't have this particular issue, I've never used the AC because it feels like I'm asking too much of a truck this old. I baby it like it's my baby, baby.
Do a video series of you going to EFI University, they are in AZ, they have been around forever and are a very reputable tuning school, we would love the content, and I'm sure they would love the exposure from a TH-cam content creator.
I'm always down for Grandma's Ranger.
It was my favorite TH-cam project, just ahead of Matt's Off-road Recovery restoring Ed's Golden Nugget.
Amazing technical and troubleshooting skills, very impressive.
You had it together somewhat Sarah.. the jumpers do allow a physical connection to the other areas of the module.
Wasn't expecting to hear Jimmys sound on this channel!
Tuning is always tricky. Thankfully though you e got resources available to you. No worries. You’ll get her running better and smoother than the old school ECU. 👍🏻😎
Cool, you can get rid of the MAF sensor and its restriction now.
The truck is in beautiful shape. I love the pointer hand that’s a real mystery?