I have a 98 escort, its a Figure 8 car, but I am swaping it over to a dirt track car. The car has only ran twice. The first time it died on the 3rd lap, no spark. we loaded it on the trailer, but when I got back to the shop, it fired up and ran great. I couldn't get it to do it again. I replaced the coil pack with a known good one. next race, I hit a good bump on the first lap, car died. This time it stayed dead. No spark, no injectors, no codes, and no check engine light with the key on.

This is where it gets really strange, when I plugged the scanner in, the check engine light came back on during start up. I try to start it, it starts and runs great. I unplug the scanner, no more spark or injector pulse. Plug the scanner in, runs again.

anyone ever seen this before? bad ecm? bad ecm ground?

 

Don't know what the problem is, but I'd check the grounding block on the negative battery terminal to make sure all the grounds are in place and tight.