sounds like I need to take it to the next step by removing the circuit board, I did see the back side of the board and it seems very delicate, I did see some labeling on the board, one was ground ,but I didn't mess with it, unfortunately I am taking it to the garage tomorrow morning to do the smog, and the guy is going to look at it, so will see what happens, I also don"t want to spend $$$ a fortune either for his time if he can"t track it down. It may come back to me not fixed, but will just have to wait and see. I will then take the whole dash cluster apart. thanks

 

the repair shop has diagnosed the trouble to be with the ECM these to my surprise are no longer available from Ford dealers, the dealership in my town did a nationwide search for this, and there were none available, the repair shop did however find another ecm box (used) in Bakersfield Ca., and is being shipped, arriving on Monday. Ford no longer sells these units for my truck and many other years so you basically have to locate a company that rebuilds ecm's and with the same ford part number or have your's repaired ,in any case there will be a core exchange, there's good info related to ECM's on this companies web site ecmtogo.com

 

I realize the C/E lite is controlled by the ECM, but I don't believe the pkg bk lite and ABS are all controlled from the same place. Lets hope the diagnosis is correct. If you have trouble locating an ECM, let me know I will see if one is available in the eastern part of the US where I am located. Please let me know how you make out. Thanks,,,,hanky

 

finally received my ECM, it shipped from Kentucky ups ground (5days) to Bakersfield ,then Fed Ex to my garage so it took longer to get here then expected, having it installed tomorrow along with having my smog cert. done. I will post the final outcome shortly.

 

guess what? they sent wrong ECM unit, ( go back two spaces what the @#*!@#), these are the detailed numbers I need for my 1996 Ford F350XL, ECM comp unit ford# F6TF 12A650 ALD, with "104 pins" calibration # 698P R10 any help would be appreciated

 

Here-here some of that stuff is reserved for priests, ministers and rabbis, seriously, I will check with a few places in the northeast and see if I can locate one. Hope it wasn't the wrong one because the situation didn't correct itself was it?

 

yep, still have a non functioning check engine light,, I live in California so the next step that I have taken is to bring my truck to a Calif. State referee smog station. I need to bring a printout of my last smog report (about 2 weeks old) that shows the truck has passed the visual, and emissions tests, but failed only one functional item, and thats the dash check engine light. they will redo the smog but waive the faulty light, and issue a good (pass) smog cert. and that will be good for another two years . Right now I need to renew my registration by Sept 30th with a smog cert ,and thats my priority, otherwise I will be driving an unregistered vehicle. I need the truck since I use it every day for work and can't afford any down time. I will then try to locate a ECM later because there may still be more trouble down the road with my ECM. Based on the year of my truck, and the life expectancy of the ECM internal electronics, I am overdue for a replacement anyway. Scary because my year and type of ECM don't seem to exist anywhere either at Ford or in the after market Napa, Carquest, ect. it may not even be rebuildable? Maybe I need to buy a truck built prior to Jan 1976. NO SMOG REQUIRED

 

update, received exemption letter from BAR in California, I re smoged the vehicle and passed, new tags are on the way, The county I am in only requires a smog test every two years, however I will have to go through this again in two years, assuming ECM it is still not repaired, this time it will be much quicker since now I know what I'm dealing with.

 

well its been two years, now it s time to re smog the truck, I had to take the truck to the smog station an fail to show I have the same existing problem I had two years ago, OK now I call the parts locator for help in locating a ECM, OK good they have one rebuilt and sent it to me for installation, same pin count as my old one, and I have it installed, OK power going to the dash panel but still no Check engine light, OK pull the dash and check the circuit board, found the problem with a broken piece of copper missing on the board, OK fix the connection with liquid solder re connect dash, OK check engine light is now on along with the e brake and ABS light on that same side, OK now check engine light is staying on all the time, error codes 0171 and 0174 says lean banks 1 & 2, changed or checked the following , cleaned mas air senor, checked for vacuum leaks, checked PCV value, changed 2 O2 sensors, reset ECM, changed fuel filter, check engine light come's back on? what next, change fuel injectors? check fuel pressure?