OK.

So I've been having problems with the weird little quasi-miss at cruise but other than that it's been runing OK.

So then the blower started running at high all the time with the car off. Checked the fuse (and what ******* sticks it underneath the coolant tank) and it's good. I unplug the three connectors from the module to get it to stop. One of the wires has constant power going to it (~8 volts) and of course the Red wire on the other plug has the full battery voltage.

Now question 1 is: if the other three wires are unplugged and still getting full voltage does that indicate the problem is somewhere else other than the module they plug into?

Then out of the blue it began hard starting when it was cold so I'd have to give it a crank fo a couple of seconds, stop and then repeat until I'd done this 5 or 6 times at which point it'd catch and then die, then catch for a little bit the next time and then finally start and idle and run fine. WHich makes me want to rule out a vacumn leak since the idle was fine both hot and cold

Checked the fuel pressure at the rail with the key turned on and not running and I'm getting 40+ lbs and no leak down.

So go out there tonight and now it starts almost right away but won't idle. With no changes to anything...

I'm really starting to think ECM. Over the years it would occasionally flash SYS but I could just turn it off and restart and it'd be fine for months if not years.

What's been done: Injectors are good (OEMs went out and replaced with 24# ford/bosche), intake gasket was replaced, EGR was replace (wasn't throwing parts at it - they both needed it).

A couple of years ago had a wire short out in traffic and cause it to run really hot but managed to get it pulled over before it went too far.

Question number 2: Is it possible that either the short or the short when the original multi-techs went bad could have damaged it (the ECM)?

Also twice now the coolant level has dropped but I can't find a leak, there's no water in the oil (checked thinking maybe the fan incindent could have caused a head to crack or blow a gasket) and I'm not getting any smoke of any kind out of the exhaust. When I replaced the intake gasket I also pulled the radiator and cleaned out 20 years of crap that was lodged in it and so now it runs super cool as in right at the 160 level of the thermostat. It's got a hypertech chip that calls for the 160 degree thermostat (it's was like 19 years ago when I put it in and the car ran fine up until just recently).

So question number 3: Possible the drop in coolant levels are just air being slowly purged? Both times I've added maybe a quart to bring it up to level.

And Question number 4: could it running that cool affect the ECM in terms of it trying to manage things with a coolant level lower than what is normal?

Anyway, on the bright side, at least I can still drink...

 

Now it's started idling fine and is cold starting easier, with no changes to it at all....