kenlassen

Drive belt broke, drove truck half a mile to parking spot. Temp gauge went high and collent overflowed after turning off engine. 15 mins later it started right up. I left the truck overnight and it wouldn't start the next day; turned over but wouldn't start. Towed to Ford dealer, new drive belt put on, but engine will only turn over but not start. Ford tech said I need a new pcm (ecu). Can anyone think of anything else it might be?....I don't really trust the diagnosis. Any comments appreciated (all belt pulleys seem to be moving freely). Kenlassen

FNA

You're kind of hung up on your belts - forget about them, although as you found out you cannot operate the truck without it, it has nothing to do with whether or not the truck will start and run.

Initially let me say that we here do not have enough information to diagnose what's wrong with your truck - don't even know if you have spark or fuel.

Let me ask you a couple of questions:

Why don't you trust the diagnosis? Dealerships are the best place to get an ECU failure confirmed, not only because of state of the art line diagnostic equipment, but because they can just plug in a known good unit.

If you don't trust the place, why did you take the truck there?

Anyone who must rely on a paid mechanic or repair shop needs one they can trust.

kenlassen

Thanks for your response FNA. First, the reason I brought it to the dealer is that I thought it would just be a drive belt replacement ($116 parts and labor seems high for this job but I'm no mechanic) and it broke right down the street from them. Anyway, this Ford dealer doesn't have a great rep, but it was convenient. I think the reason I was "stuck on" the belt issue is why would the ecu go out after a belt break and overheating? Or was this just coincidental? After further discussion with the service writer and reviewing the techs diagnosis, I agree with the pcm diagnosis. The dealer wants $300 for the pcm and $100 labor. So I've decided to get my own used "ebay ecu" for about $75 (and keep my fingers crossed). I've installed pcm before and they usually just snap into the wire harness fittings. Do you know if this is difficult on an f150? Thanks for your input. Ken