2000 ZX2 PCM question

[hotrod_chevyz]

Back in 2002, my sisters 2000 zx2 was in a bad wreck. The damage was extensive it pretty much ripped the front of the car off motor and all. Steering and suspension and all. It also had to have a new dash, windshield, passenger door, passenger rear quarter and trunk lid. When I saw it at the wrecker yard after the wreck i told her to grab her stuff out of it, cause i thought it was over with.

Ford sent it to a place that spent over 6,000 dollars to repair it when they should have totalled it. Most of the damage was to the passenger front and side. During the wreck the engine kept running, so the pullys grabbed up handfulls of wire to chew on. You could look and see some wires had shorted out and burned the shielding off. But they fixed it and it ran down the road again. for awhile anyways. A year after it was repaired from the collision the computer failed and wouldnt supply a signal to the fuel pump. I figured maybe the computer failed due to the accident and the shorts in the wiring i saw before they fixed it. so ford had to replace the computer in 2003.

It ran just like it always did after the wreck. Until the computer was replaced. After they put the other computer in it lost power.

Can the computer on her car be reprogrammed? Or would i have to find an original from salvage?

[airmanslacker]

Well it could be possible that she had a NGP0 PCM (which is the best you can get for factory). Ford doen not make or program NGP0 computers anymore. They have made an updated it with PCM code GRS0...which is the worst code you can get. That's if the car is a standard. If it's an automatic, then the computer could just be messed up.

Try going to www.teamzx2.com, register, and ask them. A LOT of knowledgable people who are more than willing to help.

[AltecZX2]

Originally Posted by airmanslacker

Well it could be possible that she had a NGP0 PCM (which is the best you can get for factory). Ford doen not make or program NGP0 computers anymore. They have made an updated it with PCM code GRS0...which is the worst code you can get. That's if the car is a standard. If it's an automatic, then the computer could just be messed up.

Try going to www.teamzx2.com, register, and ask them. A LOT of knowledgeable people who are more than willing to help.

not unless his sister went and bought an NGP0 as it was in 1999 cars only.

any PCM from a '00-03 zx2 will work perfectly in your sisters car.

[hotrod_chevyz]

Originally Posted by AltecZX2

any PCM from a '00-03 zx2 will work perfectly in your sisters car.

The car runs fine, it just lost power ever since ford replaced the original PCM due to some type of glitch that wouldnt let the fuel pump do its thing. When it came back from ford it had a "unexplainable" loss of power (fords word on it). I told them "yeah i will explain it, the new PCM is a POS!" I was stuck with it running like crap and ford just said "well sorry", and looked at me sort of confused.

Then over a year later as i was reading the ZX2 guide on the forum i read about the NGP0 vs. GRS0, and then figured they took away a NGP0 and replaced it with a GRS0. Seemed like a perfect explanation to me.

Does this make any sense?

Does it have to be replaced again? Or can i have the new one reprogrammed?

[airmanslacker]

I'm not sure if Ford can program NGP0 anymore. If you have a connection at a Ford dealership, you could get them to reprogram the PCM (and not all PCM's are reprogramable) to NGP0. But I'm not sure if they can even reprogram to NGP0 anymore though.

[AltecZX2]

Originally Posted by airmanslacker

I'm not sure if Ford can program NGP0 anymore. If you have a connection at a Ford dealership, you could get them to reprogram the PCM (and not all PCM's are reprogramable) to NGP0. But I'm not sure if they can even reprogram to NGP0 anymore though.

the car would not have NGP0 unless it was purchased by the car owner or the car is a 99 S/R(106 made only in yellow and located in SoCal).

all the 03 codes are worse then any other year but yo wont really FEEL a huge powerloss, but you may notice worse MPG.

Ford can no longer flash any original S/R code.

and yes every PCM is reprogramable. but that does not mean a 99+ code will work in a 98 PCM.

[hotrod_chevyz]

The car is a 2000, the PCM was replaced in 2003.

She bought the car brand new from ford with 14 miles on the odometer. She notices every little thing about the car. It lost probably around 15HP (my guess) directly related to ford replacing the PCM.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

[AltecZX2]

yeah you will only really notice the power lose over 6000rpm. just get a 2000 pcm from a junk yard and you will be back to normal (just make sure you get a pcm for an automatic car if the zx2 is an automatic)

[hotrod_chevyz]

Originally Posted by AltecZX2

yeah you will only really notice the power lose over 6000rpm. just get a 2000 pcm from a junk yard and you will be back to normal (just make sure you get a pcm for an automatic car if the zx2 is an automatic)

Its a 5 spd. std. The power loss seems to be down low on this one. I dont think her car has ever been ran past 4500 rpm's. When you go from 1st to 2nd, if the AC is on it has major lag. Once it gets up to 3,000 rpm its good to go, but the bottom of 2nd gear really lacks power. It never was all that but after they replaced the PCM its been horrible ever since. You have to turn off the AC if your getting on the highway using a short onramp or you will not be up to highway speed at the end of the onramp.

Anyways thanks again for all the info. I might have to go pick up a original 2000 PCM from salvage. That would probably be better than reprogramming the newer one, since the motor is stock and i dont plan on doing any aftermarket upgrading.