2003 Explorer ECM Question?

[stangzroastrice]

Hey guys, I know a few on here work at Ford dealerships as technicians, so I had a quick off topic question. My stepfather owns a 2003 Ford Explorer (Base 4door, 4x4, 4.0l V6, AT, non-Sport Trac). Long story short, one morning it decided not to crank whatsoever yet all the instrument cluster functions seem to appear in working order. Obviously, the battery was tested first. A local Ford dealership diagnosed it after a few days as the ECM being the culprit. I had my doubts that this was the problem, but I'm not too familiar with Explorer's these days. Anyways, Ford has a back-order until January for the ECM to this truck, which is ridiculous. They provided us a part number, 3U7Z-12A650-BGE, but I could not completely locate this part number anywhere (Most 03 Explorer 4.0L, non Sport Trac ECU's I've seen begin with 3L2A for the most part). Here is my question, as long as it is a non-California based ECU and was in a same year truck with the same engine, would it not work? The ECU usually has to be reprogrammed by the dealer anyway for the correct VIN and mileage, so I wouldn't imagine that the new/used ECU needs to match those numbers exactly. By the way, a new ECU and installation was quoted at 1500, with a due date of January until the ECU arrived. Hope you 5.0 guys with experience could help me out, always have in the past!

Thanks guys!

 

[S&B]

go to Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market and find the part your looking for. the ECU should be a simple swap, make sure the battery is unplugged, when you get the replacement unit it will answer alot of your questions just by looking at it

 

[stangzroastrice]

Yeah, I went to that site as a first resort to begin with, and resulted with 3U7A and 3L2A being the leaders in the PCM market for the 2003 Explorer 4.0l. Basically, if they interchange it won't matter, but I haven't been worried about much of an ECM swap since the days of the A9P and A9L days. I'm just not sure if it works like that anymore with the Explorer's considering the odometer is digital and the VIN.

 

[1991notchbackLX]

you're better off asking this question in the appropriate section on sbf tech dot com

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

your going to have to flash the pats off the new computer, because the cluster and the comp wont "talk" to each other. but other than that yes get one off ebay!!

 

[stangzroastrice]

Thanks for the reply, I even posted this on one of the exclusive Explorer forums on the internet and never got a reply. That is what I thought myself, as long as it is the same exact year, engine, drivetrain, 4 door, non-Sport Trac, non-California based ECU, etc. I don't see how it is imperative that a unique ECU number has to be picked up, because the number provided to us is unobtainable considering the trends I've found in the ECU part numbers on the internet, used and new. A dealership is going to have to reprogram the ECU regardless if it did not come out of that specific truck because of VIN number and mileage, so I could not see why this would not work. If anyone else could follow up, that would be great, but I could not see it being cost effective for Ford if they really made a unique ECU to EACH Explorer like our local dealership is basically trying to make a synopsis out of right now.

Thanks guys!