ok so i dropped in a new 383, hooked it all up and turned the key to 'on' to see if everything was working and if the laptop would recognize the new prominator. at first things seemed fine except the fans came on. odd i thought, so i plugged in the parallel cable and the software couldnt recognize the ecm. plugged in a scan tool and still no data form the ecm. so i began to pull the ecm out and try the stock one instead to see if it would work at all. when i did, the case of the ecm hit the metal on the body and lit a spark off. oops, i forgot to d/c the neg battery terminal. anyway, i d/c it and continued but now...bad things start happening. the interior lights went dim, the check engine light stays dimmly on all the time. the cig lighter works but when i turn the key to 'on' everything quits. battery terminal? nope i checked it several times, even charged up the diehard till it was like 14.6v. no improvement in the situation. wtf is going on? no fuses are blown, no burnt wires, tried 2 different ecms and no difference. the starter will actually turn the engine over so the battery has sufficient power. one thought though...not sure if i attached the ground strap from the back of the engine to the firewall. would that cause such a problem? just grasping at straws. can anybody help me solve this?

 

yup, sounds like you have a bad ground. hook that strap back up and you should have bright lights again.

 

well yeah that was part of it. i hooked up the ground strap and the electrical system sprung to life as anticipated, but the ecm still wasnt working. i discovered that the prominator doesnt sit very well in its slot so i shimmed the case to hold it in tight and...lo and behold, i seem to have a car again. i'll fire it up for the first time tomorrow. wish me luck ;-)

 

LUCK!!!!!!

I have a new 383 also.. Peace.