Waddy2001

Update: over the summer I took the glove box out, exposed the BCM, fiddled with the wires but nothing. A month ago, I changed the battery. When I installed it, I was surprised to see the underhood light come on. Dash worked for a while so I know it's still in good shape. On reflection, I must have joggled either the negative or positive battery wires. Come spring, I'll revisit those to see if there is a loose wire somewhere. I'm willing to bet that this will solve my problem. Have a good winter, mates!

Good to know. Thanks, mate. There was an old post here about a guy fiddling with the ECM to get the dashlights back on, hence the wild good chase. Thanks to everyone for their input.

The problem of the dashlights isn't solved. I thought you wanted this thread to pertain to the original question: Where is the ECM located? That was answered but the secondary problem still exists.

Locating the ECM, done. Trying to get the dashlights to work. That is the problem. The original post was to find the ECM in case that controlled the dashlights. Might as well close this, as the problem has been solved, more or less. Thanks for all your help, crew.

On my 1988 Reatta, the coil pack was replaced right off the bat. That coil pack had like a gel on the bottom of it, like glycerin if you get the idea. That mechanic was good, worked on many classic cars and the coil pack was supposedly OEM. It failed last summer. My new mechanic replaced the coil pack saying, "It had all this gooey stuff on the bottom". The one he installed is all metal, the base has small fins on the surface. Has anyone encountered something like this? Unless the gel, which was quite thick, was silicone, it would never stand the heat. Just curious, nothing vital. The new pack is working fine. Thanks.

Turns out the wing nuts were loose, there was only one screw holding the cover up so I'm guessing the previous owner has already checked out the ECM. Other than jiggling connectors, what else should I be doing? Spraying contact cleaner on them? I don't want to pull the ECM down, it's so damn tight in there. After charging the battery overnight, I got the dash lights on this morning. No lightshow, just the dash lights then they went out. I have the battery disconnected while I'm jiggling things, that's probably safer, right?

Last two days you couldn't breath outside, hot and very humid. Much cooler now. I don't have a garage, unfortunately.

Update, sort of. I went to take the Reatta for a drive this morning. Dead battery, well not enough to turn the engine over but live enough to, guess what, show my half of the dash, the gas gauge side. The cassette deck also decided to spin. Very odd, I'd say but it gave me hope to know the dash isn't kaput. This week looks good to work on it as it won't be too hot.

Yes, tried that near the beginning of this. Thanks!

OK, that would be lot easier to change/check. I'll do that first if I can find a replacement. Thanks!

The dash used to be intermittent. There'd be a click, coming from one of the fuses on the other side of the center column, and the lights would go out. Then they'd come on again for a while, another click and they're out. To me that means that there is a connection problem. By dash I mean the speedometer/gas 'gage'/etc. The CRT works now and then, no touch just a display. I used to get the light show but after about two years, most of which was spent in storage, there is nothing. To be honest, I don't think it's the display itself, I think it's something before that. When it worked, the full diagnostic after the light show, showed nothing wrong. The intermittent thing has been going on since day 1 but I was too dumb to ask the previous owner what the problem was. I'll post back once I get my hands on the ECM and jiggle the connectors, contact cleaner too. Thanks for responding.

Thanks, Barney. I don't have a spare. This is a last ditch effort to get the dash working. It was intermittent for a long time then stopped working completely. The CRT works occasionally. If jiggling/cleaning the ECM connectors doesn't work, I'll get rid of the car. I love it, don't get me wrong. It's beautiful to drive but I've spent too much money on it already. I'll see what the wing nuts look like then probably try your idea. Thanks again.

I'm guessing you'd have to be a contortionist to get at this area. Thanks, all. I think I'm good to go now. Cheers!

I must be dyslexic. I read 'firewall', not footwell. Thanks.

OK thanks. So I have to take the glove box out, right? I think I tried that a couple of years ago with no luck. I'll see what I can do. Thanks again.