Fried ecu

[eclipsegsx9797]

hey guys, i think my ecu went on me. can anyone give me an idea what to look for to tell if it is gone. also im going to put a logger on it tonight to see if i have any codes. is there any codes that will be set off if the ecu is bad. thanks jim

 

[luv2rallye]

Bad ECU's don't set codes but try this:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116585
and under electrical in here: http://www.vfaq.com/FAQlocator-index.html

 

[dbritt]

When my ECU went on my old 1gnt, the car just would not even start. That was back when I was 17. Boy do I wish I had known about our crappy capacitors back then.

Symptoms other people have reported are funny smells, smoke, and clicking (relays being turned on and off by the ECU cutting in and out).

Take the ECU out, open it up, and look/smell to tell if anything is abnormal.

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

well, my car at about 3500k starts to stutter and go crazy, then when im sitting there stopped the rpm's just jump like crazy. there is alittle smell and some smoke also

 

[dbritt]

Smoke coming from your ECU? I'd say it's fuxed...you really need to open it up and take a peek. If you meant smoke from your exhaust and you're just having idle problems...that could be something totally non-related. Where's the smell coming from and what does it smell like? Take that ECU out and LOOK/SMELL at it.

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

well, i realy dont know what to look for to tell you the truth for the ecu. could i put my 95 eprom in there with out the dsmlink for now, or will it not work. what will i have to do other then the plug wires to make it work

 

[dbritt]

Well it looks like the VFAQ for ECU cap replacement is not up anymore...

If I remember correctly: the smell is somewhat "fishy" (maybe even charred smelling) and it looks like corrosion, miscoloration, or some kind of leakage around the base of the capacitors onto the ECU's board.

That's the best I can offer as far as a diagnosis. I don't have a 2g, so I don't know what you can/should swap in a 2g's ECU.

 

[dbritt]

Where did you say all the smoke was coming from EXACTLY? If my car had the symptoms you described earlier...I wouldn't think it's the ECU, I would think it was 2 very specific problems:

Idling: idle surge causes by at least 6 possible problems

3500 RPM stuttering: misfire caused by a lean mixture (which could be caused by about 6 different possible problems as well)

I'd start with the 3500 RPM stuttering and see if a little tuning doesn't solve the problem, then I'd fix the idle problem. Again, I don't have a 2g...so my solutions may not apply.

 

[revision27]

i was with him today and it looks as though the smoke is coming from the turbo. it smells like burnt oil...really bad. blown turbo maybe???

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

yep and i dont see as to how my car wont drive past 3500. and the turbo has only 25 miles on it. a local shop installed it because it was a free install but i realy dont think they would have messed up the install. it only started to smoke after my car started to do what ever its doing after 3500 rpm's. i think im just going to take it to ams to find out what is going on, im pretty much tired of messing with my car.

 

[dbritt]

might be a blown turbo gasket

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

well i found another thing out today, i could slam the gas pedal and no matter what it will not go past 4k rpms.

 

[dbritt]

Is your throttle cable tightened correctly?

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

ya thats fine, its not getting stuck i could rev to 4k then try to go furth and cant, its not like its hitting the floor already

 

[dbritt]

can you redline in neutral?

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

nope, thas what im talking about i could slam the gas pedal in neutral and it wil not go past 4k it starts to fart

 

[dbritt]

Oh, you didn't explain WHY you weren't able to get above 4k RPM. (the "farting")

The more I hear about your problem, the more it makes me think it was what I suggested earlier:

3500 RPM stuttering: misfire caused by a lean mixture (which could be caused by about 6 different possible problems as well)

Here's a post I made a few days ago for someone with a similar situation:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1073424&postcount=5

In your case, it looks like you've already got a lot of good supporting fuel mods. I'm going to put my money on that you're just running lean. Try turning up the fuel until the popping goes away at each RPM setting.

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

thing is car ran fine for a few weeks, pulling hard in first, brakeing the tires loss in second and pull hard 3rd, and that was with 680 with a bass tune, i just had it at -10 low and -20-22 high. now yesterday i put my new 780cc in and stil the same thing and its at -19 low and -24 high just a base setting till i could actully tune it again

 

[eclipsegsx9797]

well alittle more update, i went out and messed with the car some more, and it is for sure some kind of fuel problem. either the ecu is fried and sending the wrong fuel or i have some other fuel problem, i have 780cc and i went out and had my low setings at about -32 and hi at about -40 and it seemed to ride alot better, still cant get on it but i was able to open my wg this time. im gong to try someones ecu out to see if its that if not im going to replace my fuel filter and see if that helps. can i put a 95 eprom ecu in my 97 with out the dsmlink system. i have my ecu for my dsmlink but not enough money yet for the link . will the eprom work