Kinda odd

[3101gen]

My car has been starting, than dying about 3-4 minutes later for some unknown cause. First the car would start to hesitate really bad, than the engine checklight comes on than the car shuts off. This is during normal driving this morning. Its been a month since my car started after changing caps on ecu. My battery and alt is new, changed ecu caps, and the starter is fine.

 

[nutshot]

Does it die only when warm? Does the car do this all the time or sporadically? Are there any performance issues as of late (i.e. slow acceleration, running hot, etc)?

 

[3101gen]

yea it dies after the car is running about 3-4 minutes, there are no performance issues, the car still pulls ok and all, it just dies all the time after its started or running.

 

[mitsutuner]

Based on your sequence of events, I think you should pull out your ecu & have it professionally checked, because it sounds like the micro-chip inside it got damaged. Give some more clues on the hisrory of the ecu.
What led you to replace the caps- did you have the symptoms of chattering ECU & cutting out?
Did you replace the caps yourself & take a very magnified look at both sides of the board? Was there any signs of leaking cap damage or burned board? Did you see any shiny/softened black rubber goo in the center of the micro-chips? Also Keep in mind that you can have failed electronic components with no visible outward signs & the only way to know for sure is to supply inputs & measure outputs. If you have a brave buddy with an identical configuration dsm, you could plug your ECU into his car to check it.
Here's where I'm going with this--if you for sure had bad caps, there's a high probablility you have other ECU problems. My personal experience mirrors yours, my micro-chips & more were damaged & that means no core credit for the replacement ECU. Do not be misled by the 1000faq quick cap fix even though I tend to believe that it has sometimes worked for some people, & the 1000faq has saved me many times.

Go to this link to find out what is really involved with ECU repair.

http://www.avproecm.com/process1.htm

 

[3101gen]

I had my ecu done by the owner of zeitronix ( www.zeitronix.com ) and it appears he not only replaced the caps, but some chip that was fried. He ran the ecu on 1 of his cars and it worked perfectly. Is there anyother electrical components that might cause this? I was told maybe some sort of ignition relay?

 

[mitsutuner]

Yes, there is a relay, it's the shiny metal small apple sized box that is sitting right in front of the ECU, it's very easy to remove, open it up & check the contacts & coils. I think you'l find it is OK, at the PIC-N-Pull junkyard there were 13 dsms, mostly pretty stripped, but all still had this relay. I took 1 of the relays & swapped it into my car anyway, even though my relay checked good, (to no avail), why?- because, if you have your dsm long enough you start to believe in voodoo & superstition.
Based on your sequence of events- I still strongly suspect your ECU is your problem, but could be coils, or something more simple of the basic "car-not running" type-(spark+fuel+air). Had you ruled out the more basic stuff?
Currently, my ECU is enroute from ZDR electronics in Orlando Florida, will let you know what happens when I get it.

 

[mitsutuner]

Also, at ZDR, they claim to be able to check enough inputs & outputs to the ECU to know if you have a external problems affecting the ECU. They said that while there were no strong indications of an external problem on my car, that their analysis was not 100% conclusive & that I might consider replacing the idle speed control motor on general principles. I have not checked the motor, but if I recall correctly, it's easy to do. 1 thing about electric motors in general, many of them have thermal protection circuits that shut the electric motor if it overheats, & this kinda sounds similar to your case.
Certainly, plugging the ECU into another identically configured car is a valid measure- & then taking the other known good ECU from the other car & swapping it into your car. how long did they run the test car & would they be willing to do it again? Remember that your car was not doing this 4 minute shutdown before you got into the ECU problem--is that correct?

 

[3101gen]

It was doing this 4-5min shutdown prior to getting my ecu done. When this happen we thought it was the Alt. so we changed it, and still the car was shutting down. As for the test car, i didnt ask how long, but i might have him do it again. As for the basic stuff im going to changed my plugs tomorrow and see how that goes. I let my car idle this morning and it started hessitating as usual but than the ecu would start to click rapidly and the checklight on. While this was happening, the doors locked by itself.

 

[mitsutuner]

That seems totally freaky, but my dsm experience keeps me from getting freaked out by anything & i'm pretty sure if I drove the car into the ocean it would sink intermittently.
Does your car have any aftermarket security devices installed, wireless remote etc. or does it have just the factory alarm system or no system?

Where are you in CA? I'm in Milpitas.

(2 months ago, parked by the ocean in San Francisco, an almost new Toyota Corrolla, extensively, but incredibly amatuerish in many ways modifications on the car which won't crank to start but head & foglamps are bright. The lady driver had left her remote in her pocket when she went for a dip in the ocean. I looked under the hood to see if I could disable the aftermarket alarm & saw the most horrifying mumbo-jumbo wiring spaghetti mess I ever saw on a car not at the junkyard, & wouldn't go near it. but also the car had racing CAI, intake manifold, injector rail, header pipes & hand welded bona fide front to rear dual exhaust & extensive ricer gadgetry. )

 

[3101gen]

No more alarm, i ripped it off one morning . It was factory. Im in Carson, between Torrance/Longbeach. Yea it was freaky, having the doors lock all of a sudden. Do you know of anything else that might cause this weird stuff?

 

[mitsutuner]

Yeah, disabling the factory alarm sounds like a can of worms--I need to review the owners manual again, but I think it's controlled by a micr-chip on the ding dang ECU board where it can easily disable the ignition.. I'm also guessing that when they worked on your ECU they never thought to check out the alarm then or when they road-tested it & for that they could be forgiven.
The factory alarm is tied (tie dyed?) to almost everything, and has the power to disable/enable/ activate/deactivate most of these things. Do you have the original owners manual? I could scan the pages for the alarm if you need. BTW, it's the most comprehensive & well written owners manual I ever saw, & is quite possibly the best executed item in the entire car.
I know for sure:
The car won't start or run if the alarm is tripped.
The alarm will trip if the car is locked & someone is inside the car & opens the door.
The alarm will trip if from inside the car, you pop the hood latch, then get out of the car & lock the doors & then go lift open the hood.
Sometimes, the alarm will trip if you walk up to the locked car & unlock & open the hatch first.
The most annoying sound it makes, & when it goes off, people nearby are cursing at you & in fact hoping that your car get's vandalized as punishment for being so obnoxious.
I've considered removing/disabling it, but it looks way too complicated & concerned I could end up with the alarm disabling the car, but givng no clues.
For your situation--
A-how hard would it be to reconnect/restore everything going to the alarm, at least long enough to do some functional testing, but I think you're better to keep it permanently installed to "factory specs" because of all the "unknown unknowns" as Rumsfeld puts it.
B-maybe you could take the ECU back to the shop & have them functional check the alarm on their test car, but I would strongly suggest doing step A first..

 

[Kingsta18]

It is very possible that the problem is with the replacement caps, I work for a part's company, and I have talked to several garages and they say that even though borg warner and others make aftermarket OE replacements, that for some reason only the stock part from the dealer will work with the comp. Don't know if that is any help or not but thats what i was told.

 

[mitsutuner]

That was way back in DEC 2003, I bet 99 pesos that the problem was in the ECU & the shop didn't really fix it the first time. Had mine rebuilt at ZDR electronics in Orlando Fla, they put a 2 year warranty on it & it's been almost a year--no problemo.
Not just any electonics shop can fix the ECU, read this:
http://www.avproecm.com/process1.htm