dicion
15+ Year Contributor
- 45
- 0
- Jul 20, 2004
-
Niagara Falls,
New York
I've decided to post this here, as I see alot of people who have a bunch of these problems and in their lists of 'checked' things, they dont list the ECU
If your ECU is original, and you have a 1G or 2G Car... CHECK IT.
The caps (most common), or the IC's (second most) or something else in the ECU WILL FAIL after around 7 years. It's not a matter of *IF*, it's a matter of *WHEN*.
The ECU is behind your radio, and takes 5 minutes with a phillips screwdriver and a 10mm socket to get to. Open it up, and inspect the area around the 3 capacitors. It will be quite evident if there's a cap leak, as there will be a gooey film over the area, and corrosion on/around solder joints and mounts. If it looks good, I STILL recommend replacing the caps by following the procedures in this vfaq:
http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm
The ECU controls your fuel mixture, which can cause all variety of starting, idling, and richness problems, and when the ECU is not functioning properly, the car will not rev past a certain point.
So in closing, learn from my mistake.. I Didn't check the ECU first, and ended up replacing a bunch of parts that weren't broken.
If your ECU is original, and you have a 1G or 2G Car... CHECK IT.
The caps (most common), or the IC's (second most) or something else in the ECU WILL FAIL after around 7 years. It's not a matter of *IF*, it's a matter of *WHEN*.
The ECU is behind your radio, and takes 5 minutes with a phillips screwdriver and a 10mm socket to get to. Open it up, and inspect the area around the 3 capacitors. It will be quite evident if there's a cap leak, as there will be a gooey film over the area, and corrosion on/around solder joints and mounts. If it looks good, I STILL recommend replacing the caps by following the procedures in this vfaq:
http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm
The ECU controls your fuel mixture, which can cause all variety of starting, idling, and richness problems, and when the ECU is not functioning properly, the car will not rev past a certain point.
So in closing, learn from my mistake.. I Didn't check the ECU first, and ended up replacing a bunch of parts that weren't broken.
