Diagnosis: ECU is Shot

First off, I'd be dead in the water stranded forever if not for http://www.3si.org/. I cannot even explain how excellently helpful board members are there. It's the one website online I'm most thankful to have ever found. Super smart people, very easy to use forums, highly useful search functions, and it's such a popular place with seemingly endless links for more information! Where to get what, How things work, Who to buy things needed from, What to do if your car is having problems - any problems, it's an amazingly helpful place online! Oh yeah, and the pics of Stealths/3000gts are dreamy inspiration, too!

Today I learned, finally learned for sure what's wrong with my car, thanks to extremely smart & super wonderful people there! The ECU is shot. That'd be bad news for a lot of people, me included, except I've already spent $890 (including towing fees) not knowing what the problem was. So knowing for sure that the ECU is to blame is thrilling news! Why? Because now I don't have to keep triple-checking everything else! Now I have the absolute certainty that the problem is the ECU and can feel comfortable paying for it to be rebuilt- or buying a new/rebuilt/replacement unit without wondering if I really *have to*.

There's currently 255,146 miles on mine, I bought it at 142k miles. That's a lot of miles put in with no complaints from the ECU. Sure, I've spent time money and frustrated energy on plenty of other things, but the ECU hung in there for a long time, so I'm not upset about it.

Now it's time for me to learn all about an ECU (or ECM) it's the same thing. I started at how to find it and remove it here: http://www.stealth316.com/2-ecmremoval.htm and today am at http://www.stealth316.com/2-ecu94.htm and will go from there in learning to understand it. In the meantime here's the link to buy the replacement caps that leak and cause problems: http://www.3sx.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=755 for about $10. Not bad if you know how to replace them yourself.

If you're not handy with a soldering iron set up, you can call around to try to find a local place to do it for you. This is kind of tricky. Computer repair shops don't seem to like to work on car things, and TV guys don't either. So I started asking about "replacing capacitors on a motherboard", figuring they don't need to know what the motherboard is "from", they just need to tell me if they can replace capacitors or not! The only time I stumbled was when one computer repair shopped asked me how old the motherboard is. Ha! Eh. Um. It's 20 years old. Did they even call them motherboards back then? I have no idea, but I quickly explained, "I just need to have 4 capacitors replaced". KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Oh after I said it that way, the shops seem to be more helpful. I also explained that they don't need to test it - the test for it is plugging it into the car (which should be a no-brainer) - and quickly reminded them I "just" need 4 capacitors replaced. Finally I found a local place that would let me sit and wait for it - did not insist on me dropping it off & leaving it laying around to be accidentally lost. They'd do it for $20 flat, while you wait, great! All I have to do is order the replacement capacitor kit http://www.3sx.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=755, take it in with the ECU, fork over $20 and wait. I don't think it could get any more simple than that & wish everyone else good luck finding a place such as this if that's what you want, too.

Now of course if you're sending your ECU out to be rebuilt by an actual ECU rebuilding company/service it is expected that they will be able to, and will for sure test their work before they send it back. However, I don't want to send my ECU off to Florida with a money order in the box and possibly have problems. #1 my car doesn't work so how could I drive cross country to bang on their door & re-capture my ECU? #2, what's my recourse if I do send them money and they screw it up? None. So, local is my first choice, friend is my second choice. Whatever choice you make is up to you of course, but I can't afford a brand new ECU, don't have faith in rebuilt ones, and don't want to lose the one I already have in my hot little hands! I can't recommend one place over another, but I do recommend reading comments on http://www.3si.org/ about who did what for who's ECU and how it turned out.

I'm slightly over-protective of my car, and all it's little bits & pieces, so I decided to send my ECU off to my latest & greatest best friend, Steve in New Hampshire. New Hampshire, on the other side of the country. My car's brain flying across the country in a Priority Mail box to an unknown address in a state I've never ever been to before, to be looked at by a guy I've never met before. This is a tremendous leap of faith for me, but one I'm super happy I took! Now I know for sure the ECU is shot. I've been searching my brain in overdrive trying to figure out what to do for this Steve man, and I'm thinking sandwiches. Who doesn't like sandwiches? So I found cold shipping kits here tonight: http://www.dryicepacks.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=21 and am planning a trip & a package making habit now of sending him sammiches! LOL! I don't really know anything about him other than he's incredibly smart, nice, and helpful, but I'm already eternally grateful for his help with figuring out what's really wrong with my car! All I needed was a problem, a leap of faith, a helpful man, and a plan for returning favors! Now I'm thinking of coast-to-coast sammiches! :)

You just never know where things will end up when your car has a problem :) It's not all bad!