i think i need an ecu? - Tuner-Junction

Johnlude85 · #1 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 07:08 PM

hi everyone. this might be kinda long so please bare with me i really need your help. i know youll step in blake and atleast point me in the right direction here. youve helped me out a bunch so far.

ok i was at work today and it was slow so i punched out early and decided to work on my car. well ive ben having some problems lately with wiring and what not. i was lookin at the ecu plugs and i noticed a black wire just hanging by the ecu. so i know it was a ground (because it was solid black) i just didnt know where it went. i looked up an ecu pinout and realized that it goes in pin A23. now before i did this, i had a cel for the egr lift sensor, and the vtec solenoid. ive ben through flow charts and in most cases i got all the way to the bottom where it said to "substitute a known good ecm". i didnt think anything of it, i just figured i did something wrong. so today i got that black ground plugged in, then i reset the ecu and started it up. upon startup, i only had a code 22 which was for the vtec pressure switch. i was like "ok, didnt have this one before, but if it stays at only this one, i can deal with it." well i took it out of the shop and drove down the road and it ran really bad. worse then when the ground was disconnected. it hesitated something fierce, it didnt buck or anything, but man was it sluggish. i turned around and went back to the shop and pulled the cel codes and this is what i got:
code 6- ect sensor
code 10- iat sensor
code 12- egr circuit
code 20- electric load detector
code 21- vtec solenoid
code 22- vtec pressure switch
those are the codes i got out of it, so i unplugged the black wire and did the ecu reset, and drove it and it ran better, but exactly like it did before i did anything to it, so now i only have a code 12 and a code 21. before i removed the ground wire, i diagnosed everything with a flow chart and the outcomes were "substitute a known good ecm". so it looks like my ecu is done.

now my question is, im lookin for another p13 on ebay and found this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBD1-...spagenameZWDVW . has anyone dealt with this seller? or has anyone heard of this company. it looks like a really good deal and theyre fairly inexpensive. i was just wondering if anyone had any input on my experience and on the ecu i found.

i thank everyone in advance for any input.

Type_R_Mike · #2 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 07:36 PM

click on that pherable link, they have chiped obd1 v-tec ecu's for 175 and there in tampa florida http://www.phearable.net/chippedecus.html check it out

Johnlude85 · #3 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Type_R_Mike

click on that pherable link, they have chiped obd1 v-tec ecu's for 175 and there in tampa florida http://www.phearable.net/chippedecus.html check it out

mike, thats awesome. you get a rep my friend

. what does everyone think about the pherable? better then the one on ebay?

Johnlude85 · #4 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 07:47 PM

this is from the pherable website.

is this a bad thing that it removes the kock sensor?
"Knock sensor, ELD, Vtec speed limit, Atmospheric pressure sensors disabled."

what exactly is this
" 2 step launch control (A revlimit at 0 mph for launching purposes)"

and this is just damn cool
" CEL shiftlight is available upon request (Check engine light shift indicator)"

Type_R_Mike · #5 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnlude85

what exactly is this
" 2 step launch control (A revlimit at 0 mph for launching purposes"

that just means when your at 0mph you can have him preset a rev limit for the launch and then when you move off the line it disengages and you get your real rev limiter

Johnlude85 · #6 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2006, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Type_R_Mike

that just means when your at 0mph you can have him preset a rev limit for the launch and then when you move off the line it disengages and you get your real rev limiter

mmmk thats what i thought. i think ill get the pherable ecu instead on the one of ebay

...unless anyone has a bad experience with pherable.

Clone · #7 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 11:17 AM

as far as I know, Blake's the only one I've heard of that's dealt with them....

But with them and Boomslang harnesses, you really can't go wrong.

Johnlude85 · #8 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clone

as far as I know, Blake's the only one I've heard of that's dealt with them....

But with them and Boomslang harnesses, you really can't go wrong.

does anyone have any kind of input on my problems? im just hoping that it IS the ecu and that i dont buy it and find out that a new ecu didnt cure my problem.

digink · #9 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnlude85

does anyone have any kind of input on my problems? im just hoping that it IS the ecu and that i dont buy it and find out that a new ecu didnt cure my problem.

When I did my JDM h22 swap on my old prelude, I had a lot of trouble with the p13 and the knock sensor and other such things that are not REALLY needed. I opted and got a chiped p28 w/ many of the things listed in the one your looking at and it cured every single problem.

You dont need a knock sensor, just make sure you always use 91+ octane and you'll be fine, knock sensor is a dummy proof for idiots who put less then 91 or 93 in a car that requires it.

Johnlude85 · #10 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digink

When I did my JDM h22 swap on my old prelude, I had a lot of trouble with the p13 and the knock sensor and other such things that are not REALLY needed. I opted and got a chiped p28 w/ many of the things listed in the one your looking at and it cured every single problem.

You dont need a knock sensor, just make sure you always use 91+ octane and you'll be fine, knock sensor is a dummy proof for idiots who put less then 91 or 93 in a car that requires it.

yeah, i ran midgrade with my h23, not i only run 93 octane. but the p28 doesent controll the iab's so i emailed phearable and asked them some questions, and hopefully they do p72's too. thats the best choice for the ludes. im hopin blake chimes in and gives me some advice. soomeone said that he has a phearable ecu.

Clone · #11 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 06:35 PM

well, the troubleshooting flow charts tell you to substitue with a known good pcm for a reason... so you can rule that option out. If you've been trough the flow chart and every test comes up good, and you get to that step, then you gotta go with that step to continue. You can't just skip it.

Really, from what it sounds like, you've done that, and you've ended up on that step. Your next logical option is to get yourself a replacement ECU and test it out.

Knowing that rules out a lot of possibilities...

Johnlude85 · #12 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clone

well, the troubleshooting flow charts tell you to substitue with a known good pcm for a reason... so you can rule that option out. If you've been trough the flow chart and every test comes up good, and you get to that step, then you gotta go with that step to continue. You can't just skip it.

Really, from what it sounds like, you've done that, and you've ended up on that step. Your next logical option is to get yourself a replacement ECU and test it out.

Knowing that rules out a lot of possibilities...

yep...that is the end of the flow charts. it tells me to substitute blah blah blah... i dont have a replacement right now, but im trying to upgrade to the chipped p72, and if thats not the proplem, then i need to fix the problem and then ill still have my chipped ecu. either way, its a great performance upgrade. i did want to try my h23 ecu, but im not sure if that would be a bad thing.

digink · #13 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnlude85

yeah, i ran midgrade with my h23, not i only run 93 octane. but the p28 doesent controll the iab's so i emailed phearable and asked them some questions, and hopefully they do p72's too. thats the best choice for the ludes. im hopin blake chimes in and gives me some advice. soomeone said that he has a phearable ecu.

ya p28 doesn't control the butterflies, just leaves them open all the time, but believe me it does not make any difference(or to me it didn't). If any of you were on Superhonda and remember preluderacer.. he had the beast NA only bolt on motor in the 13s, he also used a chipped p28 w/ butterflys open.

I also have a really good guy who does all kinds of ECUs for a VERY cheap price, he did my p28 and is very well known on HT. If you want his AIM SN let me know.

Just something to keep in mind.

Johnlude85 · #14 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digink

I also have a really good guy who does all kinds of ECUs for a VERY cheap price, he did my p28 and is very well known on HT. If you want his AIM SN let me know.

Just something to keep in mind.

well the thing is, i think my ecu is smoked out. so i cant have it chipped. phearable will send me a workign ecu tuned my them for 175 bucks plus shipping. thats not bad at all, plus they warranty it so if anything goes wrong with it, theyll fix/replace as needed.

Blake · #15 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 09:17 PM

John can modify the ecu to control the iab's. Thats a great guy. His customer service is unlike any other people i have dealth with. Not only is he helpful prior to the purchase, he responds just as fast as a paying customer.

Johnlude85 · #16 (**permalink**) March 23rd, 2006, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blake

John can modify the ecu to control the iab's. Thats a great guy. His customer service is unlike any other people i have dealth with. Not only is he helpful prior to the purchase, he responds just as fast as a paying customer.

its nice to see you finally chimed in! so he can modify it to handle the iab's? thats awesome. so what do you think about my whole ordeal here. see if a new ecu fixes the problems or what? because my spider senses says it is most likely the ecu. im shot for ideas here. thats the only thing i can come up with. i ben messin with this engine for the past 2 months and all the problems just clicked yesterday. it finally dawned on me that i could in fact need a computer.

digink · #17 (**permalink**) March 24th, 2006, 09:28 AM

wait, you already have a p28? or are you using a p13?

I was telling you to get a chipped p28 not chip your p13, p13 cause a shit load of problems when doing the h23-h22 swap, I've been there. (well I did f22-h22 swap but most of the stuff is the same.)

Johnlude85 · #18 (**permalink**) March 24th, 2006, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digink

wait, you already have a p28? or are you using a p13?

I was telling you to get a chipped p28 not chip your p13, p13 cause a shit load of problems when doing the h23-h22 swap, I've been there. (well I did f22-h22 swap but most of the stuff is the same.)

no im currently using the stock p13. the h23 ecu is the p14 and im not sure about the f22 ecu.

Johnlude85 · #19 (**permalink**) March 24th, 2006, 07:22 PM

ok guys, i just ordered a chipped P28 fom phearable for teh h22 so ill let everyone know how it turns out.