ECU repair

[mh3kgt]

Hey guys, just trying to help bring this forum up more on search engines, and add some more useful info to this side of the community. For those of us that have ever had problems with our 1g ECU's, there is an inexpensive option to have them rebuilt with a warranty vs. spending $1k on a new one that may have the same problems in the future. AV-Pro will rebuild them for about $250 and from what I hear, have great turn around time (4-6 days usually)

Here's a link to their site. http://www.avproecm.com/

I've replaced the caps on mine myself, but am thinking of sending it in to AVpro just to have them take a look at it and repair anything needed. A fairly inexpensive preventative measure that can make a world of difference.

[Mikes2nd]

best advice going... if you have an unrepaired ECU, send it in before it frys.

Caps only help the issue but your wasting your money since they do that on the rebuild. Send it in if you have a first gen. Im not kidding, one day it will just burn up.

Do it and save yourself the nightmare.

[mh3kgt]

best advice going... if you have an unrepaired ECU, send it in before it frys.

Caps only help the issue but your wasting your money since they do that on the rebuild. Send it in if you have a first gen. Im not kidding, one day it will just burn up.

Do it and save yourself the nightmare.

I didn't realize that there were bigger issues with the 1g ecu other than the caps leaking. I may send mine in over the winter in that case just to be safe. $250 is definitely one of the best bang for the buck things I think I can do to ensure my car stays running smoothly.

[stealthee]

I wouldn't ese AVPro if you paid me to. They do not test ECU's as they claim to. I'm not going to post the story again, but I was basically fucked out of $1300 because of their incompetence. They also charge WAY too much money for what they do.

[LEVHARD]

if you need ecu repair we do it all and bench test them http://www.3sgto.org/showthread.php?920-ECU-Rebuilds

[mh3kgt]

Good to know. Thanks. Also thanks for the input stealthee

[Mikes2nd]

Anyone selling "i fix your caps"... no way. You have bad "traces" going... period... when a trace fully goes... your ecu goes POOF up in smoke.

Those years mitsus all have problems ALL CARS WILL FAIL...

yeah i didnt use avpro... that old man whines and bitches...

I like the big guys who do it right. I used Autoecu once, worked great.


www.avproecm.com avoid... I agree.

http://www.autoecu.com/ seems okay.

I had another done here...

Whetstone Auto & Truck Salvage, Inc.
Large inventory of cars and trucks. Many parts on the shelf, ready to ship the same day you order.We specialize in rebuilt digital speedometers an temp controls.
City, State: Winona, Minnesota USA
Local Phone: 507-452-2040
Toll Free: 800-328-7759
Fax: 507-452-3725

http://www.foreignecurepair.com/

These guys offer lifetime warranty
http://www.autoecmecu.com/mitsubishi-ecu-ecm.html

Basically look for someone willing to do it all for around 200$ and provide a lifetime guarantee. If they don't do that dont talk to them.

That way you are covered forever. I had to send mine back to autoecu twice, the place in minnesota fixed another avpro wouldnt touch(he refused to work one rebuilts, bitches and whines).


ECM failure
The early nineties Mitsubishi made ECMs and TCMs are quality computers with the exception of the failing Rubicon electrolytic capacitors that were used to equip these electronic control units.
Engine computer or transmission computer, these will break down after five years or so, some last a few years longer but they are basicaly on bowored time. With the ECU sometimes the failure is gradual, the vehicle may be running poorly, difficult to start, the check engine light stays on, etc... then progressing to the point of not running at all. Sometimes it is sudden death, no start for no apparent reason, when everything seemed fine.

Ocasionally the ISC motor, Idle Speed Control Motor or Idle Air Servo will fail and then short the ECU and burn it, so severely sometimes that the ECU is ruined and can not be rebuilt. If this happens to you, you'll likely know it from the smoke thats comming from your ECU.

been there done that, ecu was on fire...

[Maximal]

If your caps are already leaking then yeah, chances are you're screwed. If you somehow have a 1st gen ECU without leaking caps replace them now.

[thestealth]

I used http://www.ecmtogo.com/ to rebuild the ECU/TCU/ECS in my RT about 5 years ago. I was very pleased with their services. :)

[steve]

I've seen the work that those places to and I don't care what their warranty is, their quality is crap. They all share the same business model of how cheaply can I move this ECU from the broken to the "working" pile. Many are side businesses of scrap yards.

Make sure you see their actual warranty, most cover failures of their parts and workmanship not anything that happens to the ECU. If they do the job correctly, trace repairs and modern capacitors aren't going to fail like the original caps did. ISC and coil driver failures are likely not covered, the first because it caused by external shorts and the second because it's a design issue. At lease one of the places listed likes to drown the ECUs in RTV to hide the corrosion damage they never bothered to clean off the board. They might work for awhile but the leaked electrolyte continues to eat away at the copper and solder until it stops working and then it's pretty much unrepairable.

If you have a good ECU make sure they are going to fix yours and not trade it for something they have on the shelf. If yours is junk you might improve your lot or you could get junk back.

There are some very expensive pieces of test gear that can simulate actual operation but few places can afford automated testing gear, bench testing isn't enough to catch a lot of common failures, so the only other option is in the car testing. If they don't, then they don't really know if and how well the ECU works.

I don't have time anymore to repair ECUs but after doing both DSM and 3S ECU for 10 years I think I'm qualified to know what I'm talking about.

[mh3kgt]

Know any reputable places that will repair an ecu right?

[steve]

My DSM customers I'm sending to Dave at ECMTuning but I don't think they do 3S ECUs since they had been sending people to me. I haven't found anybody doing 3S repairs that I would send my own ECU to and that's the criteria I use.
There is is a void right now for somebody with the right skill set and tools that takes pride in their work to fill. It's likely going to be a 3S owner like perhaps Levhard but I haven't see his work yet.

[steve]

Well I've been fixing ECUs for 10 years, The only thing that goes wrong with them is the capacitors that leak.
When they leak , the electrolyte goes all over the board and the tracks get eaten away.
Once that's happened some of them are repairable, some are not.

I've seen many problems that weren't caused by the capacitors leaking so I'm not sure what your trying to say.
Some are caused by other parts failing, ISC drivers are a good example and others by user error, blown sensor grounds from miswiring MAFs and universal O2 sensors, Blown transistors from miswired turbo timers and not counting the pins correctly when installing something and just blown ECUS from people reversing the power polarity. There is a smaller cluster of problems that just seem to happen normally because the environment, electrical or physical.

The caps leak or will leak on every 1G ECU, TCU, ECS, A/C digital display but that's not the only thing that goes wrong.

[toddrs93]

Know any reputable places that will repair an ecu right?


My guy is set-up to actually bench test the ecu's in house. There is NO charge if we can't fix them. Alot of people think cap replacement is easy and it isn't that bad, but the issue is the clean up/prep work of the board since it is a multilayer, most people fail to do that properly, INCLUDING AVPro. I don't know how many AVPro ecu's we have had to repair. I will guarantee the repairs we do. And we are cheaper than AVPro.

http://www.3sgto.org/showthread.php?920-ECU-Rebuilds