[managerisk72]

2007 93 with a little t.

I have the P0245 + all injector codes. Everyone agrees.... ECU is bad.

My question, has anybody had long term success with programming a used ECU? When I say long term, I mean still working after 2 months? If so, how long did it last?

Also can anyone make a recommendation for where to buy a new ECU? Im hearing super depressing stories about the success rates of programming a used unit. As in it never works much more than 30 days.

Thanks!

 

[Hus_sho]

If it arrives bad, then its bad, but U wouldnt know.
The issue is not with the programming, i program a dozen annually, but i source them locally from guarantee places.
The problem is lots of people are selling their old broken ECUs on eBay and other places knowing that their failure will take a while to appear.
My suggestion, is to find a junk yard that have saabs, usually i pick the ECU from a car thats been in accident.

 

[managerisk72]

Thanks for the reply, your stuff on this board is gold!

Here is what I have tried. Your thoughts on the next move would be much appreciated.


1. Fix original, sent ecu away for service and in theory, restored. 2 days. Codes came back.

2. EBAY. From a pre-2007. 2 days, Codes came back.

3. Car. Part salvage yard quoted from a wreck matching year and tested working. This lasted for 1 week, but codes came back.

4. Installed new, salvaged, injectors, then reprogrammed the last ecu again. 1 day, codes came back.

Have binary from original failed ecu. Tried stock binary downloaded from another site both fail. I would like to "recover" ECU.... Can't get that to work. Message on Trioniccanflash says failed to communicate.

So I still wonder if anybody has experienced any long term success?

Are you willing to sell a good working ECU from your source?

Do I need to follow a different process for programing?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Hus_sho]

So basically 3 different ECUs and 2 different methods and still the same codes came back every time.
Of course there is always a chance that its just bas luck, but as im a scientific person i would like to think that maybe there is something else worng with the car thats causing all these ECUs to burn.
unfortunately although i still can sell u one of those, but im sure it will cost u a lot for shipping as well!!

Last question, to my understanding, u once tried to copy old ECU into the New one (probably by the trionic software) but at least u tried to install one of those ECUs by using tech2 only ?did u

 

[managerisk72]

No never tried with tech2... Makes me wonder if the first ecu, the one installed on the car, (car was purchased used) was never a valid binary married to the vehicle? Would that make sense?

Another couple of things:

1. I had a new balance chain installed. Could the engine timing be just a bit off and could that cause issues?

2. When the new balance chain was installed, the mechanic failed to reconnect the ground, to the air conditioning. I rigged it back into place, but could that be causing some weird voltage spike? How would I know anyhow? lol

3. I checked grounds throughout the vehicle, all seemed good but are there other symptoms of electrical issues that could be burning the ECU? Voltage regulator? How to test?

Sorry to dump all these thoughts into the thread. Could be overloading with information. I can tell you have good grasp of things so Im jumping at the opportunity to ask. These are all things I've been searching the forum for answers to for the past month lol!

Thanks!

 

[SethB]

I had no problems with a used ECU. Its been years and nothing wrong. Spend less than 50 on it too. I had gotten one before from there (had a P0600, I believe, the one where the memory blocks were bad) and I got my money back because the listing said "perfect working condition" so eBay got me my money back.

Its always a gamble. I buy my ignition coils from there too. Got 2 for 15 bucks total. What I do is look at the item description. If it says "perfect working condition" or "no problems with unit" then I usually go for it. Ebay buyer protection is pretty good so long that the description states it is in good working order.

 

[managerisk72]

Good to know you have been running that long. Local mechanic said he has tried on 200 different cars and not 1 had ever lasted more than a couple of months.

 

[Hus_sho]

Ground issues will cause different symptoms, chain has noting to do with it , i would use one same era and try doing it with tech2 to exclude software issues.
And i would change my mechanic too ???

 

[ET160]

I have bought from ebay and sourced from a junkyard. One from the junkyard was bad. I am now running a reflashed junkyard unit with no problems.

 

[okcrum]

Sure. I've got a used, tested ECM in the car now for about 5 months. Bought from Sage.

 

[NicholasK_ZA]

I had a bad ECU on my 2007 1.8t.
Sent it to Brew City Boost.
They cloned the programming onto a used-but-good ECU and sent that back to me.

Problem free since April - done 5000km on it since.

I had them do a stage 1 tune on it too - nice to have some extra HP, but my front tyres not loving it