I have diagnosed myself and have gotten 2 other opinions and have found my ECM to be faulty. Have over 80,000 miles on car but would like to keep it running.
It is a 2006 manual tC any help to find a decent price on one would be greatly appreciated!!

 

How are you so sure it is the ECU? An ecu failure is much, much less probable most times than is an issue that leads many to believe it is. Many people have been led down the road thinking (for good reason) they have a bad ecu only to spend the money and find out there was another issue Just dont end up making that mistake.

 

ECU... really? .... I mean, of all the different things...

Just out of curiosity, what leads you to think ECU? I'm hoping we can narrow it down to something much more likely, and even more hopefully, much cheaper.

 

i have to afree with these 2, there are many things that will make you think its an faulty ecu

worse comes to worse i have an 06 manual transmission ecu laying around my house i could sell you for dirt cheap, but your going to get a check engine light because it doesnt read the same vin numbers

 

He probably has a bad O2 sensor and his car is buggin out... making him think he has a bad ECU.

 

So what testing have you done to backup your theory?

 

while you "afree" i'll agree

 

I have been a mechanic for 10 years now and have yet to see a bad ECM. I am not saying yours isn't but I am not saying it is, you have a 1 in 100 (1%) chance of it being bad. What are the symptoms and what have you tested so far?

 

I have also been a technician for 10 years (give or take) and am currently Audi, Ford, GM, and Toyota certified. The way I was told in my training to diagnose an ecm was that you have to prove everything else in that particular circuit good because there is no way to properly test an ecm. The problem I am having deals with the electronic throttle (drive-by-wire). I have proved that all other components including wiring, connectors, actuators, etc. all to be functioning correctly. I have run all my tests twice and have taken it to both and Audi master technician of 20 years as well as a top certified Toyota technician of 24 years. We have all come to the same conclusion.

 

Just out of curiosity, how did you test/simulate the signal from the pedal to the ECU?

I guess it would make more sense to know what the original issue was. Was the throttle "gappy" intermittent, etc?

I am not trying to say you or your friends dont know what you are doing. But I have seen cars come in to the shop my family owns already having an ECU replaced by qualified people, ending up being something completely different. Just trying to save you some cash if possible.

 

My friend had the same issue his was due to dirty connections and a ground wire inside the dash behind the stereo, where a ground was loose.

 

to test the signal wire a disconnected it from the pedal sensor and the ecm and took a resistance measurement and it was within toyota's specifications. I have also checked all the grounds and all the connectors and all the wiring is good. I have complete access to all wiring diagrams and have gone through them and the car with a fine tooth comb as well as on the car twice myself and my colleagues have also done so repeatedly. I appreciate all the concern about making sure that its not the ecm but all of my tests have led me to this disappointing answer.

 

so please if anyone can help me find a decent price on one it would be great thanks

 

you think about this at all??

I have an ecu

 

theres this little old place called EBAY, they got them for cheap, lots of them for like under 200 dollars.

 

Did you see if there were any DTC's in the ECM? If the scan tool communicates with the ECM I still find it hard to believe it's the ECM. Did you check every fuse, replay, and even look at the theft system to make sure something didn't mess up on it? I would hate to see someone spend money for an ECM and it turned out to be something else. Once the ECM has been programmed to the VIN it can't be changed.

 

I highly doubt it's the ECM.. that's very rare. But I guess it can happen.

If you have so many contacts to experienced technicians (Including Toyotas), why don't you ask them to help you source a new ECM?

 

for one I don't trust ebay, how much would you part with yours for rrimportracer?? and as far as my colleagues helping me to source one goes they get the same discounts I do so it really doesn't make a difference.

 

well.. exactly what problems with the drive by wire are you experiencing?

you mentioned a little bit.. but what are the symptoms that you are going thru for you to note a fault?

 

it cuts out at certain rpm whether i'm at wot or just cruising, but its never a specific rpm, and sometimes when I come to a stop it will hunt for idle, it will drop down below 200 rpm, then ramp up to 1500, but all the symptoms are so sporadic that I can never duplicate them. I've tried hooking up toyota's scan tool and shaking/wiggling all the wiring just in case its a loose connection but I never get it to do it, it also doesn't matter when it comes to engine temp, it's done when it's cold as well as when it's at full operating temperature and anywhere in between. I've run out of all other possibilities. The code for the mil light is P0606 which is described as a "PCM Processor Fault".