BushyTea

Well first off how I was wondering how often or common is it for a ECM to fail?

Mine is out of my 90 Camaro 3.1 V6 and I have replaced everything possible to fix a flooding issue and I am running out of options.

My ECM is a Delphi Factory Authorized Remanufactured Module
Service #: 16198262

Which from research is correct for the car. I can't find any issues on the board of the computer or anything just plainly obviously wrong with it.

If it is bad is it best to go pay the money for a GM computer or I know advance auto here has them for $75 which is just as cheap as most junkyards around here.

Thanks!
Mike

titchener

While its certainly possible for an ECM to develop problems (or outright fail) to be honest its usually not what is causing problems with someones engine.

By flooding I'm assuming you mean running rich-

Here's some things that could cause that you should check:

Fuel pump regulator spring cracked.

Fuel pump return line crimped.

Fuel pump regulator defective.
(Both the above can be checked for by testing fuel pressure).

One or more fuel injectors leaking. Watch them after turning the ignition on but not starting the car, this pressurizes the fuel pump for a couple of seconds, you shouldn't see any gas dribble out of them.
On TBI cars you can also watch the injectors by taking the air cleaner off and watching them at idle. They should squirt out regular cones of fuel without dribbling.

There are some o-rings that seal the injectors that can get damaged and cause fuel to dribble, check these if you have dribbling.

If your injectors themselves are leaking, www.witchhunter.com will clean and flow test them for around $18. each.

Running rich can also be cause by a bad CTS sensor, if its dead it reports cold temps all the time and the ECM adds too much gas. Do a search on testing your CTS on these forums.

A bad O2 sensor can also cause rich operation.

If the ECM is working correctly otherwise (no check engine light) I'd check all these other things carefully before popping for a new ECM.

I've gotten all my ECM's from junkyards and they've been fine, I haven't heard of people having problems with junkyard or corner auto store ones. They tend to either work right or not at all, its rare you see one that is flakey.

If you're planning to keep this car for a while I'd get a basic scanning setup for it from moates.net using TunerPro RT, it lets you find problems like bad sensors or flakey ECM's really quickly. Before popping out the dough make sure the right setup files are available for your car, if TunerPro doesn't have them TunerCat may.

Paul T.