Howdy,

Here's a quick question. Have you had many ECMs die while tuning? I mean with the modifications, emulations, and general handling of the hardware, could it shorten the lifespan of the ECM? Does anyone carry an extra ECM just in case? I think mine blew chunks while I was datalogging and I don't know if it could be the fact that it was a remanufactured unit (an isolated incident?) or that 10 - 20 year old electronics get fragile over time and everyone is prepared for eventual unit failure.

Thanks for your input!
Mike

 

static electricity can damage any ECM at any time, even a charge so small(around 5000 volts) you don't feel it is enough to kill the ECM. most of the time it does nothing to worry about. if your ECM died while data logging, odds are it was probably just its time to go.

so far, i haven't had my ECM which came with my motor 5 years ago & is a reman die on me, which is kind of surprising as it has been laying in the passenger side floor board for about 3 years now & i sometimes pull the chip 2~3 times a week to make changes to the bin,.. & my T-tops do leak.

yes, i do have a spare known to be good ECM with a known to be good memcal in it sitting on my back seat, it goes everywhere with me

 

I killed the one that came with my car when I bought it which was remanufactured. So then I bought a remanufactured one switched the internals and returned it and said that it was fuse that blew instead. Then I bought another of TGO as a backup and finally I borrowed one from a junkyard. I keep one spare in my security storage bin in the hatch.

 

Before you blame the ECM make sure you verify all the questionable ecm circuits. Especially the grounding and power circuits.

They are usually pretty robust units though. Something like 90% of the ECM's that are turned into the reman companies are still perfect units that were misdiagnosed. All they require is a cleaning and a sticker, and they are back onto the shelf. Just an FYI