ECU woes... I'm ready to throw in the towel...
07-07-12, 07:24 PM
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ECU woes... I'm ready to throw in the towel...
I was having trouble with a couple of electrical problems in my car the past few weeks, namely, my AC won't turn on, steering wheel audio controls do not work. With some help from members on the forum, we were able to narrow down that the problem is likely electrical.
Well, I didn't have much success with Lexus, who told me that I would need a new Navigation System. I decided to take the car to Toyota yesterday.
I let Toyota know the issues that I'm I'm experiencing all happened suddenly, at the same time. Navigation screen says "Check Connection of AC," and the steering wheel audio control issue both started happening one day after work. I let him know that I recently upgraded to a newer Navigation Unit, tested different Nav screens, different A/C EDU, but still nothing works. He made his notes, and escorted me to the lobby for some water and popcorn while they diagnosed my car.
I ended up being shuttled home, because the tech didn't have time to diagnose everything he wanted to on the car. When I contacted them the following day, I was told that the AC works fine. They were able to turn it on, and it was cold. However, they felt the problem may have been a faulty connection to the terminal, so they were going to trace the wires.
When I went to pick the car up, I was told that they were not able to resolve any issues because my ECU's in the car are not communicating, and are interfering with each other.
The wires checked out ok, but the following errors were generated by something called Techstream:
B1211 - Driver door ECU Comm stop
B1212 -- Front pass door ECU Comm stop
B1213 -- Tilt & Telescopic ECU Stop
B1216 -- Right read door ECU Comm stop
B1217 -- Left rear door ECU Comm stop
B1218 -- Body ECU Comm stop
B1261 00 Engine ECU Comm Stop
B2162 -- A/C ECU Comm stop
B1266 -- Instrument Panel System ECU Comm stop
B1271 -- Combination Meter ECU
B1272 -- Power Seat ECU
B1273 -- Sliding Roof ECU
B1283 -- Steering pad switch
B1293 -- Gateway ECU
They told me that they were unable to determine the cause of the codes at this time, and would need more time next week (they were about to close today). They also said they had never seen anything like this before, and were going to attempt to contact some magical engineering dept at Toyota to see if they had ever experienced anything like this.
To top it all off, when the car was returned, MORE problems were occurring. The air bag light is on, the fuel light is flashing, and the temperature gauge stays on cold. The service rep told me that the tech didn't know how to fix it, and they wanted me to come back once they heard from Toyota about the issues above. He wanted me to drive the car to see if anything else happened.
I asked him if he thought this was a coincidence. I'm pretty sure that if I kept my car and cranked it up today, more of these systems wouldn't have failed. He agreed that the problems were not occurring when I brought the car in, but that the systems probably started failing TODAY. Whatever. Anyway, he admitted that they noticed the errors but didn't know what to do to fix them.
After I left, I noticed that my keyless entry no longer works, by interior panel and navi lights do not automatically dim when it gets dark outside, I have to manually lock each door individually, and my garage door opener does not work.
Should I wait for Toyota to get back with me, or should I go to the dealership Monday am and bring up these new issues that didn't occur until I brought the car in??? I feel so stupid, and I hate this car now, that I used to love so much.
I swear I'm about ready for some roller skates or a skateboard.
Well, I didn't have much success with Lexus, who told me that I would need a new Navigation System. I decided to take the car to Toyota yesterday.
I let Toyota know the issues that I'm I'm experiencing all happened suddenly, at the same time. Navigation screen says "Check Connection of AC," and the steering wheel audio control issue both started happening one day after work. I let him know that I recently upgraded to a newer Navigation Unit, tested different Nav screens, different A/C EDU, but still nothing works. He made his notes, and escorted me to the lobby for some water and popcorn while they diagnosed my car.
I ended up being shuttled home, because the tech didn't have time to diagnose everything he wanted to on the car. When I contacted them the following day, I was told that the AC works fine. They were able to turn it on, and it was cold. However, they felt the problem may have been a faulty connection to the terminal, so they were going to trace the wires.
When I went to pick the car up, I was told that they were not able to resolve any issues because my ECU's in the car are not communicating, and are interfering with each other.
The wires checked out ok, but the following errors were generated by something called Techstream:
B1211 - Driver door ECU Comm stop
B1212 -- Front pass door ECU Comm stop
B1213 -- Tilt & Telescopic ECU Stop
B1216 -- Right read door ECU Comm stop
B1217 -- Left rear door ECU Comm stop
B1218 -- Body ECU Comm stop
B1261 00 Engine ECU Comm Stop
B2162 -- A/C ECU Comm stop
B1266 -- Instrument Panel System ECU Comm stop
B1271 -- Combination Meter ECU
B1272 -- Power Seat ECU
B1273 -- Sliding Roof ECU
B1283 -- Steering pad switch
B1293 -- Gateway ECU
They told me that they were unable to determine the cause of the codes at this time, and would need more time next week (they were about to close today). They also said they had never seen anything like this before, and were going to attempt to contact some magical engineering dept at Toyota to see if they had ever experienced anything like this.
To top it all off, when the car was returned, MORE problems were occurring. The air bag light is on, the fuel light is flashing, and the temperature gauge stays on cold. The service rep told me that the tech didn't know how to fix it, and they wanted me to come back once they heard from Toyota about the issues above. He wanted me to drive the car to see if anything else happened.
I asked him if he thought this was a coincidence. I'm pretty sure that if I kept my car and cranked it up today, more of these systems wouldn't have failed. He agreed that the problems were not occurring when I brought the car in, but that the systems probably started failing TODAY. Whatever. Anyway, he admitted that they noticed the errors but didn't know what to do to fix them.
After I left, I noticed that my keyless entry no longer works, by interior panel and navi lights do not automatically dim when it gets dark outside, I have to manually lock each door individually, and my garage door opener does not work.
Should I wait for Toyota to get back with me, or should I go to the dealership Monday am and bring up these new issues that didn't occur until I brought the car in??? I feel so stupid, and I hate this car now, that I used to love so much.
I swear I'm about ready for some roller skates or a skateboard.
07-07-12, 07:37 PM
#2
Wow, it is kinda odd. But it does make sense in a way. The ecu's all communicate on on the Multi-link bus so if they can't talk to each other nothing is going to work that is associated with them.
I wouldn't think all those ecu's are bad, they just are not on the network anymore. Techstream is the software they can communicate with every individual ecu in the car with and monitor or modify settings with it. So the software just can connect to it so there is a bus problem. Even when you remove an ecu from the car completely Techstream can still connect to the others in the car.
This is something if you don't feel like reading up on and tearing into yourself then you are pretty much at the mercy of a Toyota/Lexus dealer. Most any run of the mill shop will be totally lost with a network/bus issue like this.
I wish you the best of luck, and hope they find something out.
The one thing that does kinda raise a flag to me is you mention changing Nav units, anything during the swap/install that you notice may have become the issue?
I wouldn't think all those ecu's are bad, they just are not on the network anymore. Techstream is the software they can communicate with every individual ecu in the car with and monitor or modify settings with it. So the software just can connect to it so there is a bus problem. Even when you remove an ecu from the car completely Techstream can still connect to the others in the car.
This is something if you don't feel like reading up on and tearing into yourself then you are pretty much at the mercy of a Toyota/Lexus dealer. Most any run of the mill shop will be totally lost with a network/bus issue like this.
I wish you the best of luck, and hope they find something out.
The one thing that does kinda raise a flag to me is you mention changing Nav units, anything during the swap/install that you notice may have become the issue?
07-07-12, 07:55 PM
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Wow, it is kinda odd. But it does make sense in a way. The ecu's all communicate on on the Multi-link bus so if they can't talk to each other nothing is going to work that is associated with them.
I wouldn't think all those ecu's are bad, they just are not on the network anymore. Techstream is the software they can communicate with every individual ecu in the car with and monitor or modify settings with it. So the software just can connect to it so there is a bus problem. Even when you remove an ecu from the car completely Techstream can still connect to the others in the car.
This is something if you don't feel like reading up on and tearing into yourself then you are pretty much at the mercy of a Toyota/Lexus dealer. Most any run of the mill shop will be totally lost with a network/bus issue like this.
I wish you the best of luck, and hope they find something out.
The one thing that does kinda raise a flag to me is you mention changing Nav units, anything during the swap/install that you notice may have become the issue?
I wouldn't think all those ecu's are bad, they just are not on the network anymore. Techstream is the software they can communicate with every individual ecu in the car with and monitor or modify settings with it. So the software just can connect to it so there is a bus problem. Even when you remove an ecu from the car completely Techstream can still connect to the others in the car.
This is something if you don't feel like reading up on and tearing into yourself then you are pretty much at the mercy of a Toyota/Lexus dealer. Most any run of the mill shop will be totally lost with a network/bus issue like this.
I wish you the best of luck, and hope they find something out.
The one thing that does kinda raise a flag to me is you mention changing Nav units, anything during the swap/install that you notice may have become the issue?
In order of events:
1) AC/Steering Audio Controls stop working one afternoon. Took vehicle to Lexus
2) Lexus told me the issue was Navigation Screen and DVD unit in the trunk.
3) Posted on CL with what Lexus told me. Brian pm'd me to offer troubleshooting help, and I decided to buy his dvd unit from Prius. Replaced, and AC/Audio controls still didn't work. New Nav from Prius and updated dvd work and look beautifully, though. No regrets.
4) Brian thenr sent me Nav Screen and A/C ECU to test. Swapped out, but AC/Audio Controls still didn't work.
The new issues didn't start until today, when I went to pick my car up from Toyota. They said all of the additional systems listed in my opening post all started failing when they got the car. Is that possible?
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07-08-12, 01:16 PM
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I tried unplugging ECU-B from fuse box under the hood to see if that would help clear the issues. I opened the door and popped the hood, and the alarm went off. Car cranked fine, but the alarm kept blaring. It finally went off after about 30 seconds.
I pulled the fuse, and let the car sit for about an hour. As soon as I plugged the fuse back in, the alarm went off again. I immediately pulled it back out, and the alarm is off.
What did they do to my car??
I pulled the fuse, and let the car sit for about an hour. As soon as I plugged the fuse back in, the alarm went off again. I immediately pulled it back out, and the alarm is off.
What did they do to my car??
07-08-12, 02:21 PM
#10
I think its your main ECU. The one that controls the engine. Its the gateway to all the other ECUs I had similar problems in that 23 things were not working correctly. Tried changing BCM and checked and cleaned every connection. Noting, Changed ECU and everything works.
Have the dealer swap ecu temporarily to confirm or if you know someone who has one swap it. make sure its the right part number. There are also websites that can fix the check and if bad fix the Ecu.
Have the dealer swap ecu temporarily to confirm or if you know someone who has one swap it. make sure its the right part number. There are also websites that can fix the check and if bad fix the Ecu.
07-08-12, 03:13 PM
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I think its your main ECU. The one that controls the engine. Its the gateway to all the other ECUs I had similar problems in that 23 things were not working correctly. Tried changing BCM and checked and cleaned every connection. Noting, Changed ECU and everything works.
Have the dealer swap ecu temporarily to confirm or if you know someone who has one swap it. make sure its the right part number. There are also websites that can fix the check and if bad fix the Ecu.
Have the dealer swap ecu temporarily to confirm or if you know someone who has one swap it. make sure its the right part number. There are also websites that can fix the check and if bad fix the Ecu.
In the meantime, do you know which fuse/relay I can pull to reset my entire system? The alarm goes off whenever I open the door. Right now, I have the ECU-B fuse unplugged.
07-10-12, 01:09 PM
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Ok, so I FINALLY found out that the issue is my Gateway ECU. Part # 89111-30010. I think someone mentioned this in my initial post a few weeks ago. Thanks, and sorry lol. Is this the one you mentioned, sam?
I'll hopefully have my baby back by the weekend!
I'll hopefully have my baby back by the weekend!
