aside from the fact they tried fixing it twice and failed each time, then told me they would give me a refund if i sent them a receipt proving i bought a ecu from a junkyard instead, then not refunding me once i had done this, here is a look inside the ecu they "repaired". as you can see, there is a soldier trace on the board near the 2 caps. it is supposed to be a resistor as i can barely make out an r number indicating it is a location for a resistor(also, the back side has pins stuck through, indicating that a resistor was in that location). if someone has an ecu of this part number and can take a pic of this spot for me, or give me the value of the resistor that is supposed to be here, i would greatly appreciate it. Im in the process of tracing the pin on the ecu plug to try and locate the fault in the ecu myself to repair it. this is my original ecu. part number is 89661-50140

also, if you could give me the location number for the 2 capacitors next to the soldier trace. mine are marked out by that soldier line they made. ill post the caps that have been replaced and what the values are so others can replace the caps themselves.


















also, they connected these resistors together with soldier and used a small white jumper to another pin, so if someone can take a pic of this as well it would help and write down the colors of the bands on the resistors etc.. in case i need to replace them. the colors will let me know their values.

 

ok, did some trace following on my old ecu(vta signal as i was having revving issues and kept getting code 41). it leads to ic280. which is the same ic as ic282. ic282 is nice and dry. ic280 seems to have some sort of shiny clear coating on part of it so that leads me to believe it is faulty. te ic is labeled as

D 151821-0130
9222A3004

so now ill see if i can find a replacement. the ic next to it ic284 also has the shiny stuff on it. almost like a resin of some sort. it is labeled as

D 151821-0100
9227AA006


ic280 is the middle one

 

As a qualified electronics engineer I have never seem such a poor repair job by I assume a professional repairer.
The printed circuit board on these ECUs are double sided thru print types and need skill and specialised soldering equipment to both remove and refit components correctly.
It looks like the board has been attacked by a complete novice using a blow torch and this has probably resulted in the print damage they have then gone onto try and bridge with solder.
TBH the board looks like a complete write off now.

 

Wow, that's the worst "professional" repair I've ever seen! I'm sorry man, they should send you a replacement asap at absolutely no cost. Clearly they broke it.

 

Agreed.
Looks like a hack job with a huge tipped soldering iron taking a ham fisted approach. I wouldn't count on that being reliable.

 

Yikes. That looks like a real CF. I'm going to think twice about using ATE if I ever need ECU repair.

I must say williamb82 that you have been one patient guy dealing with your 1993. I hope you get your ride ironed out soon.

 

well, i bought a replacement ecu prolly 9 months ago. i just happened to spot this one laying in the garage and know they wont honor the warranty so didnt care about cutting their labels that void it. as for repairing. beleive it or not, the car runs the same on this ecu since i got it back as before i sent it in. it has the code 41 issue and if you floor it it acts like it has a 2k rev limiter. but if you are easy on the throttle, it will rev all the way to redline. the replacment ecu i bought revs fine when floored. just has ****ty gas mileage. its agervating to say the least. ill try changing the electrolytics in my new ecu. if the mileage doesnt improve im buying another megasquirt and using it on the ls for fuel control.

 

Damn, what a hack job that is. I don't deal with this type of electronics but even I know that's garbage. 30 years ago I might have tried to work on something like that but with all the stuff I've done in the past, I aint too steady. I applaud you, and anyone else that does this work sucessfully. Hope you get it figured out.

 

its not hard. just need the right tip on the iron and plenty of flux and a steady hand. good eyes help too.

 

How much a new ecm cost at the dealership

 

too much. but they likely have bad caps in them as well if what was mentioned in the other thread is true about the supplier. last i heard it was $1500-2k for an ecu from lexus.

 

Did you ever get the issue figured out w/ code 41. As I am having the same issue w/ my 93 also. Changed all the caps on the board and still the sanme thing.

 

it was my ecu. i replaced it. i still havent pulled the ecu from my car to compare to the one i replaced. totalled the car almost 2 weeks ago. been too mad about it to bother with it. still looking for another 1st gen to replace mine. hopefully with a bad motor so itll be cheap. my motor is good. when i pull the current ecu, ill take it apart to get the rest of the cap locations and post the values needed so people can "rebuild" them on their own.

 

Not the first ATE horror story. Wait til you see pictures of their cluster board "repair" I came across

 

I'm pretty damn sure this is the company that is so poorly reviewed on the web and has an F from the BBB. I was one click away (literally) from ordering an ECU service from them when I noticed the webpage with my credit card info was not a secure website. That's what prompted me to review their background. Avoid for sure.