bachlauter

I'm not sure if mine is bad...but where is the ECM? What does ECM stand for?
The ECU is the engine computer, right? SO is ECM a module?

Thanks!
~Christy

JSM1284

Electronic Control Module. This is the Engine Computer

What year and mileage is the vehicle? The ECM is covered by a 8year/80,000 mile warranty.

peter1965

What makes u think the ECM is bad? i would have thought that sensors and wiring (including connectors) would be more susceptable to failure.

What do the error codes (if any) indicate? That would be a pretty good place to start. there are several posts on how to interrogate them and what they mean elsewhere in here (search "Diagnostic code" posts).

Cheers Peter.

nine3es

iTrader: (3)

mine went bad about a year ago. 93 ES. the problem started about 5 yrs ago though with the transmission not down shifting from 2nd to 1st by itself. to drive, i had to manually shift her down to 1st at each stop light/sign, then manually up shift 2nd and drive as i sped up. everyone that i knew of mechanic wise said that was a common symptom of a bad throttle position sensor and that i needed to change that. second opinions were that it could be the valve body in the trans went out. no check engine light or anything so i didnt check codes. first i changed the tps, that didnt work, then i changed it again since the first one i bought used from fleabay. still didnt auto shift. well, i figured the worse and though the valve body went out so i kept shifting manually.

last year or so, i was driving across town and sitting in heavy traffic, all of a sudden she started spitting and sputtering like crazy and smoking like a mosquito truck. i had no acceleration and pedal to the floor was barley revving to 1000 rpm. she died several times before i pushed her to the gas station nearby. towed her to my shop and this time got codes. i found a service manual and it walked me through testing the tps, along with several other sensors and finally the ECM itself. all indications were ECM, so back to fleabay for a $35 used one and she was back running like new, transmission shifting automatically and no spitting/sputtering or smoking.

(cliffs notes: manually shifted and threw parts at her for 4yrs, turned out to be $35 ECM that took 15 minutes to change. get a service manual.)

bachlauter

Well, quite honestly, the ECM will be the last straw for me. At this point, I have code p0330. The car keeps going into limp mode and the transmission won't shift past third gear. If I turn off the car and restart it, then it will shift properly (meaning the computer resets itself) until I come to a stop and try to go again up to high speeds, again, it won't shift.
I have the factory service manual.
It could be knock sensors
the knock sensor wiring loose or damaged
or the ECM

My husband and I plan to tear into this ***** and change out the knock sensors. We're also giving it a new wiring harness and 6 new spark plugs, as the car has 112,500 miles. My only concern is what if the knock sensors are sensing a knock and doing their job (ie: working). I feel like replacing them isn't gonna change anything. Don't ya think the root of the problem would be to find out why it's knocking? I started using 89 octane fuel, instead of 87. It didn't help. I still have the problem. Maybe new plugs will help?

What causes knock?
Maybe the knock sensor IS wacked out????

Even with the manual, it's sorta mysterious and I feel like this might not fix it!

I HAD code p0171 and replaced the maf and two O2 sensors and the air filter and now that code is gone.
Maybe a wire got bumped when we changed the o2 sensor by the firewall? But I can't see where the wiring for the knock sensor would be.

nightmare.
This car was always such a low maintenence and awesome car.
I want it run properly again!

~Christy