Yotarip

Any reasonable person would expect those parts to fail due to age/wear. Nobody can convince me that the failures of these ecu's should be expected. I have owned nothing but toyotas since 1992.
My 89 camry was old in 2004 (260k) and it never can an ecu probelm.
My 91 corrola was sold last march (250k) with never any problem.
My 96 camry was sold in 09 (280K) no ecu problem.
My 88 supra (300+K) never an ecu problem.
My 1990 cressida (110K) has some problems but the ecu is not one.
My 88 turbo pickup is running an ecu from a 84 celica. I have three of these ecu's and all of them work fine.

I know that the LS400 ecu is more complex than the ecu's in the cars I just listed but the first gen 1uz ECU has a defect. I love my 17year old LS400 but I do not expect to have this problem in toyota's flagship. My sister had the same bad ecu issue with her 96 ES300.

You stated that this has happened to a "FEW" early ls400'S but we have no way of confirming that. Only a small percentage of owners are on this sight. I bet many of these problemed LS400's found there way to the scrap yards after the owners gave up on it. Hell, the pick and pull junkyards that I visit which have a decent amount of these cars have had the ecu pulled from 90% of the 89-92 and 100% the 93-94. I think the problem has affect more owners than we think.

I still stand by toyota's quality since this is the first ECU issue I have experienced with their product but it still sucks.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

most junkyards (yes, even the pick and pulls) will pull easily accessible ECUs since they can sell them very easily and front counter workers can often not know the difference between an ECU and a fuel pump or trans controller.

most of the vehicles you mentioned have far less complicated engine management systems than the LS, the LS for its time had one of the most complex electrical systems of any production car.

7schulz

I didn't say anything to the effect of hardwear wearing out. They are the programs and glitches inside the ECU with the problems. That toyota engineering developed. No matter how old the ECU is if Toyota messed up the program in it, it should be replaced.

williamb82

the problem isnt programming, it is hardware. somewhere a component has failed and is causing a false signal to be received by the processor. thats why it goes to limp mode. the program is fine. electronics do wear out. heat increases resistance. capacitors leak over time, inductors wear out, etc.. its a fact of life. i wasnt complaining that the ecu went bad, i was complaining about the company i paid to fix it that did not. as far as im concerned i was robbed of $160.

7schulz

William I wasn't speeking directly to your ECU problems. I got that the compnay coulnd't fix it. I was speeking to my 2 different ECU's that have gone bad due to programing in my flagship vehicles LS400 and Land Cruiser. Both of which were $50-60k new. I would agree you should get your money back b.c they didn't fix anything.

williamb82

programming wouldnt wait 50-60k miles to go bad. again, it was hardware failure. if the program was bad to start with it would of cause issues from day 1. i agree it shouldnt go bad with that low of miles, but it wasnt a "programming" issue.

AndyLexusF

Yeah, unplugging the battery didnt solve it. Im glad to see all these posts with solutions... I will look it all over with a clear mind after work and see what I can do.
Thanks all.