grumpi300

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys. I need a new ecu for my 92 sc300. It's bone stock at the moment.
I'm wondering, since I'm going 2jzgte eventually, should I just buy a standalone now or pay $600 for a reman computer just to swap it out in a couple of months? Please give me honest answers.
As far as trying to locate a used computer, I've tried everybody. From lkq to everybody. Ebay has them but I need one with warranty. it's just a hard ecu to locate with warranty.
As far as rebuilding my old one, I can't get it rebuilt. I broke it apart to get it out of its housing. Lol. But before that I sent it out to get rebuilt and they said it was to badly damaged to rebuild.
So for now my option is pay for 600$ ecu from a parts store, or pay a lot extra for a standalone.

SCereal

iTrader: (4)

Whats the concern about a warranty? We're dealing with parts that are 20 years old. For $600 you could buy 4 or 5 ECUs. Just get one with a DOA guarantee which I suspect Ebay would cover under their buyer protection thing. If you're going GTE soon and the GTE ECU doesn't meet your needs then sure, might as well get a standalone. Just keep in mind if the base calibration doesnt work great for NA, you're either going to have tune it yourself or pay someone to tune it just to turn around down the road and tune it again for boost.

if you're not going GTE soon, i think most of the aftermarket ECUs are 2 year warranty so alot of your warranty time would be eaten up before you really need one.

if it were me, i'd just get one off ebay with a DOA guarantee. if a couple months turns into a year, you can send that one out for a rebuild and still be money ahead. then you can put it back up for sale when you're done with it and recoup the cost.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

wait what do you mean you can't find one those are the easiest ecu's to find. you can use any 92-95 sc300 ecu. not sure if you are auto or manual but just match the one you got. only other thing to watch out for is cali spec ecu's unless you have a cali spec and need another one.
Also did you check the classifieds here, the vendors or post a WTB?
There are probably several on there right now.

and on the standalone its not just the cost of it, you need the accompanying sensors and then a solid tune to be done. It does not just come pre-tuned the basemap usually doesn't run that well. you would have to get it, pay for tuning, and when you go gte you would need a complete retune most likely. usually you can get a good used ecu for $100 so I would just go that route till you go gte, and then even if you keep the twins just use the stock ecu.

grumpi300

iTrader: (1)

Ok. Thanks ali. This is awesome information. I do have a cali spec ecu sadly. And I've tried looking for it everywhere. I don't want a year warranty. I just want 3 or six months so I can receive it, make sure my car works with it, then send it out to get inspected and rebuilt. The most recent ecu I bought was the right number. It got my car running. I sent it to go get rebuilt, but it wasn't rebuild able. The guys I sent it to said the capacitors had damaged the motherboard so bad that it couldn't be fixed. By the time I got it back it wasn't refundable.
I just saw one on ebay for 148 and bought it after I read the first guys post.
I didn't know the standalone came with some of their own sensors. I thought it was always just plug in, tune and have fun. Lol.

grumpi300

iTrader: (1)

I completey Forgot to mention. My initial ecu took a crap which is why I need a second one. I send that one in to get rebuilt. He was able to fix the normal problems. But my ecu had a random resistor or did or something that popped and he replaced it for free of charge. But when I got it back it didn't want to light up my check engine light. So I just tossed the ecu.