So I was driving today and out of nowhere, my engine began to sputter as I put it under load. This only progressed to stuttering at 1.5 rpm in first gear.

When I put it under load as it stutters, it throws a CEL for a quick second and it's gone again. I got a new ECU a few months ago, so I don't believe it's a capacitor as well as the fuel pump.

I was wondering if anyone had opinions?
I'm between spark plugs, coils and fuel air sensor.

 

Year of LS and how many miles? Cowboy is going to ask if you are sure the ECU was repaired correctly with the right caps being used. And we'll want a code so we know what it exactly is if it is readable.

 

Is that really a new expensive ECU shipped from Denso?
Why don't you take photos of the ECU board and show us?

 

I think you mean that your ECU is new to you, not actually new.

but even if it is "new" to you or really new old stock, it still has very old capacitors that have a design defect and need to be replaced

PS - Florida is the most common state for ECU capacitor issues!

 

Well, in this case, I paid 800 dollars to replace my ECU

 

Please tell us the year of your LS and where you purchased the ECU and what codes does a scan give?

 

1993, Dealership, and my buddy is gonna flash it tomorrow to see what codes it throws

 

Don't flush it. Just read the code(s).

 

Freudian slip ? :-) :-) (couldn't resist)

 

You can read the codes yourself, its very easy!

Here is a link explaining how to do it....

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

 

Possible bad ignition coil - before blaming the ECU, check the coil/s. What you are describing sounds very much like a coil having given up its ghost!!! Start up the car, run the engine and look under to see if your cats look like they are in hell - they will glow cherry red from unburned fuel combusting in the cats!!! Alternatively check for spark!

 

why did u replace ur ecu?

 

Thank you! I'll have to have a look at it when I have time to jack it up! I think it may be the ignition coils or spark plugs. I pulled the covers off and found one that was very corroded

 

My grandparents (who I received the car from) wouldn't let me work on it when it was having issues the first time. The guy they took it to thought it was a capacitor in the ECU and instead of welding in a new one, bought a new ECU. The issue was the fuel pump after all was said and done and I was pissed.

 

well sorry to hear that the new ECU is not doing the trick, but if your other ideas don't work, could you please pull the ECU and photograph the inside a let's have a look?

because first of all, the ECU isn't new, those are over $2000, and new or not, the capacitors are still very old, and this is a well known problem on '93 models

engineer Yamae from Japan has a ripple test you can do to check the condition of the capacitors, and the visual check is easy enough and often there is a huge mess inside!

here is the '93 factory service manual, that should help a lot!