Ok guys let me start by saying I have read the sticky top to bottom and I am still not sure what I should do. I have a 1994 Lexus LS400. I had a bad ecu in my car it had the common symptoms: dropping into limp mode, car would start an idle high some days, random flashing O/D light and check engine light, and bad acceleration. So I took it out of the dash and sent it to Neat Auto Computers out of Florida. They got back to me on Friday and said my ECU was too corroded to be repaired and advised me to buy a refurbished one from them (sketchy I know). So I ordered the refurbished one and got it in the mail yesterday. I installed the ecu gave it a few minutes to pre-charge the capacitors in the new ecu and started it up.

It started up just fine besides the fact that it made an awful grinding sound right behind the dash or under the dash right when I put the key in without turning at all. I assumed this was my dead steering wheel motor but it never made that sound before. It idled a little high (1400 rpm) but it eventually went down. I drove it fine for about 1.5 miles before my old friend the check engine light came on and it developed the sluggish acceleration symptom again. I also noticed the A/C stopped blowing cold out of nowhere. I stopped the car and tried to reset the codes by removing the negative but that did not seem to work. It also seemed like the starter stopped working as well it took significantly longer to get the car started than it did just a few minutes before.

My question is this a fault on the ecu they sent me or is it something to do with engine internals. It does not make sense to me. The person at Neat Auto Computers claimed that they had an employee use the ecu in his car for 3 weeks before putting it on the shelf. I am not sure if programmed it incorrectly for my particular car or what. I am going to send the ecu back to the company today and maybe try another company to get a refurbished one? Any advice would be wonderful I am at a loss.

 

Hey buddy. I am no expert, really just learning what I can from people on the site. I think to have your original ECU recapped is the best option. Figure out what caps you need,buy them, and then take your ECU to a local electrical repair shop and ask them if they can recap it.

 

Apparently my ECU board was too corroded to be recapped. I found out from LScowboyLS that my car is actually a California car and has a different ECU core than cars from the other states. He built me a new ecu and now my car runs perfectly again!

 

Awesome, glad to hear that.
Good ol' Cowboy.