ECM

[GRANDFURY]

I found a ECM for my car at a yard for $35 bux so i'm going to pick it up but do I need my MEMCAL or will the one from the donor car work? I don't know what car they are out of but I typed in all my specs and it found 5 of them so they must be right. ALso I have a multi-meter (a cheap one) How can I test the ECM? Thanx in addvance.

[montecarlols(z31)96]

about the multi-meter, is the computer still in the car? you can test it if it is in the car and there is power to the car, the other part i dont know

[Anonymous]

Try YOUR memcal, since your problem was with the ECM unit itself, right? You can try the memcal with the new ECM, if its the exact same engine/transmission (ie 3.1/4T60) then I think it would be fine. Memcals are super easy to change so not a big deal. Try your old one first.

[GRANDFURY]

I don't know if the ECM is bad or not I just found one cheap and figured might as well try it. And my old ECM is my car now and it is a daily driver so I would I go about testing it?

[Anonymous]

I don't think it takes long to swap ECMs.. you just a bunch of small wire connector harness' and the memcal is on the underside of the ECM so you gotta take the bolts off anyways. Takes a few minutes to switch proms.

[GRANDFURY]

it is under thr passenger side plastics in engine bay right?

[Anonymous]

What kind of car?

[GRANDFURY]

89 GP le with the 2.8.

[Anonymous]

it is under thr passenger side plastics in engine bay right?

yes.. just tear it off. You may find it easier if you remove the cross-brace, but I didn't have too much trouble working around it.

[GRANDFURY]

Well I just back from the local yard and got myself a ECM and altenator for 60$. The ECM was out of a gp and it ran so they took the ECM out for resale so that should be good and they said they test all the alts that come in so that should be good too. I guess if they keep them all nice and neat and cataloged and stuff they must work or they would just leave them in the car. OH yeah there was a 90 4 door there the same color of mine but with the SE effects so I might pick them up, it would look funny without the side skirts .

[GRANDFURY]

The new memcal says DELCO 9733 and DELCO AXKK 1138. DOes this sound right?

[GRANDFURY]

Also do I have to remove the black cover to get at the MEMCAL?

[Anonymous]

Also do I have to remove the black cover to get at the MEMCAL?

On the underside of the black ECM box there is a small plate (mine was metal color) anyways yes you take that off and the memcal pops out like a piece of RAM (its pretty solid too, don't be too worried about it breaking).
I think you will need to use your old memcal since you have a 2.8 and the 90 has a 3.1 correct? If its still giving problems you can try the 3.1 memcal I don't imagine it could hurt anything.

check out these links for pics and info:

http://w-body.com/inside-stuff/ecm-pcm.html

http://w-body.com/inside-stuff/memcal.html

[GRANDFURY]

Well I changed out the coolant temp sensor and the MEMCAL I couldn't get my ECM out of the car the harness would not coroperate so I just put in the MEMCAL from the ECM for the yard it looked alot better than mine and the car runs fine now starts right up seems to idle alot better , BUT when at a complete stop if I hit the gas to get moving the car almost dies and then catches and works great and sometimes at WOT the car seems to surge And the fan still does not turn on. But the car idles better and quiter but has no where near as much power as it did. SO if I put the wrong MEMCAL in would my car still run? It feels much better at idle now but WTF is up with the surgeing, I didn't move or knock anything either so it's not that. Is it ture that these are systems of a bad cat or EGR? If my thermostat was bad do you think that would cause the fan not to turn on if it stuck closed? Thanx guys.

[GRANDFURY]

What about a TPS? Could that cause the surgeing? Also my gas milage for this week is cut in half compared to what it normaily is. I know cold weather burns alittle more gas but there is no way that I am missing 200-250 KM a tank due too cold weather.