Gr8ride82

I have a 94 accord w/ manual transmission.

If I leave the ecm plugged in the car will not start. But if I unplug it for a couple of mins and then plug it back in, it will start the first time and run great.
My first thought is to replace the ecm but I don't want to throw money at it when its actually something else being reset by unplugging the ecm.
Any thoughts or direction would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
Gr8ride82

MAD_MIKE

Does your CEL light work?
Have you checked for any stored codes?
Verify your 7.5A memory fuse is not blown.

holmesnmanny

Open up the ecu and look for any burned spots.

Exgie

I cant think of anything. Sounding like a bad ECM. A scan of the ECM should test the ECM itself and give you a code for bad ECM.

Yeah you could open it up and see if there is anything funky inside but sometimes it is not so obvious.

Gr8ride82

There aren't any stored codes and the check engine light does work.
I will have to check that fuse though....... Little on the cold side to check right now lol.
I did open the ECU up but I didn't notice anything obvious. In the past I have smelled a burnt electronics smell when its really hot during the summer but nothing like that right now.

So the general consensus it that the ECU is the culprit?

Thanks,
Gr8ride82

tim73

Check all your grounds to the ECM to the negative battery terminal. You can get a pinout of your particular ecm, it will show you exactly which wires are grounds.

Gr8ride82

Ok my bad on the check engine light, it does not come on at all.
I did check that fuse and its good. The strange thing to me is that the car runs even with that fuse pulled. if that fuse is for the ECU i wouldn't think it would start or am I wrong?

Lost Again

The "back up" fuse only holds power to the ECU/clock/radio when the key is off. Once the key is on, power is supplied to "said circuits" via another path.

Gr8ride82

Ok that makes scene...... So, does the fact that the check engine light doesn't come on at all mean anything?

Lost Again

To me, it would mean the bulb is out or someone put tape behind the dash to hide it.

It could be an ECU issue but I would want to verify the light is ok beofre going there.

Gr8ride82

Ok I'll check that out next.