Are any of the following components controlled or require the ECU (specifically '94 accord)?
speedo (including all gauges in there)
alternator
abs
airbag system
cruise control

Since we're trying to completely remove the ECU and run a standalone, I'm stumped as to what I can actually keep of the luxury items.

Thanks.

 

why would you want to remove the ecu???

 

Well, I don't want to remove it if I can help it. Supposedly the ECU only controls engine controls. If that's the case, I don't want it because my autronic ECU will take care of all that. But I still want to keep my abs, airbags, cruise control...etc. If I need my stock EcU to do this, I need to either find a new harness under the dash or find a way to fix the hacked up wires under there.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding the benefits to removing it. I'm not gonna say for sure this is true but it seems like the ecu would have a lot to do with just about anything that works electronically in that car? (Correct me if i'm wrong) What is this Autronic thing you are speaking of?

 

I don't think there's any advantage....I'm saying I'm in a bind because it's going to be hard to hook back the stock ecu and I was wondering if it's a waste of time to try and get it back if the ecu won't even be needed anymore....

 

In '94 it may be that the other stuff has it's own controllers. A Helm manual would be a big help to you.

SRS & ABS should have their own controllers.

Speedometer/tachometer is questionable. My '95 Integra tach was driven by a signal from the ignitor (in the distributor). My '98 Accord tach is driven by a signal from the ECU. Check wiring drawings for where the speedometer signal comes from.

I don't know about cruise control. Check wiring drawings, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was driven by the ECU.

Alternator is 'controlled' by the ECU, but that's the sort of control that isn't needed. The ECU can 'shut off' the alternator when it wants to. Typically that's when the battery is charged & the engine's idling. If the ECU isn't present, I think the alternator will work OK but maybe it'll disturb the steady idle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">why would you want to remove the ecu???</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's a silly question - he wants to run a full standalone for tuning. autronic is not plug & play for accords.

airbags & ABS are not controlled by the ECU

your cruise control *SHOULD* still work as well, mine does with a 6th gen and an AEM EMS, the AEM EMS does not have any c.control in it

alternator will not be a problem either.

speedo/tach I'm not sure

worst case, just install some aftermarket speedo/tach gauges from autometer and call it a day

 

it also control you a/c system

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by notoriousB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that's a silly question - he wants to run a full standalone for tuning. autronic is not plug & play for accords.

airbags & ABS are not controlled by the ECU

your cruise control *SHOULD* still work as well, mine does with a 6th gen and an AEM EMS, the AEM EMS does not have any c.control in it

alternator will not be a problem either.

speedo/tach I'm not sure

worst case, just install some aftermarket speedo/tach gauges from autometer and call it a day</TD></TR></TABLE>

THanks. That's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. My builder's first guess was the same...that the speedo/tach would have to be worked around.

So based on posts and comments, it seems that even with a true standalone ECU like the autronic, some people keep their stock ECU in tact.....how do you deal with the fact that the stock ECU will throw tons of errors without all the sensors (which would all be wired to the autronic ECU instead)?

Over the years, I"ve learned a lot about the mechanics of cars but never really got much into the engine management, fuels system, or ignition...it's still such a gray area for me. :S

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it also control you a/c system </TD></TR></TABLE>You sure? I thought the ECU has the ability to turn OFF the AC but otherwise the AC will work OK. You'll just lose the feature of AC disengaging at WOT.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2000Accord5sp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My builder's first guess was the same...that the speedo/tach would have to be worked around.</TD></TR></TABLE>I really thought that came later. Like 1997 or 98. If you've got a blue 'tach' wire coming from the distributor, you're good. If that wire comes from the ECU then you'll have to use an older ignitor which knows how to generate the tach signal.

 

yep JIm old buddy i am positive specifically the ground circuit of the system .the reason i know this 2 weeks ago i had an a/c not working not getting ground to energize a/c compressor relay i traced system and found wire red/white going into ecu ok but at red/blue coming out of ecu no ground.. ecu was fried replace ecu a/c worked like charm and it happened to be an 94 accord as well

 

you could jump the ecu by applying ground to the red/blue wire going into a/c relay but you would need a toggle switch to turn it on and off otherwise a/c compressor relay would stay energized all the time thus engaging a/c clutch but by doing that you will bypass a/c switch. thermostaitc switch, high pressure switch almost all components in the a/c ground system ....

 

Oh well, somehow I thought that type of full control by the ECU came later than 1994. Lotsa cars cycle the compressor clutch directly based on a high-side pressure switch; those would still work. Honda seems to like using a temperature probe at the evaporator. If that's not a contact-closure all by itself, you'll need something to read it's signal & switch the clutch.

Basically, that's what the ECU does. It reads the evaporator temperature & decides how/when to engage the compressor clutch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2000Accord5sp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">T
So based on posts and comments, it seems that even with a true standalone ECU like the autronic, some people keep their stock ECU in tact.....how do you deal with the fact that the stock ECU will throw tons of errors without all the sensors (which would all be wired to the autronic ECU instead)?</TD></TR></TABLE>
my question to that is, why would you want to keep the stock ECU? sounds like a ton of unnecessary work to me.

My guess is that if you in fact *did* want to run both computers for whatever crazy reason is that you would only wire in the INPUTS to the stock ECU, probably just a Y connection from the wire that's feeding the autronic.

but again, why do that?

and regarding A/C: on my 98, the ECU definitely does control the A/C. Actually I have heard that the AEM EMS has troubles w/ the 6th gen's A/C. Fortunately (ha!) my motor's still not fully built so I don't need it.

oh, and Jim & Desert - if this guy's going to hard wire in an autronic ECU, I'm rather positive that he won't be worrying about A/C.

 

Well, I could care less for keeping the stock ECU, but was hoping to avoid losing any other functionality such as I mentioned. And yes, I actually DO want A/C with my 'autronic' setup.

It may sound odd but that was my goal in this build-up. Not only a powerful fully tunable car, but still keeping the comforts such as A/C, stereo, interior...etc. Otherwise, I would've just gotten a Civic. Don't ask...just preferences I guess.

Thanks for the replies so far though...been learning a lot.