Ok, I will attempt to give as much info as possible in this post. I apologize if I bore anyone.

Anyway, last Friday my check engine light came on, and the car ran like junk, very slow to accelerate and up-shift. I stopped the car and turned it off, tried to start it back up and it would crank but not start. Almost as if the spark plugs weren’t firing. I turned the car off, looked under the hood for a few minute (didn’t really do anything) got back in the car and it started up fine. The engine light was off and the car ran fine.

That night I bridged the connecters on the ECM plug and got the engine light to flash the codes at me. I got a 02 – map circuit and a 07 - throttle control circuit. Very strange. Yesterday the check engine light came on again, same symptoms while the light was on. Turning the car off for a few minutes cleared the light and the car ran fine again.

I took it to the dealership, they worked on the brain trying to get it to fail and when they did they got the same codes I got. After five hours they were convinced that the ECM itself is failing, giving itself bogus info about the MAP and/or throttle and then causing the poor engine performance by trying to make adjustments based on bad data.

The point of all this is they want $800 for a new brain. I found one for $100 from a salvage yard. My Honda manual and the guy from the salvage yard tell me it’s a simple matter of swapping the brains out.

Is it really that simple if you are dealing with a non-modified car and stock parts? There’s no reprogramming or anything required? Am I in over my head?

Thanks for your time reading this and any responses you might have.

 

you unplug one and plug the other one up it is that simple.

 

$100 is a little steep on the price depending on what model civic we are talking about here. also like b16a3delsol said its a very simple unplug the old plug in the new.

 

lol Really? I thought I was getting a bargin. The dealer wanted $800. A new one from AutoZone or Discount Auto Parts was $250 but they aren't even manufactured anymore so the only alternative is from a salvage yard.


Modified by Udder Juice at 9:56 AM 8/22/2007