My question is what's the likelyness that my SST chip can suddenly take a dump on me? My chipped ecu is stuck in limp mode. My stock ecu runs fine. Checked over all of my solder joints on the board, everything looks good. No burnt smell. Anyone had this experience before. If so, fill me in on it please. Thanks

 

Yes they went bad sometimes.

But the two times that happen to me, the car die suddenly and not start anymore and solid CEL.

Maybe somebody else can chime in the limp mode.

Do you try to read the chip and save to a file?

 

Try reburning a new map onto the chip to see if it's the file itself.

 

Are you using clone chips? They fail miserably...

 

yes they can go bad. it could also be the solder job. cut or disconnect the j1 jumper in the ecu to see id the issue is chip related or something else in the ecu

 

or just get another chip and burn the same map to it and see if it still has the same issue.

first things first though: have you checked for trouble codes? if it's in limp mode, it should throw codes.

open your map in the flash/burn software, then do a "verify" to see if the chip matches your saved map. if not, then either the chip is bad, or the map on the chip somehow got corrupted.

try erasing the chip and reburning the same map to the chip.

try a different chip. if all of the above doesn't solve the issue, then the ecu is probably the issue

 

I didn't read and save to file I just did what ive been doing normally and used crome to burn my basemap instead of flash and burn by moates. It would always work well for me, but I did see somewhere online that its better to use flash & burn to program the chip.

 

That was one of the first things I did. No luck there.

 

Clone chips? I haven't heard of those yet. How would I identify if I'm using a clone chip.

 

Ok so I don't have my ecu by me because im at work but im pretty sure the only jumper I cut was j12 (resistor) for datalogging. If I cut j1 what exactly does that do to define if I have a chip related issue opposed tio an ecu issue?

 

Then cut j1 to see if the ecu is at fault or get another chip and try that.

 

Sorry I didn't specify earlier but its the infamous code 4 for ckp. and its def not the sensor in the dizzy because I did a dizzy swap and it still popped the same code 4. Ill have to get another chip to test this, is there any reliable chip that I should probably buy? If so can you guys let me know? Thanks.

 

have you checked all the wiring for the distributor? including wiring at the ecu plugs? if the wire broke somewhere, that'll obviously cause this issue.
I'd be chasing wiring before chasing ecu issues.

but to answer your question: cutting/removing j1 makes the ecu read from the stock rom's instead of the chipped portion. it basically converts it back to a stock ecu again, without actually removing any of the chipped portion's components.

 

Yes I have went through the whole dizzy, checked all wiring, swapped it with a different one and still had the same issue. With the good dizzy in the car ran like hell with my chipped ecu in, then I'd shut it off, swap ecus and it would run mint. Just in case I still checked for continuity for ckf, ckp, cyp and tdc sensors at the ecu connectors. All checked good. That procedure alone lead me to believe it was a problem somewhere within the ecu. And thanks for the answer to my question, I'll try that soon.

 

The clone chips have a hard time doing a full Erase if it erases at all. Most of the chips will also appear as a Winbound Chip CS27S512 instead of the ST27S512 depending on what programmer you use. If you bought some chips off Ebay and they came from China More than likely 99% they are all clones.

 

If you're looking to buy SST chips. Then go to Xenocron,http://www.xenocron.com/eprom-chip-s...b3d5004ac5c64c

But again have you cut j1 to verify that the ecu is not a **** box?

 

Okay so I cut j1, still can't rev past 3500 rpm. Throwing code 4 when I jump the diagnostic connector. Stock ecu still makes my car run beautifully. Ecu has got to be my issue then. At this point I should just spend money on a new one right?

 

If you want it fixed for much less than a new one, PM me.

 

What Board ECU are u running? Im starting to think your running an Auto ECU.

 

Well if so then it worked great for a while before it failed. I think it's def a 5speed ECU.

 

yes that does definitely sound like the ecu is the problem. if you're not able to get the ecu fixed; when you get a replacement just make absolutely sure the board of the new ecu is the same type as your current one, otherwise your chip will probably be interpreted differently and not run the same as it should, requiring more tuning.

the board type is at the top right when you remove the top cover and face the plugs towards the left. typically will be 1720 or 11F0.

if you have a decent camera, can you post close up pics of the top and bottom of your ecu board? we may be able to see something abnormal and help determine if your ecu can be fixed easily or not.

 

Ecu is your problem. Chris at Xenocron can more than likely fix your ecu.

 

Okay thanks for the confirmation. I was pretty sure it was my ecu but I needed to ask more experienced people first.