so heres the story! I am planning to do a cheap car race (24 hours of lemons) and I picked up this maxima for 250. it was abandoned for a year on someones property, without the key, so the issue for it is this ( i am doing a lean sale so its legit in my name and all)

I didn't have the key, and I needed to load it on the trailer and the steering was locked. no big deal, cut off the little steering lock. ok got it home, pulled the ignition side out so I could turn the car over without the key, but now the security light is solid on while cranking, and I read that you need a coded key since its a 99 SE-L. I want to just get a new ECU from pick and pull that has a key for it (I already asked pick and pull and they do have the whole thing left) so my question is this. If I take off the ECU from the other car (a 99 model with no seat warmers or rear wing like this one) and have the key and immobilizer reader that matches it, will it reset the NATS, since it has a matching key that goes to the ECU?
they also have a 95, 94, and a few other older maximas I could pull the ECU from if that would remove the NATS altogether. I have no need for it. I don't care if it throws codes, as long as it runs right. I would like to know ASAP as I plan to go to pick and pull as soon as possible to get this running right away. I don't care if I lose seat warmers, its no big deal to me as the seats are going away anyway.

thanks in advance!

 

You have the right idea. NATS was available only in the 99 Maxima. Someone on here successfully downgraded his 99 to a 95 ECU. After that, NATS was completely ignored.

You can try substituting a 95-98 Maxima ECU into your car, but do your research. The ECU pin-outs are not identical.

If the car is an automatic you want to make sure that the ECU came from an automatic as well.

94 and earlier are completely different model maxima.

 

https://maxima.org/forums/4th-genera...p-success.html

Here's a link you can use

 

Get a key made based on Vin from local Nissan dealership.

 

So that post says it will work for a 5 speed. anyone have an idea if it will work for a automatic? or is that just for the manual..

how much does nissan charge to make a new key based on vin?

 

You can do that ecu swap with an automatic, but you will need the donor ecu to be from an automatic car. Luckily for you auto maximas are everywhere so you shouldnt have problems finding an ecu.

Dont know about getting a new key, the dealer wanted like 150$ to get a new key AND reprogram the keychips so probably less than 100$ in your situation.

 

what do you mean in my situation? I need the key reprogrammed as well..

are you sure the auto will work? I can't find a thread on the auto ECU swap, just the manual ECU swap.. I would love to get this fixed soon. I read through that entire thread someone linked to and the last post was someone asking if an auto swap will work but with no answer.

 

A few years ago, I purchased a 99 Infiniti I-30 with a bad ECU for about the same money that you are looking to pay. On my way to purchase the I30, I stopped by the local PnP and picked up an ECU from a wrecked 99 Maxima GLE for roughly $35. After I swapped out the ECU, I had to pay the dealer to reprogram ECU and keys all to match the NATS setup. My local Nissan dealer has a rule that work on an Infiniti requires a minimum 3 hour labor charge. So I had to absorb that 3 hour labor charge as part of the car cost. I don't know whether I got lucky or what, but the car is still running roughly 4 years later.

The I30 had some extras like air bags in the seats and climate control. Looking back I might have taken a different approach to resolve the ECU problem but that approach worked at the time.

 

ok, so, If I swap the ECU, little black round thing the key goes in, and they key, from another car, will it need a reprogram? or will it be a direct swap. the other car is a 99 as well. I am getting conflicting answers on this. if its a direct swap then great I can get my hands on the parts for $35. and I'm also seeing some stuff that putting a 95 ECU will not disable the nats.. any solid answer on this?

I'm really hoping a 95 ECU will completely disable the immobilizer. I must say, this must be the least stolen car on earth because this thing is unbeatable.

 

I think there is a NATS module (the one that displays the consult code) behind the glove box that would also need to move.

If you can figure out how to repin an ECU from a car without NATS, you'll be better off.