Hi guys,


The other day I noticed a heavy electrical burning smell incabin. Did some digging and it was coming from the ECU area..


Since the car is under warranty, I got a sparkie to have a look and this is what he found.





Does anyone know what this is and why it would burn out over there?


Also, if I replace with a second hand ecu, do I have to do anything special like recode the factory alarm remote, stock head deck recode?


Thanks.

 

The burned item is a chip used to operate several things. Since the car runs fine, the idle is steady at about 700 - 750 rpm, that chip is probably used to run the electric motor mounts. Electric motor mounts are only used on cars with automatic transmissions.

The electric motor mounts are oil filled. At idle (below 1000 rpm), some of the oil is pumped out to make the motor mount softer and absorb engine vibration. Above 1000 rpm, the motor mount is fill with oil to make it more solid. Unfortunately, the little motor that pumps the oil shorts and the chip in the ECU burns up.

Only 2 of the 4 motor mounts are electric. The one towards the radiator and the one towards the firewall. Probably only one of the motor mounts is bad. You can replace the electric motor mounts with the manual transmission solid rubber motor mounts if you want to. But do not repair (or replace) the ECU without first unplugging the electric motor mounts or replacing them.

 

Hey thanks alot for the reply! VERY informative.

I managed to describe the problem to a mechanic here and he picked up straight away that it was the mounts. The car is booked in for next week to have it fixed. Is it possible to actually fix the board? Or just replace the ECU?

 

Hey thanks alot for the reply! VERY informative.

I managed to describe the problem to a mechanic here and he picked up straight away that it was the mounts. The car is booked in for next week to have it fixed. Is it possible to actually fix the board? Or just replace the ECU?

 

Picked up my car after 2 days at the sparkies, and its all fixed. They said that the circuit is still there, but on the actual chip, they 'disconnected' the switch, im assuming maybe a pin is chopped off or something.

But going good now!