≤ €1000 Car Shopping or ECU Repair.

Rowley Birkin QC

Got the bad news this morning that the ECU in my car is completely corroded, car has been parked up for the last 5 months as I was out of the country. Haven't actually seen it myself yet but the mechanic reckons it's a very big and expensive job to repair. The car is a 98 Vectra 1.6 that I've had for a while, 150,000 + miles on it.

So I'm either looking for a cheap fix or suggestions on a new car that's ≤ €1000-ish. I'm just this week a student again so cash is extremely tight. The one plus-point is that my mileage should be greatly reduced this year, maybe 2-3 Dublin-Cork runs a month and an odd trip to an out of the way golf course. Other criteria would be that the boot can comfortably take a set of golf clubs. I'm 25 with 5 years NCB so insurance shouldn't be a problem either and I'm also not afraid of taking on the car maintenance by myself.

Help me out Motors.

cantdecide

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/1120738

mlmcelligott

This happened my with a '99 seat toledo 1.9tdi. Someone left off the plastic cover over the air intake while servicing it and water dripped down on the ecu for a month or so. Car wouldnt start so I took out the ecu and opened it, be carefull when doing this as you may have to cut the silicon mastic seal to get it open. I cleaned all the corosion off the connector pins and sprayed wd40 into the male side of the connector (not the ecu side!). After that I left the ecu in the hot press over night with the heating on and its been 15000 miles later and not any problems!

If your car is not starting then you have nothing to lose and should give it a shot.

JimmyCrackCorn

If the car is good a second hand replacement ecu + keys + swap rfid chips can be done cheaply if you have the time and patience.

Owen

If the ECU is corroded like your mechanic has said, WD40 isn't going to work any miracles. If it was damp, then you've some chance.

If any electronics get moisture damaged and you catch it in time, you can usually rectify it by putting the board into a bowl of dry rice. The rice will pull the moisture out like silica gel.

trad

Is this what you are looking for?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Astra-Vectra-Zafira-ECU-ECM-1-4-1-6-16v_W0QQitemZ130364359746QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item1e5a524442

Looks value at £82.25 plus postage, cheaper than changing car if the rest of it is ok.

JHMEG

That's a very common ECU. You'd pick up a 2nd hand one for 50 quid.

JHMEG

trad wrote: »

Is this what you are looking for?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Astra-Vectra-Zafira-ECU-ECM-1-4-1-6-16v_W0QQitemZ130364359746QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item1e5a524442

Looks value at £82.25 plus postage, cheaper than changing car if the rest of it is ok.

Good find. That one has the chip from the key so it shouldn't even require the immobiliser to be reprogrammed.

Crowie13

OP hope you don't mind me highjacking this thread but I currently have a similar problem with faulty ECU on a Peugeot 206 2L HDI. Peugeot say the ECU needs to be replaced as it's fried. The car only passed the NCT a couple of months ago, I was looking around for ECU and might be able to get one for a few hundred but are Peugeot the only people who can re-code it?