Eproms, ECUs, need data

[Doug]

All,

My 110 is about to turn 100K on the clock, and is now 11 years old. I'm becoming more and more convinced that I have ECU issues. Hard starting, high rpm missfire at altitude, fade in power curve very noticable at 3200 rpm -- the latter two are intermittent. I've had these issues for quite some time now, and can't seem to totally debug them. Done fault tests, been through the whole disty thing, etc.

Please see the following I just found on a Google search:

"Re the power chip, you should check out the Unichip offering from APS. They fit a programmable chip and then put the vehicle on the dyno to program the chip to suit your engine perfectly. Also, there's enough eprom space for a 2nd set of parameters, for example, if you have LPG. So they can get a 2nd "map" to suit the two different fuels, and you just toggle the chip to
whichever mode."

I'm afraid because of the calendar age of the vehicle I may be heading into a zone few of us have encountered -- aging computer chips and circuitboards. Maybe the UK folks have already encountered the problem and solved it -- haven't been able to determine that yet. This is one of the reasons I've been looking for clues about where to find a used back-up ECU. BritPac says that the 93 ecu and 94 are not interchangeable.

Has anyone found a good source, anywhere world-wide, for data about Defender ecus?

Thanks,

Doug

[Mike Hippert]

Are you sure its the ECU? That is like saying the mother board on your computer died when it could be a bad Hard drive or RAM. It is not as likely that it would go bad as any of the sensors that it is connected to, although it is very possible. Is there anyone that you can trade ECUs with to see if the problems follow the ECU or the defender?

The other thing to consider is if you are going to try and keep this engine for a long time or are you planing on swapping out sometime. If you plan on keeping it there are allot of other things besides the ECU that can be cleaned or replaced before you say the ECU is bad.

Electrical connections
Airflow meter
Throttle potentiometer
Stepper motor

And some others. Has the ECU displayed any codes lately?

[Doug]

Not sure. but I don't know what else it could be. Switching out might be a good call. I'm trying to determine if 94 d90 and 93 110 have the same ecu....

I did get a 15 fault the other day, but i think that may have been because i was ditzing with the fuel thermistor on the weekend. It's cleared now and not recurring. Gremlins.

I'll keep searching. Dealer wants $1600 for a new ecu, damn that's large. I've seen 'em other places for $750 or so. Still a lot, but if you're sitting in Belize having one in the spares box is a bit reassuring....

Doug