ECU Car Won't Start

[ricofreako]

Sometime last spring my car broke down. All signs led to the gas pump, which I replaced along with a filter. Still No fire. So I started thinking it was electrical, I realized I was NOT getting a check engine light when I turned it on. So I started trying to diagnose everything electrical... After days of trial and error I stood helpless, out of curiosity I sprayed some electrical contact cleaner into some connections on my ECU. Behind the glove box and behind the plastic ducting I found my ECU, and after a spray my car fired up. Awesome! However, this is a reoccurring situation, has anyone experienced this? I assume it is corrosion of sorts, but I am a bit baffled on how to remove the ecu to clean it myself, or replace it. Any thoughts? Perhaps it is something else? I did not replace my plugs or battery after I discovered I found out how to start my car.

 

[bentos1]

Ill be honest with you. Many people have seen your post but not replied. I am thinking this is because you haven't done any actual troubleshooting.
You guessed it was fuel related, and guessed it could be the ECU but the problem remains intermittent. At least that's how I am reading this.

Your first step is to start to diagnose the issue. Go to a place that can scan to the ECU or buy a blue tooth ECU reader, It should be able to give you some information if that is indeed where the problem lies.

Does the engine crank when it doesn't start? Are you definitely getting fuel to the rails?

Getting to the ECU to pull it out should not be difficult and you don't need a manual for this.

Many people on this forum are here to help, myself included, but it helps if you show some initiative towards the issue first.
More and more posts come up with "My truck is broken, Ive tried nothing, what do you think it is"

Get digging and let us know what you find. We will be more suited to assist.

 

[ricofreako]

I'll be honest with you. I did trouble shoot, I worked on my car for a month before I got it to start, but the problem remains. Which is what led me to come to this forum, to seek knowledge from others. I'm not asking anyone to turn my wrenches. Who are you to assume I haven't gotten my hands dirty? . I am thinking this is because you are egocentric and assume to much. Yes I thought it was fuel related, yes I thought it was electrical, I narrowed it down to my ECU, and yes the problem remains. If I could diagnose it I wouldn't be here, thanks for the attempted help but really you are just slamming me.

 

[Kanoe]

I am not much help here but I have a question.

Is it the spraying of the contact cleaner that helps your truck to start? Or it it the removing of the wiring connectors from the ECU that helps the truck to start?

What I mean to say is, I can not imagine how you could have corrosion on the ecu that needs repeated spraying of contact cleaner. I would expect one cleaning would be enough if that was the issue. I think maybe the unplugging the ecu for a period of time resets it so when you next fire up the truck it is starting in some default state.

What do you think? A possibility?

 

[shootmymime]

no CEL illuminated when key on means no power to the ECU to enable boot up.

i can look at the pin for your truck to see if you have power. (cel is on if you have power to ECU) there is also a fuse under the steering wheel that powers it. :ranger:

 

[amalik]

no CEL illuminated when key on means no power to the ECU to enable boot up.

i can look at the pin for your truck to see if you have power. (cel is on if you have power to ECU) there is also a fuse under the steering wheel that powers it. :ranger:

fuse that powers the ECU?

if so, where is it? He should replace it and test.

 

[bentos1]

I'll be honest with you. I did trouble shoot, I worked on my car for a month before I got it to start, but the problem remains. Which is what led me to come to this forum, to seek knowledge from others. I'm not asking anyone to turn my wrenches. Who are you to assume I haven't gotten my hands dirty? . I am thinking this is because you are egocentric and assume to much. Yes I thought it was fuel related, yes I thought it was electrical, I narrowed it down to my ECU, and yes the problem remains. If I could diagnose it I wouldn't be here, thanks for the attempted help but really you are just slamming me.

All signs led to the gas pump, which I replaced along with a filter. Still No fire.

-You haven't listed any troubleshooting steps that took you to come to this diagnosis.

So I started *thinking it was electrical, I realized I was NOT getting a check engine light when I turned it on. So I started trying to diagnose everything electrical...

-You wrote you were thinking it was electrical after it wasn't the fuel pump. You didn't explain how you came to this conclusion aside from the fact there was no CEL

After days of trial and error I stood helpless, out of curiosity I sprayed some electrical contact cleaner into some connections on my ECU. Behind the glove box and behind the plastic ducting I found my ECU, and after a spray my car fired up. Awesome! However, this is a reoccurring situation, has anyone experienced this? I assume it is corrosion of sorts, but I am a bit baffled on how to remove the ecu to clean it myself, or replace it.

-The issue still remains, you aren't showing evidence that contact cleaner did anything here. You asking how to pull the ECU which should be easy for anyone who are already getting their hands dirty.

Any thoughts? Perhaps it is something else? I did not replace my plugs or battery after I discovered I found out how to start my car.

You never outlined your troubleshooting steps to show why you though the issue was fuel or electrical related. How would anyone know if you did troubleshooting or just guessed and replaced parts?

Actually I had made a suggestion to diagnose further and follow up on the post so people could assist you more. You took this as "slamming"

 

[bararonson]

Alright, let's all relax. Rico, did you actually remove the connector block from the ECU? Or just spray away at the junction. Remove all the connector blocks and look inside with a FLASHLIGHT and look for corrosion. Look at the ECU terminals for corrosion. Push wires carefully into connector block to seat them.

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[bararonson]

You'll probably have to remove glove box to properly do all this. T'aint hard

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