Wanted to buy 96 850 Turbo ECU in Houston, TX- Didn't need an ECU- Now need help!!

dok33 · Post by **dok33** » 09 Jul 2016, 16:01

Hey gang, hoping I can find someone in the Houston area to lend a hand (or rather an ECU).

I lent my 96 850 Turbo to a buddy while he was fixing his car and unbeknownst to me he drove it from Austin to Houston to help his mom with a plumbing issue and the car died when he got there. He's pretty handy and was able to pinpoint it to the ECU (low voltages at the harness side of the cam sensor connector).

Is there anyone in the area with a spare ECU he/I could buy off you this weekend? Please PM me, any help greatly appreciated!

Post by **tryingbe** » 09 Jul 2016, 23:25

I have a few 850 ECU here, but I'm in Mesa, AZ.

You may want to give the below places a call.

Pick A Part
6315 N Shepherd Dr
(713) 691-3229

Pickup Parts
6425 N Shepherd Dr
(713) 691-7724

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 10 Jul 2016, 09:58

Although I wouldn't jump at replacing the ECU as what will actually fix this issue, it certainly is possible. Before you spring for one, I would be tempted to test this theory by finding another 850 owner close to you and swapping out ECU's to see if it works and then go from there. The cars have to be pretty close- '95 up to '97 both for a turbo (according to your description of which car you own). The reason I say this is because I was having a fuel injector firing issues (working intermittently) a few years back on my S70 and it pointed to that spot on my ECU being bad. I was all for swapping an ECU but then when my mechanic ran a separate wire to that pin on the ECU from the injector, all was good and everything worked without the intermittent issue. So, the wire from the ECU to the injector had rubbed and created a short. To be honest, it is very rare that an ECU on these cars go bad!

dok33 · Post by **dok33** » 10 Jul 2016, 21:56

Update: car fired up and ran fine this morning so he started heading back to Austin, said it cut out when he hit big bumps and ended up dying after some railroad tracks and never started back up. Thankfully he made it within my 100mi AAA towing range and it's back at my place now. Didn't fire up with my spare ECU, no spark again. Thinking probably wiring or a loose ground or something, any ideas greatly appreciated!

Post by **tryingbe** » 10 Jul 2016, 23:16

Check the injector relay on top of the radiator.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 10 Jul 2016, 23:21

dok33- I'm moving this thread to the repair section away from the classifieds at this point. I think you'll get more help there. A ghost thread will stay here so you can find it as well as others!

dok33 · Post by **dok33** » 11 Jul 2016, 05:49

Thanks!

Post by **abscate** » 11 Jul 2016, 11:15

Its a long troubled road to diagnose these cars by 'symptom'

Once you have identified a no-spark condition, Start at the distributor and work your way back to the coil,

Cap
rotor
Coil wire
Coil
Coil connections
Crank sensor

dok33 · Post by **dok33** » 11 Jul 2016, 18:18

tryingbe nailed it, connector on the injector relay is toast. Got the car to start after messing with it and it died when I wiggled it, contacts are not captured in the connector at all!

There anywhere that sells repair pigtails?

Post by **tryingbe** » 16 Jul 2016, 06:52

No one sell the connect pigtail, I asked the dealer. I also tried junkyard route, and the connectors there is as awful as the one on my car.

I added wires and used the round spade connector (home depot) to make my own connector. You might want to tighten the connector just a bit so they make good connection. Then I wrapped them in electronic tape (home depot again!), I like the 3M super 88 tape.

One on left.