Wow
I get the point of what your doing but your braver than me.
Never too old to learn something new though.
Ken
I get the point of what your doing but your braver than me.
Never too old to learn something new though.
Ken
Just for ref incase any help, there are some handy YT vids on the stilo ecu
Probably the video posted by Dracco121, one of our members.
Here: https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/342336-computer-easy-fix.html
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Hi guys,
The thing is that with our Stilo the faults are very intermittent, I'm able to drive the car for days without a single fault, then at other times the faults can show up several times a day. What Dracco is explaining in his video, limp mode and engine fault, we do not get.
Our Stilo's symptoms are (when fault comes up):
- ABS, ASR, EBD Fault, Loose Connection, High Coolant Temperature, Car Security Error, and the car will not start due to the car security error on.
- These faults always show up all at the same time. it's never just one or the other, it's always all of them at the same time.
- After a few key turns on-off, or waiting good 15 minutes the faults go away, the car starts and runs fine.
- Battery OK
- Charging circuit OK
- Ground connection OK (no voltage drop)
- Wiring (to my best understanding) OK
aand the most funny thing is that when the errors show, I cannot connect to the engine ECU. Once the errors disperse, there are usually NO recorded faults in the ECU nor the other modules. I sometimes get some CAN communication error recorded in the Body computer or the ECU, but that's all.
When I explained this to a car electrician he immediately told me that this is due to a dying ECU (for any number of causes). He says the ECU can be sent to fixing, which is basically stripping of the ECU and re-soldering the chips, but no guarantee is given because the thing is so unreliable once it begins to manifest these faults.
My electrician says that it's a better bet to find a decent, good condition used ECU and fit it rather than trying to fix a faulty one.
So now I'm left with a car that is mechanically sound, interior OK, and I would like to drive the heck out of it until the engine falls out, but it is unreliable due to intermittent faults.
I will try once more to take apart the ECU and once again go over the pins, check any odd looking solder points, perhaps pop it once again in the oven since I have very little to loose now.
I'm not giving up on our Stilo yet, but it's frustrating that is has been our loyal servant for over 5 years, and now it all of a sudden went bonkers
Hi guys,
Since I'm either way planning on finding or have actually started searching for a decent condition used ECU for our Stilo, I thought I give it one more try with the oven method...hey, at worst I'm left with a dead ECU and no car until I find a replacement ECU.
So I took the ECU out, as before stuffed it in the oven, but I upped the temperature and the time slightly now. I tried 200C (instead of 180C earlier) and for 10min (instead of 8min before). Let it cool down. Popped it back in the car and hey presto again all seems OK It's been like that for a week now. Since then I took the car for several longer and shorter trips, made frequent stops through the city at several occasions, each morning had it cold started with temps around and under -10C and so far so good. The car drives fine, no errors what so ever.
I think I'm going to go all out with this "ecu oven baking" project of mine and see how far I can cook the thing back to life if it breaks again. I'll keep you guys posted.
For now, week 1 all OK.
Cheers,
Z
Hi Visconti,
The sad thing in all of this (at least for me) that since the 5 years we have the car, we have been through just over 100,000 km's, loads of various road conditions from the very harsh winter weather to the most scorching sun burned summer with full AC all the way and we always took good care of the car and the car performed according to expectations. It never left us stranded and it was honestly a reliable little bugger we could always jump into and just go
I had it regularly checked by my mechanic, strict 10.000km oil and filter changes, it has new discs, break pads, clutch, cam belt and associated bearings, a cleaned throttle body, a rebuilt transmission, and most recently it got a new head gasket, new piston rings and the engine was rebuilt from the ground up so oil sump cleaned, valves cleaned and all.
And now this fiasco with the ECU ... I'm still not giving up on her, ( I call it a she ) but after all of this time spent together in synergy i'm loosing confidence in the car despite all of what we have done on her.
I can only hope I will be able to find a good replacement ecu and perhaps still be able to drive the car for a few more years since mechanically it is sound as a whistle, it just has electronic daemons :devil:
Cheers,
Z
Hi!
Sadly the inevitable happened and the "baked" ECU just did not last... all in all it lasted about 6 months, with a re-bake in between but as I thought all along that this fix is just temporary, I was expecting it to fail sooner... In any case, by the end of it I needed to find a replacement good condition virginized ECU which I did and that one serves me now well. I did move this replacement ECU away from the engine to an alternate location on the side of the battery tray. The point being to allow better air flow around the ECU and less direct heat from the engine.
Hope I helped.
All the best.