Technical ecu swap - what's involved??

[wonkytoad]

My parents have a 96 mk1 punto 75sx 1242cc

Running very rough and a mechanic has diagnosed ecu faliure.
He's said that the replacement and reprogramming would be expensive and not worth doing.

Just wondering what if its diy - able. I'm a confident DIY mechanic, but not done much with ECU's before.

We have both the red and the blue keys for the car.
Not sure of the ecu number at the mo as i'm 200 miles away, but have set my brother on the case when he gets in from work.

If I get a second hand ECU from a scrappers, what do I need with it and how do i go about getting it all set up once it's been swapped.

Can anyone give me a run down on this/ or point me to a source that will.

Many Thanks in advance

Dan

 

[MikeSalt]

Running very rough and a mechanic has diagnosed ecu faliure. He's said that the replacement and reprogramming would be expensive and not worth doing.

Try to buy an ECU with the original key and lock set. That way, you do not need to reprogram the immobiliser. If this is the case, all you need to do it unclip the plug into the ECU, undo the bolts, take the old one off, put the new one in and put the plug back in. As a minimum, swap the lock barrel to take the new key (you may want to replace all the locks for convenience).

Alternatively, if you cannot get a key set, get an ECU with a non-soldered map chip. Install a McKritch chip (£42) in the ECU, which will not only give you a more powerful map, but will disable the immobiliser. Install as I described before and all should work.

Of course, if you do not have a Fiat CODE immobiliser, it's a simple ECU swap.

 

[wonkytoad]

Thanks a lot Mike, exactly what i needed to know.

How do I find out if there's a Fiat Code immobiliser?? Sure I could find out if I had the car in front of me, but is there a way I can get my darling mother to find out, who has about as much technical knowledge as a spade.

Ta

Dan