OE ECU future ?

hensleyt

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Seance no one have a crystal ball, what do you see happening with my OE ECU ? it works great with my TT 6.1 and is all ill ever need . I switched to a TR6 and truck coils when the OE gave up its old life. Got me a translator because I feared my MAS was next to say goodby. Im getting old but plan to drive this car 20+ more years.
You have herd me ramble. Do I consider a new ECUGN. I don't see people replacing ECU because of failure , or people having ECU failure?
 
ECUGN or other replacement ECU's can provide more features and safeties than the OE ECU but unless you want or need them there is not a huge reason to go over to one. If you are running low impedance injectors it may be a good reason because finding a modded OE ecu is getting harder as we go along in years.

I went to a Holley and I love all the things it can do; boost control is awesome as is flex fuel and the data logging. I was also able to remove a bunch of extra wiring and addons from the car which was nice as was replacing the hacked up wiring harness this car had. The ECUGN is really nice because it uses the stock wiring harness and can be adapted to use the truck coil without the TR6 and no need for a MAF sensor or translator.
 
Seance no one have a crystal ball, what do you see happening with my OE ECU ? it works great with my TT 6.1 and is all ill ever need . I switched to a TR6 and truck coils when the OE gave up its old life. Got me a translator because I feared my MAS was next to say goodby. Im getting old but plan to drive this car 20+ more years.
You have herd me ramble. Do I consider a new ECUGN. I don't see people replacing ECU because of failure , or people having ECU failure?
Stock ecm Axis extreme with the maf 85mm.
 
Seance no one have a crystal ball, what do you see happening with my OE ECU ? it works great with my TT 6.1 and is all ill ever need . I switched to a TR6 and truck coils when the OE gave up its old life. Got me a translator because I feared my MAS was next to say goodby. Im getting old but plan to drive this car 20+ more years.
You have herd me ramble. Do I consider a new ECUGN. I don't see people replacing ECU because of failure , or people having ECU failure?
The OEM ecu's achilles heel are the capacitors. They go bad.

The good news is any decent electronics shop can re-cap it. They're not complicated.
So as long as somebody is still burning ROMs to deal with changes in fuel composition, the OEM ECU is indefinitely maintainable.
 
Seance no one have a crystal ball, what do you see happening with my OE ECU ? it works great with my TT 6.1 and is all ill ever need . I switched to a TR6 and truck coils when the OE gave up its old life. Got me a translator because I feared my MAS was next to say goodby. Im getting old but plan to drive this car 20+ more years.
You have herd me ramble. Do I consider a new ECUGN. I don't see people replacing ECU because of failure , or people having ECU failure?
Aftermarket computer system have their glitches too.
Just get a new stick ecm and call NJ it a day
 
The OEM ecu's achilles heel are the capacitors. They go bad.

The good news is any decent electronics shop can re-cap it. They're not complicated.
So as long as somebody is still burning ROMs to deal with changes in fuel composition, the OEM ECU is indefinitely maintainable.
And I'll add another:

Stepping up to an ECUGN or a FAST or a Holley Dominator is not something you do to replace a factory ECM on a mildly modified car. It's something you do when you're heavily modified and have reached the limit of what the stock ECM can do.
 
With the age of these cars creeping up and up, I would be more concerned about the "MTBF" of the harnesses.
We get cars and harnesses in the shop, that are so dilapidated, that replacement is the only way the boss will do the job. Some examples are so bad, it's almost funny..... Usually sad.
Heat cycling, ozone, moisture, and a good dose of stupid usually does it.
 
I always had a couple extra ECM's laying around. I had one crap out on me one time. Slapped another one in and kept rolling.
 
Its nice to get good feedback from good reliable posters. And yes my car has a few add-on but I have done my best to keep it nice and net.
The only thing Im not happy with the OE is I have to have a laptop in the car to log. I went to auto zone and to my surprise they have them.
thanks for the feed back
 
You can take the laptop out.
Wideband and boost gauge with a scanmaster.
Once the car is tuned where you feel your not needing to change much.
Have 2 ecms 1 with the power logger
And 1 without.
When you want to log it swap it in😉
 
And I'll add another:

Stepping up to an ECUGN or a FAST or a Holley Dominator is not something you do to replace a factory ECM on a mildly modified car. It's something you do when you're heavily modified and have reached the limit of what the stock ECM can do.
Ya know.....
I'm going to say it's really a personal choice at this point.
I've gotten a few different combos on a stock ecm to run 5 sec 1/8s.
Wild huh😎
Most would think the stock ecm cant do it but it can😉
Most also get talked out of running fast with a stock ecm mainly because of the tuner or shop has experience and wants a modern computer to handle the new build,I get it.
Now the new computer stuff can look at everything and data makes it a whole lot easier if and big if you know what your looking at and can make the changes that are needed 😉
I know for the most part when a new computer is put in up here it gets all new everything.
Its sensible because at that point money wise a few extra is worth.
 
Also if a person is going to go really high end on say a Holley a stock harness wont cut it.
Faster and more data with more tuning options is the name of the game and alot more inputs and outputs as well as a faster wideband.
Its really a choice....
But I gotta say the stock ecm can also make them fly🙂
 
Like the feedback here. I'm in the same boat, considering an upgrade due to performance reasons. My engine harness also has me leaning towards upgrading. I have repaired it over the years but many of the wires now have green or black corrosion creeping in. Makes it really hard to solder a repair joint plus we know that is not the best connection. Casper's sells a replacement OE style harness but at that point may as well pull the trigger on a Holley, Fast, etc.
 
Being the 200 trans won't be controlled by the ECM, I'd look at the Holley Terminator X, drive by cable.
Another "option" is buying the kit "ala carte".
There's an unterminated harness available. Makes the install much cleaner.
Furthermore, the Holley water temp sender is "iffy". Buy one elsewhere. The handheld is nice, but not $400 nice. Same with their "special" wideband sensor. The Bosch unit available over the counter works just fine....For a lot less $$.
 
Being the 200 trans won't be controlled by the ECM, I'd look at the Holley Terminator X, drive by cable.
Down side to the Terminator X over a HP is that the X can't use low impedance injectors, up side is its cheaper :)
 
Down side to the Terminator X over a HP is that the X can't use low impedance injectors, up side is its cheaper :)
I was looking at the HP option for that reason. Didn't know about the trans issue. I'm keeping my 200, just can't give up OD.
 
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