Looking for ECU for my KZJ 78

[tommi786]

Hi. As with others on this forum, i need a replacement ECU 89661 60250. My lower ecu board looks pretty badly damaged......

Still working but with intermittent fault codes.

 

[robthebox]

Welcome to the forum mate.
The ecu's for these are hard to come by and I don't recommend parting with cash to scrap dealers unless they will take them back with a full refund. There are a couple blown ecu's out there costing around £200 -250 and are not repairable ... I found them both. In my experience The part numbers need to be exact. I have a Hilux surf with the same engine, while it will run ok, there is no overdrive with that ECU on the kzJ78. Suggest you Have a word with ECU testing LTD in Derby they got mine working. There were a number of leaking capacitors on the board which they have replaced.
Q. Has your truck overheated, if it has, that may have caused this ECU hiccup, mine developed this problem after an overheat. The problem will only get worse.
A. (to quote Rich Sims) sort out the overheat !..... and sort out the ECU. Happy days.

I am in the process of fitting 2 oil coolers, new 4 core rad, removing aircon and finally replacing the thermostat with a 71° high flow one which I am getting from Aus next month. Can't find one anywhere else.
As I have recently learned, the hard way, these trucks overheat easily and cracked head problems have been posted on this forum in abundance.
one last thing I have heard is that there is a control box for the A343f gearbox, couple that with a kzj70 injector pump and wave goodbye to the ECU, that's another thing I am considering, but not just now. If you go down that route, we'll get our heads together.
Keep me posted. Good luck !

 

[tommi786]

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. Let's see how the hunt goes, failing which I will send mine in for a possible repair. I really like the sound of a control box for the gearbox coupled with a manual pump. Can you send me more info on the control box if you have it at hand?

 

[tommi786]

Rob - i believe i will be sorted with spares from a busted 89661 60250 box - do you have one or know someone who has one?

 

[tommi786]

If anyone is still searching for a reliable source for the 89661-60250 ECU then try Dave Steadman of Japan 4x4 who after many months of searching managed to find me a Denso refurbished unit from Japan which works a treat! was not cheap but its better than having a busted one. Car feels so much better.

 

[Watamu LC]

Hi Tommi786,

The computer in my Prado has stopped working and am desperately trying to find a replacement.
I have tried to find Dave Steadman of Japan 4x4 that you mentioned but no luck.
Could you help me out?
Any other tips for where I may be able to locate this computer?

Many thanks!

 

[tommi786]

Hi Tommi786,

The computer in my Prado has stopped working and am desperately trying to find a replacement.
I have tried to find Dave Steadman of Japan 4x4 that you mentioned but no luck.
Could you help me out?
Any other tips for where I may be able to locate this computer?

Many thanks!

Jambo. His e mail is [email protected]. The replacement units are very hard to come by. It took me 2 years +.

Have you had someone open yours to see what the problem is? It could simply be a couple of leaking caps. The caps can be obtained without too much challenge - going by your Kenyan Flag, Luthuli Ave in Nairobi is full of electric shops. You need to look for a good electrician with experience on circuit boards who can check the unit, remove faulty caps and replace them. I had temporarily fixed mine this way as well but in my case the leaks from the caps had badly spoilt the board + the previous owner of the car had really messed up an earlier repair.

Alternatively you can send the unit to an ECU repair shop. There are some good names in the U.K. And Dave even offered to have mine repaired in Japan before he found a replacement one.

Best of luck. I know it's stressful but there are options.

 

[Watamu LC]

Hi Tommi,
Thank you for the speedy reply.
As you know well, being in Kenya without a reliably working vehicle is far from ideal...

When the computer stopped working I sent it to the ECU Repair shop in the Netherlands. They assessed it told me that it was beyond repair. The "electrolytic capacitors" (are these what you call caps?) has leaked and ruined the circuit board. I think this is the same problem as you had?

My computer was also previously tampered with by a guy in Malindi (his name & phone number are written on the computer casing...) and probably didn't help the health of the unit.

I have emailed Dave and about 20 other shops and sites, so fingers crossed.
Until then, I'll be relying on Kenyan public transport!

 

[tommi786]

Is your car an auto or a manual? If a manual the best long term solution would be to get rid of the electronic injector and replace with a manual and get rid of the ECU or most of its functions at least. A lot harder to do if it's an auto as the same ECU controls the auto box but I read somewhere that with a separate AT controller it may be possible.

My solution had I not found the ECU would have been to run the Surf ECU and replace the auto box with one from a Surf - the same model number, just different setup.

Temporarily if you can find yourself a Surf ECU that may help you - I had to use one for a while and the car would run fine but I lost overdrive in the AT box. But at least you will have a moving vehicle.

 

[Watamu LC]

Mine is an automatic.
I have a computer that lets the car move but sluggish gear changes at too high RPM and no overdrive.
Am hesitant to put a "wrong" computer in for fear of wrecking other parts when running it but will look into the Surf option as a temporary fix if I haven't found a replacement in the near future.

I am new at using forums but is worth me starting a new thread about my quest for this computer?
Or will anyone who is able to help see my messages?

Thanks again!

 

[Shayne]

Your better off to keep it here Watamu as the more its talked about the more likely it is to be seen .

I must wonder why a 90 series ecu has not been mentioned ? could be very different for all i know but i'm thinking a 90 series Prado is likely using the same engine and gearbox as the Prado 70 ?

 

[tommi786]

Shayne may be right - try a 90 series Prado box - you will definitely find one of these here in Nairobi at least from a number of second hand shops. Try it before you but it. I did not try that in my car. Well worth a go. I do t think not shifting into overdrive will spoil anything else as long as you are not planning a long tour which will be painful without overdrive.

 

[Watamu LC]

As far as I have seen the connectors on the computers for the 90s are different.

 

[Shayne]

I am out of my depth because i hate auto electrics but i would assume a connector is just a plug and somebody that knows what they are doing could swap the plug ?

If it could be done it might actually be an advantage because there are 3 failed 70 series ecu mentioned here yet i don't recall anyone with a 90 suffering similar problems .

I believe Starcruiser enjoys messing with horrible little boxes of electrickery so much he bought a smart car and he will get a gossip alert now he has been mentioned

 

[Ben]

Another option might be an aftermarket ECU.

That is something I'm considering doing with my 1UZ-FE engine conversion.

There is an issue with the Toyota/Lexus ECU's when they reach a certain age and I suspect it is the exact same issue affecting the LJ/KZJ ECU's.

The good news is they can be repaired but only with certain capacitors from Japan and by someone experienced with soldering on printed circuit boards.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls...exus-issues-solved-ecu-leaking-capacitor.html

 

[tommi786]

The ECU boards come in two halves - one bit that has all the suspect caps and the other bit with the ICs.

To a non specialist eye, the caps that normally goes bad looked identical between the Surf and LC ECU and another option I had considered was to exchange the bottom board in entirety and see what happens. It's only a few ribbon wire solders which a good electrician should be able to sort out. Don't know if this will work though or end up ruining both ECUs completely! Therefore potentially an expensive experiment!

 

[Ben Stratford]

The ECU boards come in two halves - one bit that has all the suspect caps and the other bit with the ICs.

To a non specialist eye, the caps that normally goes bad looked identical between the Surf and LC ECU and another option I had considered was to exchange the bottom board in entirety and see what happens. It's only a few ribbon wire solders which a good electrician should be able to sort out. Don't know if this will work though or end up ruining both ECUs completely! Therefore potentially an expensive experiment!

Have you tried replacing the caps? I repair a lot of hifi and its not always visually obvious that thay have failed. They are cheap and as long as you maintain polarity shouldnt damage anything in the process

 

[tommi786]

Hey Watamu - any luck with your ECU?

 

[Watamu LC]

Hello all,
Thank you all for following up on this thread, much appreciated!

I managed to get a rebuilt ECU in Japan through the guys at Rama DBK Ltd.
Excellent service & speedy.

I think they must have put the rebuilt/reconditioned boards into a brand new shiny box, it looks brand new!
I plugged it into the car and after standing still for nearly 4 months, it started on the first go.
Gear changes were how they should be, all lights working properly and even the blinking "O/D OFF" light has sorted itself out!

I still have an outstanding order for another ECU and although the Toyota part number is the same, the Denso part number is (slightly) different.
The original ECU: 175800-1297
The other ECU: 175800-1296

Do you guys know whether this could be a problem?
I have tried contacting Denso but have had not reply from them.

Many thanks!

 

[tommi786]

Great news. Don't think you should worry at all about the slightly different number - it's the pain Toyota part number that's relevant.