Possible ECU Damaged

[Bruno Oliveira]

Hi all,

I have a 97 LC KZJ 90 1KZ-TE and i am currently stuck with it parked in the mechanic not knowing what i should do. One day i was driving it and the engine suddenly died to get back to life just by starting it again normally... Weird, maybe was just a one timer i though... Some days latter, the same happened and it started to happen more frequently until one day it died without coming back to life... I sent the car to the mechanic which told me that it was a problem in the Fuel cutoff solenoid. They repair it and bamm, engine running again as expected, you can get your LC back, no sweat they told me!

I took the car home, but in the next day the engine died again and it restarted with the turning of the key right after... This time however, another symptom started to happen, the engine light sometimes got turned on for a while (a few seconds) and it would turn off again. I check the diagnostics code by myself this time and it was error code 33 - Intake constrictor control signal. Talked to the mechanic again which told me that this could be normal and to wait a few more days to check if it would happen again...

After 2 weeks the engine died again and i could not started so back to the mechanic he went again. After 2 months they can't seem to find the problem with the car which is now on an auto electrician that says that the ECU is damaged since it does not give any neutral signal to the pump and no error codes can be read from it at this point, he says that the light just blinks fast.

Obviously that at this point i don't trust that these guys know what they are doing. They say that the ECU is damaged but i am not even sure that if i buy a used one, if they can install it properly. They say that they have other clients with similar LC, but they can't use their ECU to test on mine because the immobiliser will then get locked and both cars will not run anymore, so i am thinking if i buy a new one, how can they solve my problem? So i am kind of desperate here trying to figure out what to do with my dear LC...

If someone can be kind enough to give me some hints to provide the electrician on how to test if the ECU is really broken or to get the error codes to provide reading again i would be greatly thankful. Also if someone could explain to me what needs to be done to replace the ECU with a used one it would be really helpful as well. I am completely in the dark here.

Many thanks.

 

[diggerdave]

Well, I don't know about your problem specifically but I've had a Colorado 1KZ-TE for some years now, and follow this and the other UK forum on and off. I cannot recall ever hearing of ECU failure on these engines before.

 

[StarCruiser]

There has been one or two that have needed repair but that’s all. I would be surprised if yours is dead. It sounds like it has lost power though it could be any number of things and the fast blinking light tends to suggest otherwise. Some of those that have had ECU problems have opened up the ECU to find obvious signs of damage inside. In the U.K. there are companies that will test the ECU and repair as necessary like ECU Doctor.

My first thought was suction control valves as these are a known maintenance item but it sounds like your guys have been there already. The fast blinking light but no codes is not something I’ve come across.

I can’t imagine your auto electrician hasn’t checked voltage at the ECU.
Have a search on here for ECU. There’s a few threads that might shed some light.

 

[Bruno Oliveira]

Thank you both for the feedback.

According to the electrician, 12v are getting to the injector pump, but no negative signals are getting to any of the sensors that the ECU controls.

I am already trying to get someone to repair the ECU, the ECU Doctor you are mentioning is this one http://www.the-ecu-doctor.co.uk right?

Thanks.

 

[Beau]

Well firstly, the Spill control valve doesn't operate at 12v. And one should never apply 12v as this will fry it. I believe it works from a range of 0-4 volts, and this is some kind of pulse wave signal. (I'm no electrician) My point is, it's firstly hard to read voltage at the solenoid, and secondly it should see 12 to begin with.

You said they repaired the valve initially? Do you mean replace it with a new one or repair the actual solenoid. Because they are sealed and I am not aware of anyway to actually repair them. Like Said above, the ECU's are pretty reliable.

 

[Bruno Oliveira]

They told me that they replaced the solenoid from the injector pump, I assumed this was a solenoid inside the spill valve but I may be wrong. The 12v is the value that the electrician is telling me it's getting to the cut off valve from the injection pump (I am assuming this is the spill valve as well).

I contacted today the ECU doctor from the website I posted above and they tell me that they can repair me the ECU by 205£ plus vat, i guess I have no other option other then sending it to them at this point since the guys are stuck and not knowing what to do.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[StarCruiser]

You say there are no negatives at sensors? If these sensors should have negative connections then check the Earth straps and earth connections to the ECU. I expect the auto electrician will have already done this.
ECU Doctor should test the ECU first if he is able to. If there is nothing wrong with it they will send it back to you. I expect you have already had this confirmed by them?

 

[Deleted member 13129]

They told me that they replaced the solenoid from the injector pump, I assumed this was a solenoid inside the spill valve but I may be wrong. The 12v is the value that the electrician is telling me it's getting to the cut off valve from the injection pump (I am assuming this is the spill valve as well).

I contacted today the ECU doctor from the website I posted above and they tell me that they can repair me the ECU by 205£ plus vat, i guess I have no other option other then sending it to them at this point since the guys are stuck and not knowing what to do.

Thanks for the feedback.

My next door neighbour has a 1997 90 which had the same problem with the ECU and doing the same cut out when running and had the ECU repaired and all was fine then after .

 

[Bruno Oliveira]

You say there are no negatives at sensors? If these sensors should have negative connections then check the Earth straps andcearth connections to the ECU. I expect the auto electrician will have already done this.
ECU Doctor should test the ECU first if he is able to. If there is nothing wrong with it they will send it back to you. I expect you have already had this confirmed by them?

The electrician told me he already checked all wires and connections and that everything was as it is supposed to be.

I will check with ECU doctor that this is the case, I think they have that info on their web site.

Thanks.

 

[Bruno Oliveira]

My next door neighbour has a 1997 90 which had the same problem with the ECU and doing the same cut out when running and had the ECU repaired and all was fine then after .

I hope that mine gets fine as well after the repair.

Thanks for the info.

 

[StarCruiser]

it sounds like your guys know what they are doing so hopefully the ECU Doctor will either find the ECU ok or repairable. Either way you get a working ECU back. The latter is preferable as it indicates the diagnosis is correct as I suspect it will be. It’s super rare to get a problem with these ECUs from what I’ve seen, but from the answers you have given, it sure looks like the ECU at this stage.

 

[Bruno Oliveira]

Hi all,

Just wanted to update this thread since only now after almost one year of the initial problem occurred i could get my Land Cruiser running again.

I sen't the ECU to ECU doctor after confirming with them that they could fix it, but unfortunately once they have received it, they realised that they missed the datasheet for my ECU. The ECU was re-sent to Avilec and they could test it and confirm the issue was not from the ECU... The car wen't then to a diesel expert bosh carservice mechanic which tested the fuel pump to make sure it was good and the diagnostic they did was related to the immobiliser... So i finally sent the car to toyota which finally found the issue. It was a broken cable between the ECU and the fuel pump...

Thank you all for the help, i finally have my machine running again .