Hey all, I was just told by a local mechanic that the ECM is toast. I just wanted to verify that.

Basically, I was sitting at a red light and the idle just started throbbing and sputtering, the car would not accelerate and there was some black smoke coming out of the tailpipe along with the smell of fuel burning rich. I was told by some folks that when a car burns too rich, you will see some black puffs out of the tail pipe.

Anyway, I was literally across the street from a shop and dropped it off there. After putting it on thier diagnostic machine, they told me the ECM is most likely toast.

BTW, the car is an '89 with 131,000 miles. So is this a common issue with 15 year old F-Bodies? Is it common with them regardless? And how much should I pay for either a new or used ECM (I was told $150 from the factory)?

Thanks all.

 

he's full of it, the car most likely won't run if its the ecm

i'd check map sensor, tps, and if its tpi or some other multiport setup check the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulator.

Does the check engine light work, and is it on?

 

The Check engine light works.

When you say "run", what do you mean. Do you mean it will not turn over, it will turn over and not stay on, or will it not go very fast at all (like no more than 15 mph) due to the ECM? If you can elaborate on your experiences, that would help a good bit.

thanks

 

I am having a stall issue with my 89 (127K miles) and I'm beginning to suspect my ECM. Only because I'm getting odd results in field service mode. I'm not really sure how to test the ECM and PROM. You can try pulling the codes with a paperclip in the ALDL port and see if it gives you the code 12 (SES light blinks once, pauses, then blinks twice) three times in a row. Thats how the ECM lets you know its ready to display and possible error codes, but I dont know if that is necessarily a way to test the ECM itself or the PROM. I think it needs to he hooked up to a scantool or diagnostic tools (fancy name for scan tool). You can always take it to a different shop and see what they say. I need to do more troubleshooting before deciding my problem is the ECM or PROM, and if that does happen, I'm probably going to end up replacing them as the "test". heh