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PGM-FI/ecu question on D15a3...


gotmy86hatch
07-06-2007, 10:51 PM
My PGM-FI light is on yet my ecu had no lights on...could the problem in fact be that the ECU itself is just toast? lxndr I know you can help a brutha out on this one!!!!!!!!!!

lxndr
07-15-2007, 01:51 PM
I'm assuming the car is still running and driveable.

It sounds like you have a faulty ECU. If the car is still driveable this means the ECU is in closed loop mode or "limp mode". The car will run fine like this until you can find another ECU, but if you have emissions testing in your area, I doubt it will pass since limp mode will make the motor run rich.

Also check that water isn't pooling under the passenger seat. You might have a bad windshield seal, door seal or sunroof seal that is letting water run in the car and under the seats. This will toast your ECU pretty quickly so check it out before you toast your replacement ECU too.

gotmy86hatch
07-26-2007, 05:23 PM
Yes the car still drives well...the computer is a pe7 and I've heard confliting stories that if you swap in a pg7 the car will perform better...then from other people I've heard exactly the opposite. What is the truth behind this? PS- painting car as we speak...changing from light blue to gloss black...I should be able to post pics sometime mid week...

lxndr
07-28-2007, 02:08 PM
Keep the stock ECU.

With no supporting mods the Teg ECU is worthless and will actually hurt your motor's performance. Even people with a D15A3 producing 150HP prefer the stock SI ECU.

The problem is that the Teg ECU makes the D15A3 run rich, this means it is only good for wide open throttle (WOT) since it adds more fuel when the motor would normally start to run lean. This also means that the rest of the time the ECU is flooding the cylinders with gas and hurting the motors performance. Since most daily driven cars rarely see WOT, this swap has no benefit.

The only benefit of the Teg ECU is the higher rev limit, but are you willing to put up with a poor running motor just for a few extra hundred RPMs? Honda set the rev limit on a D15A3 for a reason and over revving an already tired 20 year old motor is a sure way to blow it up.

BTW, I tried the Integra ECU and it made my car run so rich that it failed a WA state emissions test twice. Once I put the stock ECU back in it passed fine. WA state has a pretty relaxed emissions standard, so if it didn't pass emissions here, it would definitely fail in any other state.

gotmy86hatch
07-28-2007, 02:56 PM
Cool, thanks...The emissions thing isn't a prob, in SC they are only worried about paying property tax on it, and after that it could drip nuclear waste from the exhaust they couldn't care less. But I certainly don't want it to run poorly so thanks again for that advice...finished paint and 5 coats of clear about 3 hours ago...buffing it out tomorrow. Pics of the process are coming soon, I'll probably post them on RPR.

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