ECM Replacment

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

Hey ToolPants, Loren or anybody- MY'97 w/ 70K miles has gone through 6 - O2 sensor replacements in the last 20K miles. The dealer is now saying that my electronic control module is faulty and needs replaced at a cost of $3K!!! Has anybody experienced this?

What risk do I run if I don't replace the ECM?

Thanks

[Loren]

What were the fault codes?

BTW... Back when my car was in warranty I had my DME cable connection come loose and my car behaved very erratically. The dealer replaced the MAF and then thought it was the O2 sensors and then when they finally went to replace the DME they found the cable was so loose it fell out. Once they put it back in (and tie-wrapped it) the car ran fine. Might be worth a look...

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

The dealer didn't tell me the fault codes. However he did say that they cross checked the wires (cable?) and found out that they were OK, but the problem stemmed from the ECM.

[Loren]

Can you ask them for the fault codes? Better yet a history of the codes (they have these in the database). With a code histroy you might see a pattern.

There are a number of Pcodes that point to a problem in the DME. Without the codes everyone is shooting in the dark.

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

They told me that the fault codes were:

P1121 - which could not be cleared even though the engine was running fine.

P0160

They checked the wiring and shorts.

[Loren]

Did they swap out the oxygen sensor relay (position 2 - relay carrier next to DME)?

and check or replace the oxygen sensor jumpers at relay position 6?

If so, then there is nothing left except the DME.

BTW... I show a retail price of $1878.09 for the DME (996 618 601 04). Maybe an hour labor to transfer the mileage/programming.

[christeon]

If it turns out you need a new DME, I still have my 97 Boxster DME I could sell you.

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

How is it that you have a DME? And how much would you sell it for?

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

Loren,

They did check the relay and the pins and all checked out fine. They are quoting me $2,800 for parts and labor. The catch is that they cannot guarantee 100% that this will fix the problem.

I've asked them that since the rest of the car is running good, what risk I run if I don't replace the DME. There have not been any faults (other than the o2 sensors) for the past 20K miles.

[Loren]

Is the dealer Carlson?

Might be worth a second opinion... and Peter Smith at Stevens Creek is the best Boxster guy around.

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

It is Carlsen. I already had a small Porsche repair shop in San Carlos make the diagnosis before I took it to Carlsen.

What do you think about a used DME? Or not replacing it at this time. Carlsen said the car runs well, just a faulty DME.

[Loren]

I sent you a PM...

[mark in sunnyvale]

Sounds like they are just going by the repair manual. Replace ECM is the last step, that's why they are saying they can't guarantee that it will fix the problem.

My 97 has a O2 sensor that won't clear either.

Won't a faulty check valve cause an O2 sensor to come up as faulty?

[christeon]

Does $500.00 sound fair guys? I replaced the 2.5L with a 3.4L and kept all the extra parts :) The DME for 97 has it's own part number I don't know if there is a difference in the newer ones. It came out of the car working fine. My car is a manual and came from the factory with cruise, OBC, TC and alarm not sure if DME has anything to do with TC or the alarm. The car had a little over 60k miles on it when we switched the motor. I'll guarantee it's not DOA or even do an escrow type deal through one of the reputable forum members if you desire.

[christeon]

Just thought of this and I'm sure someone can answer this, I think the DME has to have something reprogramed or set so that the starter interrupt works.

[Loren]

Just thought of this and I'm sure someone can answer this, I think the DME has to have something reprogramed or set so that the starter interrupt works.

In the US for legal reasons the DME will need to have the mileage, engine hours, over revs, etc. all transferred from the old DME with a PST2 or PIWIS tester.

[Gary (Redwood Shores)]

I just got off the phone with the Service Technician. He told me that there is little to no risk of not replacing the DME. The biggest problem (other than the annoying CE light always on) would come when I needed to have the car smogged in 18 months. At that time, the fault code will need to be removed and something else (related to startup that I can't remember) would need to be reset. Once that is done, it would pass the smog test and shouldn't be a problem.

That being said, I'm not going to replace the DME at this time. Thanks for all the info.

[porscheneer]

If your CEL is constantly on you wont know if another fault has poped in the DME. If you have an OBDII scanner it may be worth while to read your codes regularly to ensure there isnt any extra unwanted guests in there.

I loath the CEL