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[Lefty]

Hi there, have been suffering from an intermittent problem on my '94 2.5 saloon; engine either refuses to start, or cuts out and then refuses to restart. It'll crank over fine but won't fire. There's no flashing engine fault light but stored codes are 145 and 144, suggesting immobiliser problem. Now whilst this might be true, the testing I've done so far (armed with the Haynes manual schematics) doesn't convince me, and I'd like to swap out the engine ECU, if only to eliminate it. Can somebody tell me if this is just a "plug and play" exercise or does the ECU have to be matched to the key chip? Does it have to be programmed? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as the intermittent fault is looking kind of permanent right now!                Thanks,    Lefty

[aaronjb]

ECU, immobiliser receiver (around the ignition barrel) and key transponder all have to be swapped as a set - although new key transponders can be coded to an ECU/receiver pair as long as you have the car pass to match the ECU & receiver..

Pretty sure that's the case, anyhow, from what I've read here

[I_want_an_Omega]

It can be done, I've done it on a '98.

You have to swap the ECU, immobiliser ECU/ring and key chips as a set. 

[Lefty]

Thanks for your advice guys, 'though I confess it's not the news I hoped for. It's rather interesting that there's quite a few ECUs for sale on Ebay being offered without the immobiliser ECU/ring and chip. How do you ever get one of these to work?

[TheBoy]

Earlier ECUs should just be a simple swap (if both the donor and recepient cars have IR locking).

However, I doubt you have an ecu fault, and you are only adding a potentially new set of problems to complicate the fault.


I think you need to go back to basics on this one

[Entwood]

I had a similar intermittent problem on the old 2.5 ..... and the fix was less than pennies !!!

The immobilisor chip in the key fob was loose and moving about inside the key. Sometimes it was in the right place to start, sometimes not.

A blob of superglue to fix it in the right place and the problem simply went away ..

Might not be your problem .. but worth a look inside the key ??

[Lefty]

A belated thanks guys for your input on this. Having now investigated a bit further, I'm starting another thread, more appropriately titled  "Refuses to start". Thanks again.

Lefty