ECU Issue?

[Alex1118]

Anybody on this board have an issue similar to what I am experiencing?

Just towed my daughter's 2012 Civic DX. She was heading back to school and got stuck an hour outside of Los Angeles near Gorman. A bunch of warning lights and messages came up: 1) The general Check Engine Light was solid at time and blinking; 2) Traction light; 3) Power Steering System message; 4) Emission System message; 5) CSA System message; and 6) Loss of Power and misfiring.

Before heading back-up, I changed out the plugs, replaced the air filters, and took her car to get the oil changed. The tech said that the battery charge was a bit low. I didn't change out the battery as we didn't have time, but planned on doing so when I head up to see her this coming 4th July week.

The car was towed to an independent. The mechanic checked the coil packs, plugs, compression, etc. which were all good. He then turned to the electrical and determined that the connection to the ECU was the problem. When I picked-up the car and drove it back to my home, the same warning lights, messages and performance problems came back.

I did a reset of the ECU by disconnecting the battery, waited 5 minutes and touched the pos and neg cables together. I reconnected the battery, waited 10 minutes, started the car (no radio, no fan/ac, no other load), did not press the gas pedal during the 10 minutes I had it idling. The idle started to get rough. I turned off the engine after 10 minutes and restarted the car. As I was pressing the gas off and on, the warning lights, messages and performance issues reoccurred.

I am going to check the ground of the ECU and relocate the ground to the valve covers (saw suggestion on this board). In the meantime, I bought a used ECU on ebay just in case.

I appreciate any suggestions anyone may have.

Thanks

 

[homegrown]

Any possibility of water intrusion?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[webby]

I'm not saying it's your battery, but there are a million threads here about users dash clusters lit up like christmas trees with errors due to bad batteries. Some users here have gone through 3+ honda batteries under warranty. Seeing as how your mechanic said the battery was low, it makes me think it's probably related.

Also, if you try to swap that ecu into the car, it will not work. The anti theft immobilizer is part of the ecu, and that is tied to the oem vin/key. So, that replacement ecu is going to be programmed to see its original car vin/key. The dash will pull up the immobilizer error and will not start. Supposedly dealerships can reprogram them, but it's like $2-300 for that process. I would start with replacing the battery, or putting it on a trickle charger to get it up to full charge and see if the errors persist. Just know you may be on borrowed time with that battery if it's not holding charge.

 

[Alex1118]

Thanks for the feedback. No signs of water intrusion nor condensation. I replaced the old battery with a new one and still receiving the warning lights, messages, and performance issues, even after clearing the ecu.

 

[webby]

electrical and determined that the connection to the ECU was the problem.

I guess you need to dig deeper into the cause of this, or find out what he meant by the connection being the problem.