2004 Acura EL - 3 Dead ECUs and Solution
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2004 Acura EL - 3 Dead ECUs and Solution
Well... April 18th I was driving down the street when all the gauges went dead and the car coasted to the side of the road.
I tried to restart it - but it cranked with no start.
The oil pressure light was dim, check engine was dim and the green key was flashing. No codes on the OBDII reader.
Oil was super low all of the sudden too.
Had it towed to a guy locally who's a Honda Factory Certified guy who's always been reasonable on car repairs.
He discovered it had hydro locked itself with fuel, had low spark on piston 4 (and replaced that coil) and the computer was blown.
He sourced a new computer, blew the computer.
He added a new ground, new spark plugs and new oil, retraced the fuel pump... blew another computer.
This was 3 weeks in, so I asked for the car back.
I took it to a bigger more professional shop. Much higher rates, but hey much better equipment too.
They found the alternator bracket was stripped, and replaced the alternator... and blew a computer (The 3rd one if anyone's counting).
They then sent the ECU to a specialist who would diagnose what circuit was blowing and save us time. A week passes, no diagnosis. Can't find what circuit is the issue.
They hire a mobile wire tracing guy who goes thru the loom wire by wire and finds the multiplexer has 12volts on a 5volt communication rail when it shouldn't.
They replace the multiplex unit, the alternator, the computer.. and drive it for 20 mins all seems fine but now the oxygen sensor is shot (so they're replacing that now too).
It's now June 14th, nearly 2 months since I got the car and I'll supposedly get it back tomorrow.
I'll be $3600 poorer than I once was (not counting what I paid for the car).
I only had it two weeks prior to this meltdown.
My question to you guys is...
Are these reliable?
Should I keep it?
She has 180,000km on her and it ran perfectly before this.
I tried to restart it - but it cranked with no start.
The oil pressure light was dim, check engine was dim and the green key was flashing. No codes on the OBDII reader.
Oil was super low all of the sudden too.
Had it towed to a guy locally who's a Honda Factory Certified guy who's always been reasonable on car repairs.
He discovered it had hydro locked itself with fuel, had low spark on piston 4 (and replaced that coil) and the computer was blown.
He sourced a new computer, blew the computer.
He added a new ground, new spark plugs and new oil, retraced the fuel pump... blew another computer.
This was 3 weeks in, so I asked for the car back.
I took it to a bigger more professional shop. Much higher rates, but hey much better equipment too.
They found the alternator bracket was stripped, and replaced the alternator... and blew a computer (The 3rd one if anyone's counting).
They then sent the ECU to a specialist who would diagnose what circuit was blowing and save us time. A week passes, no diagnosis. Can't find what circuit is the issue.
They hire a mobile wire tracing guy who goes thru the loom wire by wire and finds the multiplexer has 12volts on a 5volt communication rail when it shouldn't.
They replace the multiplex unit, the alternator, the computer.. and drive it for 20 mins all seems fine but now the oxygen sensor is shot (so they're replacing that now too).
It's now June 14th, nearly 2 months since I got the car and I'll supposedly get it back tomorrow.
I'll be $3600 poorer than I once was (not counting what I paid for the car).
I only had it two weeks prior to this meltdown.
My question to you guys is...
Are these reliable?
Should I keep it?
She has 180,000km on her and it ran perfectly before this.
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
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Re: 2004 Acura EL - 3 Dead ECUs and Solution
The root cause of the PCM failure was probably a person who didn't get the alternator installed properly during service work. That mistake is so common that Honda issued an information bulletin about it for Civics (IDK if the same info was published for Acura and Canada though).
The MICU is a somewhat common failure too.
BUT Was it truly bad, and if it was actually bad was it even related to the alternator/PCM problem?
Was the mobile guy just guessing because he didn't know about the loose alternator causing the PCM to fry? I can't answer any of that, I wasn't there to diagnose any of it.
The (IMO insane) CAD$3600 price might have been much less if it went to someone who could fix it on the first try. (I can't knock the mechanics too much here, there's always a learning curve when you try to figure out something you've never seen before and very few people are truly good at diagnosing electrical/electronic failures)
Did I count 5 PCMs total now? How many of those did you have to pay for?
O2 sensor failure is also not unexpected. It's an OLD CAR with a bunch of miles/kms. Nothing lasts forever.
JMHO, YMMV
Has it blown the head gasket yet?
The MICU is a somewhat common failure too.
BUT Was it truly bad, and if it was actually bad was it even related to the alternator/PCM problem?
Was the mobile guy just guessing because he didn't know about the loose alternator causing the PCM to fry? I can't answer any of that, I wasn't there to diagnose any of it.
The (IMO insane) CAD$3600 price might have been much less if it went to someone who could fix it on the first try. (I can't knock the mechanics too much here, there's always a learning curve when you try to figure out something you've never seen before and very few people are truly good at diagnosing electrical/electronic failures)
Did I count 5 PCMs total now? How many of those did you have to pay for?
O2 sensor failure is also not unexpected. It's an OLD CAR with a bunch of miles/kms. Nothing lasts forever.
JMHO, YMMV
Has it blown the head gasket yet?
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4’pcms total
I had to pay for 2 I guess. They were used so usually cheap.
id have fixed it myself but I have found no way of reprogramming an ECU at home.
Head gasket was done before I got it.
At 160,000km
so... keep it or no? How reliable are these?
I had to pay for 2 I guess. They were used so usually cheap.
id have fixed it myself but I have found no way of reprogramming an ECU at home.
Head gasket was done before I got it.
At 160,000km
so... keep it or no? How reliable are these?
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Sounds like it won’t be coming home today after all.
Two months and it’s still not fixed and we still don’t know why.
Its NOT the alternator. That entire assembly has been relaxed correctly with correct bolts.
Two months and it’s still not fixed and we still don’t know why.
Its NOT the alternator. That entire assembly has been relaxed correctly with correct bolts.
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 32,017
Likes: 256
From: Midwest. Aiming about mid-chest
Rep Power: 518 Re: 2004 Acura EL - 3 Dead ECUs and Solution
Two months and it’s still not fixed and we still don’t know why.
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