After 5 looooong months, I'm ready to throw in the towel. I just got word that my ECU is fried beyond repair. They want to sell me a "new" rebuilt one for $550. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> After replacing all the parts as suggested here first, then sending out the ecm, and a brand new set of brakes all around 2 days before the truck died, not only am I headed to the poor house, but I have to wonder am I beating a dead horse? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Is it critical to have an exact match for fed vs. cali.?

What year and model is your truck? You can find ECUs for a lot less than that.

Frank

It's a '91 3.0 6cyl. 4dr automatic RS. I don't think it has Cali. specs. but I'm not sure. I do feel a sense of being taken by the ecm company. I asked for the unit back.

It does matter if it's CA or Federal. I don't know anything about these, but they seem to be about the going price for rebuilt units:

autoecu

You should expect to pay ~$100 or less for a good used one - not rebuilt.

Frank

car-part.com is your friend-

looks like there are quite a few for under $100...

update your sig- if you're local, I have a spare 90-91.

Toby

not according to mitsu... i was told by a mech at a local dealer down here that although they (the ecu & the harness) appear to be identical in appearance, theyre not. my understanding from him was that there was differences in the 2 because of years (89'federal &90'cali), but that the main differences where in the ecu & the harness itself (the years supposedly wernt as much to blame as the federal/cali issue). i found this out only after running both rigs vins through the dealer, trying to find out why frankenmonty would crank but not spark. i wanted to use my original dizzy and ecu when i did the swap, but i didnt want to do all the splicing that would have been neccessary to do it. the mech could of been lying to me or just trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, but i kinda doubt it... because he wasnt trying to sell me anything, and seemed genuine about trying to help me figure it out. frank, from personal experience youve never been wrong before that i know of, but i would hate to see somebody buy a part that may not work for their rig that they cannot return. btw, on the issue itself of the ecu itself the best way to get what you need is to get the model number of the unit itself and tell them thats exactly what you need.

I will call a dealer and run the part number and see if they can tell me whether it's Cali.or Fed. My local dealer is about as helpful and knowledgeable as a bag of rocks though. Toby, I would love to talk to you about buying your spare ecu if you email me: bluebirdacrefarm@yahoo.com
I'm on the east coast, but I'd pay shipping.

As I thought... the dealer can't tell if it's a Cali/Fed. His advice is to simply replace with exact part number. MD146946

This is my next step: <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

youve gotta run the vin to figure out the model, cali vs. federal. call the stealer back and give them your vin (parts dept.). but i think this is your lucky day... i looked into one of box of "goodies" and you do in fact have a cali model, how do i know? i got the ecu you need right here p/n md146946 with e2t35271 below the p/n and then 9613 below that with mitsubishi electric corp. below that... quality goods brother! only reason im willing to part with them, is that they do me absolutly no good... wont work on my monty and if you want it lemme know & ill even throught in the matching dizzy so youve gotta spare. btw, i guarentee them to work <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />.

I was starting to get that exciting feeling of winning the lottery as I read off your numbers.... But, the numbers I have written down are slightly off.
MD146946
E2T35271A
0Z13
And my ECU is in Texas so I can't double check!!
I did run the VIN number with the dealer, and he claimed he couldn't tell. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />