New ECU from Honda

[Beatman]

I'm not sure what the deal is for people in other countries but in New Zealand if you want parts for your Honda the easiest method is to just call Honda.
Many genuine parts are cheaper then the 3rd party counterparts not to mention will always be higher quality, plus you have genuine warranty.

Perhaps times have changed in the tough economic climate? Honda were all to happy to order whatever ridiculous part I desired. So trying my luck I said "how about a ECU?" "yep 10 days ex japan" Done deal.

The ECU is not however something you can pick up on the cheap. You are looking at over $3000NZD retail for one. Trade is considerably cheaper but still alot. But what are you going to do? Car don't work properly without one! You could go aftermarket but then your a pioneer in a unknown land. I would prefer to see how the car is supposed to run standard before I take that route.

More importantly the ECU for a 91 Honda beat is still available for purchase, brand new!
I can also inform you that the ECU you get is not the same as the one fitted originally.
It has capacitors from the modern era with 108 degree celcius rating. It also has a plastic heat shield between the board and the enclosure wall that touches the firewall.
I have made further improvements to the lifespan of the ECU which I will cover in another thread. I was not about to install a new ECU into the same operating conditions regardless of its modifications.

My original ECU had already been repaired and it did not look pretty. With circut tracks broken and repaired with flying leads and unknown contamination throughout.
Even if you catch it early you can't repair the heat damage inevitably done to the chips over the life of the car.
I sure as hell arn't going to rebuild the engine with a dodgy burnt ECU.

[Obsessive]

I've changed the Capacitors in my ECU which was not to painful, the problem turned out to be the distributor but it's another job to tick off on the service list.

I'd be tempted to get a second hand replacement from Japan or even a chipped one. Your one sounds munted!

I've used Jesse Streeter in the past and highly recommend his services.

[Beatman]

Already got the new one, thats how I am able to devulge the differences between it and the original, I opened it up.
Any second hand ECU has already had the heat treatment applied and is loaded with dated components. Even if you replace the capacitors and chip it you still got the other oven baked chips and 20 year old components to rely on.
I want my Beat to go another 20 years without the ECU causing the engine to degrade in performance behind my back.
That ECU is probably the root of most Beat engine problem. Incomplete combustion starts to clog valves, changing the internal diameter of runners and exhaust ports. Then its all downhill from there.
My cat has already been hollowed out by a previous owner because the smoking would have blocked the matrix.
That would have increased the load on the engine reducing power and creating more heat further accelerating the ECU's degradation.

I'm sure you know this sought of thing already so I won't waft on suffice to say I wouldn't touch a second hand Beat ECU with a 10 foot barge poll! Rebuilt or not.
What can I say? I like peace of mind. The Beat ECU seems to have a 100% failure rate so I would like to start fresh with a new one and give it a cooler enviroment to work in that way I can feel safe in the knowledge that its working as it should.
I'm not above chipping for performance so thats something I might look into down the track. For now I just want to be able to experience the Beat as it was originally intended.

[Obsessive]

Good on you, nice to know that you're taking proper care and doing things the right way. It'd be worth noting that the distributor and fuel pump relay are other known weak spots in the electrics.

[Beatman]

Yes, I am very keen to have a feel of the distributer bearings, I bet they are on their way out.
Already got a new relay, the old one had already been repaired so I don't trust it!
Currently have the dash out and unfortunately all the weakest parts of my electrics have been everytime someone tried to improve the car by adding something.
I got spotlights ( that don't work) that have no less then 4 relays in the wiring. Its like someone came along and tried to wire spotlights into the system without realising someone had already wired spotlights into the system!
You know about the stereo, and the car alarm that was fitted I removed also because of wires running through bulkheads without grommets and the fact that at some stage someone has put the screw that holds the door handle on through a wire that controls the door lock actuator.
Needless to say the previous owner must of had a current drain somewhere because it had already had its power feed disconnected.

[bigB]

Very interesting. I like your heat treatments.
"""""My cat has already been hollowed out by a previous owner because the smoking would have blocked the matrix.
That would have increased the load on the engine reducing power and creating more heat further accelerating the ECU's degradation."""
does this activate your check engine light , and throw a code?

[Beatman]

Cheers!

The engine check light can be triggered by a number of things, the most common on a Beat seems to be the Fuel pump relay. Perform the self diagnostic test and count the flashes, compare to the table then you know whats causing it.
A blocked cat will bring up another dash light altogether. The "overheated cat light". Which should look like this. Note this is not from a Beat but the symbol is the same.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2701/91915869.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/91915869.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[bigB]

Hello,
Honda Canada won't order any JDM parts :(

Yes, I know about all the codes, and lights and things. But what I am asking is if YOUR check engine light is on as a result of your hollowed out cat?
Are you getting an O2 sensor code?

Also I thought most check engine lights on the Beat are a result of timing issues .......and have you determined if the dizzy bearings are replaceable?

I like your enthusiasm for the car!:)

[Beatman]

Whoa, bummer about Honda Canada.

They won't order parts from japan? You tell them they are a global corporation in the middle of a financial resession! I find that a little strange but maybe they do things different there.
On the other hand I can tell you from personal experience if you get the wrong parts guy he will just tell you that because he doesn't want to do the work looking for unfamilar parts.
So hopefully you just got a grumpy parts salesman ( most of them are )!

Ah I get you now in regards to the light.
I had the engine check light once, when I stopped somewhere on the way home with it the day I bought it. It seemed to be when it was hot.
I checked the relay and it had already had a repair attempt made on it so I automatically got a new one. Installed and ran up to temp a number of times since and it has not happened again.
So in short, no I don't think it caused it or I would get it all the time. I never actually checked the code, I saw enough evidence that pointed to the relay.

No I have not had a look at the distributer yet. I will be doing that as part of the engine rebuild.
I have stripped and rebuilt a City turbo dizzy before. Its not that hard, you get your bearings and seals out and take them to the local bearings/seals shop as samples.
All the Honda distributers I've worked on are put together pretty much the same... then again this is the Beat we are talking about!

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if you could get the genuine bearings from Honda for most of their modern cars. I would imagine even more so if the work shop manual shows an exploded veiw of the dizzy.
For something small and fiddly like bearings I always just saw it as simplier to take a sample down to the bearing shop then your rebuilding that afternoon.

Have you tried Kings motorsports perhaps? They are U.S based and import Mugen gear from Japan don't they?
I can get Mugen gear through Honda, you might be able to get Japanese Honda gear through the Mugen dealer?

Worth a shot!

[hondzilla]

can you tell us wich part number you used to order the ecu.
so whe can try to ask wheter the ecu can be orderd by our
local dealer.

[Beatman]

Sure, 37820-P36-003. That was for my 91.
Down here they just take your rego, tell them what you want and they just look it up. That way they and you know you are getting the right part for your year.

[hondzilla]

thank you for the part number.
Problem here in holland is that the car is never sold over hear, but when i give the dealer a part number they can look it up in there computer.
Strang thing is that there are part for the beat in stock at the gent honda wharehouse in belgium for europe.

[Steve_M]

Any European Honda dealer can put a Beat VIN number into the Electronic Parts Catalogue (EPC) that dealers use and get part numbers for most Beat original parts and yes there are still quite a few Beat specific parts in Honda Europe in Ghent.

[beecee]

3000NXD is Apprx 1700 euro , that is the same amount some of these cars are worth themselves , could a good electronics guy not fix and replace capacitors and board etc a few times over for this kind of money ?