(well, borrow) Standard Facelift 7202 or 7203 ECU

[elnevio]

Hi Peeps

Tim's (ex-derv) exploits in his new gearbox thread have got me moving into action again.

Due to gearbox failure, a replacement gearbox was installed in my car in March this year. As it was a facelift autobox, I also installed a facelift auto ECU, which although was not from the same donor vehicle, should be an exact match.

I've given the car a few months and a couple of thousand miles to settle down, with and without battery resets, but the box doesn't really shift correctly. It can be lived with, but it's not right. And I get a TCL error, which initially got me wondering about the main ECU. Peter Thomson's comment on Tim's thread nudged that thought back up the pecking order in my mind, in that the main ECU may need to be matched as well, or at least not be a PFL 7201 out of an auto!

As such, I am looking to test this out initially by way of borrowing a standard (unflashed) facelift ECU off somebody. Ideally, it would be from a late 98/early 99 auto VR-4, but as there is no TCL in the later cars, any facelift ECU may well do.

May then look to buying one if this is the golden ticket!


So, do you have one I can borrow?

TIA!

[peter thomson]

You then run into the problem of a mismatched ayc/tcl ecu and the error code will still occur. I have a facelift ecu in my VR4 which causes no problems but if I fitted a later gearbox ecu then problems begin again.
When we replaced Keiths gearbox with a pfl unit we tried quite a few combinations of gearbox/engine ecus. None have solved what we would call harsh shifts/ faults codes and in the end we will have to fit a facelift box again with it's matching ecu. Fortunatly we have to fl boxes. Just have to get one fitted sometime

[elnevio]

Interesting.

I am wondering what success I might have though as the position is reversed for me, i.e. FL gearbox into PFL car.

TBH, I am aiming for improved shifting (mine are erratic, albeit consistent and predictable), and a couple of other traits that don't work (e.g. the gearbox refuses to select a lower gear if cruising down a hill, like descent control).