I was having hard-start issues I posted about earlier. Always had to prime the fuel pump to start after several hours being left cold. Subsequent start-up was no problem.
Dealership says when they swapped in a new ECM, car started up fine. Even though it threw no codes, and no other issues with driving once the car warmed up…TRD tells the dealership that the ECM may have been fried/deprived of 12v due to my aftermarket stereo system. And somehow the ECM is “more finicky” with power after the supercharger install and new ECM flash. um, ok?
It’s a single 300w amp, and a kenwood unit that I have had for over a year in this car, and 2 years in the last car I owned. I do not understand this thinking. I asked, so if my battery ever dies, then so will my ECM? They say, no, the problem is with possible fluctuating drain “when the car is running.” Which I do not understand since everything will run off of the alternator or the battery. They say it needs to be off of a fuse box, but all connections are fused. Either you have juice or not, no? Incidentally this is not a competition sound system, I have never had lights flicker or display any loss of power while driving.
I thought hard start was going to be coil packs or something else, but a partial ECM loss from a stereo on the battery?? Or does this throw-up a BS meter?
It’s conceivable - if you had a system that drew more amps than your alternator produced, ie flickering lights and such. However, just because you don’t have the flickery lights, that doesn’t mean that your aren’t drawing too much amperage/voltage from the rest of the system. Do you have a sub? The best thing to do, to make sure it isn’t a problem, would be to replace the battery with a deep cycle optima, and add a capacitor to your system. That should clean up the signal to the ECM.
thanks for the reply. i have 3 jl 6" subs (6w0). i was considering the Kinetik HC1800 battery, how about that one?
so an ecm can get hosed from a power spike, but also a power drain?
ok, say i add a beefier battery, cap, ho alternator (i don’t think i need this, just saying)…that makes juice available and on hand…don’t i need some sort of protection/regulation if that is the real issue with a clean signal to the ecm?
A low amp draw should not kill a PCM/ECM the most it will do is cause it to reset. To call a ECM you really need to overamp/overvoltage it.
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so would say a dying battery cause the ECM to reset? i have heard on more than 1 occassion that ecm reset could cause engine stutter on startup (my original symptoms) when it tries to “re-learn”. Maybe that was the cause of my problem all along?
Incidentally, dealer says he gave me a new battery because mine “was on the bench” so much this week. Aside from the new ECM, and reflash unit, ($1000+ in parts) he throws in a new battery? I am always dubious when someone gives me something for free, there must be more to the story.
OK from now on for every technical post looking for help without even stating the make/model of the car I am going to kill a kitten. So you own a supercharged Toyota. Is it a factory TRD supercharger? Is your car under warranty?
If the amp is drawing a ton of power, it will drop the voltage in your system and the little electronic bits will see a high current to compensate. This will heat shit up. If you have delicate relays in your computer they could theoretically be damaged by this low voltage/high current situation.
300w isn’t much, so it’s not likely, but apparently something killed your system. :gotme:
It sounds like the dealership doesn’t know what the problem is, but blamed it on you so that when it comes back they don’t have to warranty it. I’d have the dealership remove the sub/amp now and get a receipt that they did it so that when the problem comes back they can’t pin it on you.
the dealership will just blame anything they can on somthing thats not factory installed, end of story. but if its getting covered under warranty, then :tup:
OK from now on for every technical post looking for help without even stating the make/model of the car I am going to kill a kitten. If you have delicate relays in your computer they could theoretically be damaged by this low voltage/high current situation.
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i’m allergic to cats, so go ahead and kill 'em.
i’d rather keep the system…so what would you suggest to protect those delicate bits?
As mentioned, a good battery and a (~1 farad) capacitor oughta do it. 300W isn’t much, so if in fact the dealership isn’t just copping out, the damage probably just resulted from momentary voltage dips when the bass hits. The cap in particular will smooth these power-draw spikes.
None of this makes sence. Basically you had a bad ECM that they are trying to take the blame off Toyota and put it on your so they don’t have to warrenty it.
All ECMs have voltage protection/regulation built into them; bottom line. Even if your voltage drops to 10V on the car, it will still run… barely, but it will run. If you over-voltage it somehow, which also doesn’t seem probable in any way it would pop the voltage protection in the ECM, in a sence “frying” it, even though only 3 or 4 components went bad.
As long as your HU is wired into the factory stereo wiring through the stock HU fuse; that can not be it. If your amp is pulling directly off the battery and fused properly then you are fine (seeing u have a small system and nothing huge). The battery is isoltating and providing a buffer of sorts to the cars main electrical system.
Bottom line: They are blowing smoke up your ass so they can blame u instead of fessing up that there is another issue.
Bottom line: They are blowing smoke up your ass so they can blame u instead of fessing up that there is another issue.
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:word: I probably shouldn’t have even posted all that theoretical :bs: because at the end of the day you should get annoyed by dimming headlights long before you had an ECU problem if you had a low voltage situation.
Is it that factory TRD supercharger system? Did they forget to install the 5th injector or never flashed the ECU in the first place?
They’re probably just trying to cover their ass becuase they either know they fucked up or don’t know what the problem is. Highly unlikely that it’s related to your system.
None of this makes sence. Basically you had a bad ECM that they are trying to take the blame off Toyota and put it on your so they don’t have to warrenty it.
All ECMs have voltage protection/regulation built into them; bottom line. Even if your voltage drops to 10V on the car, it will still run… barely, but it will run. If you over-voltage it somehow, which also doesn’t seem probable in any way it would pop the voltage protection in the ECM, in a sence “frying” it, even though only 3 or 4 components went bad.
As long as your HU is wired into the factory stereo wiring through the stock HU fuse; that can not be it. If your amp is pulling directly off the battery and fused properly then you are fine (seeing u have a small system and nothing huge). The battery is isoltating and providing a buffer of sorts to the cars main electrical system.
Bottom line: They are blowing smoke up your ass so they can blame u instead of fessing up that there is another issue.
word…like said before prolly a fluke reason the ECM took a shit…they saw aftermarket stereo…BAM thats ur cause…typical dealershit stuff…most not all dealer techs are lazy and will do as little as possible to find/fix a problem
i suppose that is always possible, i am not perfect.
but let’s say that happened…no fuses have ever popped. no codes or cel’s. no dimming lights, no problems with ice…and the only thing fuzzy on the ecm (apparently) was the sporadic cold start/extending cranking issue when the car was left for 6 hrs or more. funny that if the ecm got fried…only cold start would be affected??
i will conceed the following: was not an issue until after the s/c was installed (by dealership…who incidentally did NOT flash the ecm properly…i was driving around for 4 months on only half of the tune). and battery seemed to have a much shorter life after that (perhaps 30 min to drain rather than 120+ mins towards the end). maybe i was drawing too much from the alt? killing the bat? and that fried the ecm?? and ecm post s/c install more picky?? idk. dealer decided to “throw in” a new battery…i didn’t even ask for it. could this have been caused by a defective or overloaded bat or alt the whole time?
in my early convo’s with TRD they asked me if I had aftermarket fog lights…or anything hooked up to bat neg. they said they had seen issues there. can an s/c tune be that fricken finnicky? or is it just possible that there are other elec components in the kit that draw more amps and at idle, not enough power can be supplied? could be a combination of things.
wish i knew the answer to these questions. I am looking at a new kinetik battery and a ho alternator, and big 3.
i know audi and vw’s had a problem passing the obd2 test for nys inspection due to some aftermarket stereo’s. and that’s been proven a few times. i forget the reason but it has screwed up pcm’s before. if i find it i’ll post up to let you all know
So you own a supercharged Toyota. Is it a factory TRD supercharger? Is your car under warranty?