Hi all, I am a newbie needing some help please. I bought a 97 v6 magna as a run around for my wife on Thursday, driving it today and the car suddenly went into what I have now learned from searching "fail safe mode" The N is flashing constantly at about 1 flash per second. My question is, is the tcu stuffed. If so where is the tcu located and what does it look like. I tried disconnecting the battery but this did nothing. The car seems to be stuck in 3rd gear and selects reverse with a harsh bump. Checked the fluid, level looks ok and the oil is pink.
What is the cost of a replacement tcu.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers Coop.

Car/gearbox needs looking at by someone who knows what they are doing, and diagnose the problem correctly before bits are replaced. Could be TCU, but it could be other things.

Before you go spending money, remove all plugs from the trans and inhibitor switch, clean and plug back in, may be simply moisture from an engine clean has fowled one of the elec plugs, also check your heater core is not leaking over the ECU, plenty of threads on this, ECU is located on top of the tunnel right up front, pull back the pass side carpet and look in there

Ok I have taken the car to a gearbox specialist. He told me its the Tcu, he pulled it out for me and inspected it. Is it the silver box with 4 separate plugs in the back?? I went to a wrecker and they gave me another but with a different code to try, I plugged this in but the engine would not start, plugged mine back in but now the check engine light is on and the car is running rough, what have I done?? Help please!!!!!

The TCU is also the ECU, you need to get the new one, go to someone who can code keys and have your keys coded to the new unit. The Te and TF can have keys coded to another ecu without having to worry about immob etc

Ok, but why now I have plugged my old ecu back in is the check engine light on and the car running rough??? Have I done damage by plugging in the incorrect computer?? Car was running fine except for the limp mode before I plugged in the other ecu.

Update, found a replacement ecu at the wreckers with the same code on it. Plugged it in, gearbox is no longer in limp mode but the check engine light is still on and the car is still running rough! What is going on? Could I have done damage plugging in the incorrect ecu.

The ECU isn't universal across all models of the magnas... I'll let the pros answer this one

Ok, issue solved. The issue with the engine light coming on and the rough idle was a loose connection on the ecu, was simply a coincidence when I unplugged it to try the different ecu I must have disturbed the bad connection. Replacement "compatible" ecu all installed now. Loose connection still there but only becomes an issue if the wires are bumped, will get an auto electrician to fix properly sometime soon. Thanks for all the help. Cheers Coop.