Hey, so before i went to work today id asked my brother to measure the o2 sensor with a multimeter to check if the voltage was correct and when i got home i tried starting the car and now it dies unless i have foot on accelerator and has absolutly no power and alot of smoke comes out of exhaust, now he said as he was doing it the car was turned to on and that he measured the side the runs into the car and he said it sparked a few times as he was measuring between 2 connectors, and the check engine light comes on now

Now im thinking it could have shorted out my ECU, but i really dont know, any ideas as to the problem??

Really need help as the car is undriveable snd i need it!!!

Should never spark when measuring low voltage. Sounds like he had the multimeter set to amps, or he has shorted something.
Why did you get someone to "measure the oxygen sensor".

i was told that it may be faulty because it wasnt running perfect even before this happened and got told to check the current going through to see if it was faulty, and now the battery light also flashes and the engine light stays lit.

Is the 02 Sensor plugged in..??? Also in the fuse box under the bonnet there is a yellow fuse holder with 2 fuses in it. I would also check them.

yeah o2 sensor is plugged in, and the yellow fuse holder with the 2 fuses they are both fine as is every other fuse

im just thinking that it might have surged back into the wires and shorted out the ecu or something else, just i cant get go get someone to check codes as i has no power and i dont have a scan tool myself

Have you checked the fuses in the cabin next to the drivers right knee?

yep all them fuses are fine, also had somebody come hook it up to a scan tool and it wasnt able to read anything off it, so im leaning alot towards the ecu is fried? any suggestions?

I suggest your ECU is fried.

How do you fry a ECU with a multimeter.. Is it even possible..?

How do you fry a ECU with a multimeter.. Is it even possible..?

Dead easy. Just short across two live and unfused wires. Or one live wire down to earth.
Spark, magic smoke comes out, bye bye ECU.

Same as a computer, jam a screwdriver up a USB port across the 4 contacts and bye bye motherboard.

Could be a myriad of things. You simply need to get an auto-elec to come and look at it.

First thing I'd be doing though, is asking the person to come back, look under the bonnet, and write down EVERYTHING he did in order. It's quite possible he has undone some connections while hunting for the oxygen sensor wiring and hasn't plugged it all back together again.

From a wrecker, a new ECU is about $50 off the top of my head. Might be cheaper to simply replace it and have the car going, rather than pay an auto leccy $100 per hour to have a look. If it doesn't work, you can simply return it.

yeah i just dont want to go out and waste however much money on it then that not be the problem, also i cant find an exact ecu as mine, the ecu number is AW 34275(i have a number on the end its rubbed off but could be a 5, 3 or a J) but the bosch part number is 9 260 060 065, and my car is a 98 tf 3L manual with a 6g72 engine, if anyone has one of these ECU's let me know!

also i got auto elec to bring down his scan tool and it wouldnt read the fault codes and he said my battery light was also flashing so that could be my alternator but i highly doubt a faulty alternator would be making the car run the way it is, but getting rid of the car after its running again anyway had to many troubles with it, and yeah my brother had the ignition on and ran the multimeter across the ecu side cable of the 02 sensor and he said it sparked then when i tried to start car next it ran like how it is so thats why im thinking ecu

You'd be surprised what a faulty alternator can make your car do, my car wouldn't go over 30 ks and was spluttering when my alternator gave out, and then when I got home the battery light started flashing and the car wouldn't start...

Magnas really are the most reliable cars I've ever seen or driven but they require preventative maintenance, unlike fords or Holden's where you can have oil pissing out and they still go for 50,000 ks without a service or repairs.

I'm still saying ECU. That model number you have is very common. There are at least 10 of those ECU's at Pick n Payless Blacktown.

What model do you have, if you have TH or later you need a full ecu pack or the ability to copy over the immob code or it will simply not run despite the part number on the box.

You really want to find the issue as generally a fried ECU will not allow the car to run in the first place anyway.

but new ecu means i have to get new ignition barrel and that right?

What model do you have, if you have TH or later you need a full ecu pack or the ability to copy over the immob code or it will simply not run despite the part number on the box.

You really want to find the issue as generally a fried ECU will not allow the car to run in the first place anyway.

i have a TF and i dont really know to much about cars so i cant find the problem the only thing i would think of is that the ECU was shorted out when the connector sparked, also a scan tool wouldnt read so that makes me think the ECU is broken also

If you get a replacement ECU from a tf model, you can directly swap it. Your car doesn't have a body electrical module so no need to worry about changing the ignition pack and locks.

Does it run?

yeah the car starts but idles around 100rpm and has no accelration it revvs buts i put it into first and and doesnt move anywhere, smoke comes out of exhaust, fans that are mounted on radiator are on

If you get a replacement ECU from a tf model, you can directly swap it. Your car doesn't have a body electrical module so no need to worry about changing the ignition pack and locks.

Does it run?

Ummmm ..... no

IF you get one with the exact same part number you have about a 50% chance it will work off the bat, if it does not the TE and TF keys can be programmed to a new ECU if needed, they still have an immob unit located under the console, it is mounted vertically and is a little black box, this is not to be confused with the receiver unit located in the same place a BEM is located in a later model

Ummmm ..... no

IF you get one with the exact same part number you have about a 50% chance it will work off the bat, if it does not the TE and TF keys can be programmed to a new ECU if needed, they still have an immob unit located under the console, it is mounted vertically and is a little black box, this is not to be confused with the receiver unit located in the same place a BEM is located in a later model

yeah i was 80% sure you had to get new keys or replace the ignition barrel from the car with the ecu, but can i disconnect the immobiliser and then put a new ecu in and still use my keys, would that work?

Ummmm ..... no

IF you get one with the exact same part number you have about a 50% chance it will work off the bat, if it does not the TE and TF keys can be programmed to a new ECU if needed, they still have an immob unit located under the console, it is mounted vertically and is a little black box, this is not to be confused with the receiver unit located in the same place a BEM is located in a later model

Worked for me. Swap ECU and start the car. Done. There are a few different part numbers on the ECU for some reason.

can i unplug immobiliser or anything??, its the black box behind the ash tray right?

also a scan tool wouldnt read so that makes me think the ECU is broken also
An OBD2 scan tool won't get any response as these ECUs don't support OBD2 protocol (even though they have the connector) - needs something that understands Mitsubishi's MUT-II protocol.

An OBD2 scan tool won't get any response as these ECUs don't support OBD2 protocol (even though they have the connector) - needs something that understands Mitsubishi's MUT-II protocol.

im pretty sure he had a a thing that works for MUT-II, he had like a big tablet looking thing and connected it to under teh steering wheel, i know they have a different protocol to other cars but im sure he used the right one

It is possible to damage parts of the circuitry in an ECU but still have other parts (including the CPU core) operate normally.

If the engine basically runs, even poorly, then the ECU is not completely dead but is running in some form of limp mode. Any arcing over is likely to have done some damage to electrical circuitry in the ECU or related sensors, or possibly the voltage regulator in the alternator. If any sensor inputs to the ECU (other than the O2 sensor) are out of spec a CEL usually is shown, but there are circumstances where it isn't (the O2 sensor being out of spec will never show a CEL). The fact that the CEL is being shown supports there being a sensor problem.

The ECU code triggering the CEL can be displayed via the "flashing lights" method: ignition OFF, ground diagnostic pin 1 by jumpering to pin 4 or 5 or the chassis, ignition ON, read indicator light counting long (1.5s) flashes followed by counting short (0.5s) flashes, multiply number of long flashes by 10 and add the number of short flashes to get the code. Resetting the ECU will clear the code until the problem is identified again.

If you get a replacement ECU from a tf model, you can directly swap it. Your car doesn't have a body electrical module so no need to worry about changing the ignition pack and locks.
I didn't know that some models are like this? Which models allow swap of the ECU without needing a new BEM or key programme? What about KL?

I didn't know that some models are like this? Which models allow swap of the ECU without needing a new BEM or key programme? What about KL?

From H and on wards, all have BEM. Only the E and F didn't. You can see yours if you lay down in the drivers footwell looking up and it is a black box to the left of the steering column. It is about 15x15x2cm with two plugs at the back.

I shorted out my ECU, the heater core was leaking and was dripping onto the ECU (Someone removed the plastic shielding over the top of it), so when I replaced it I went to the wreckers and got an ECU with the same model number and I needed a manual one, plugged it in, worked straight off the bat, however I could not reprogram my alarm to the new ecu so I had to remove it.