'90 Mighty Max-Don't send ECM to these guys

[Samina]

Hi all,
Yes, we still have our '90 Mighty Max we bought new and it has had no problems with it, except that I've never liked the rough shift of this vehicle, but husband says it is because it is a 4 wheel drive. Plus, the heaviness of this 6 cylinder vehicle means it doesn't get the best gas mileage. Otherwise, it has never needed any repair on it, and we have kept the engine oil and filter changed regularly.

To the point, our Engine Control Module (ECM or ECU) went out on us about 5 years ago. Pretty good for an ECM that is known to be made poorly, with junky components in the original ones. So, we sent it to ecmtogo dot com in Houston, Texas, and they repaired it, and tested it in a junker Mitsubishi before sending it back to us to re-install it. It worked. Then, this February it went dead again. Husband used his scopemeter to test it and it showed it was dead, so we removed it and this time sent it to another company: Atlantic Auto Technologies LLC in Jacksonville, Florida. atlanticautotech dot com
They sent it back withiin two weeks, saying they repaired it. We stuck it back in and still a dead car that won't start. Husband did further meter testing and checking wire connections, and after 4 days of diagnostics, he threw up his hands and came to the conclusion that the ECM was still dead. So, we mailed it back to AAT at the end of February, as it was still under their warranty. We heard nothing back from them, and near two weeks later husband phoned them, and talked to Charles, the salesperson in charge of our problem. He said that it was non-remanufacturable and that they would send it back, but that he would contact husband when he got a tracking number for the shipping. He never did. He also gave my husband excuses when he asked about the refund of our $299.95 dollars minus the $89.95 diagnostic/test fee. "Charles" said they only took care of credit card refunds on Friday's. So, we waited. Still no refund and no returned ECM. Then we continued to get the run around with excuses, that "Charlie" isn't in", or that he would not answer his telephone extension number. Another excuse was that they were having problems with their shipping department. So, days, weeks past and still no refund or no ECM. Husband finally filed a dispute with our credit card company a couple of weeks ago.
I would suggest not doing business with these guys, or at least to check them out with the better business bureau (we found that they have had an F rating and have changed their name more than once- do a search for them under the name of Atlantic Automotive Industries LLC and cringe at all of the names they currently go by). I just don't want someone else to go through with what we have been going through. I am out of a vehicle and have to wait for my husband to return if I want to go to the store, which won't be for another couple of weeks.
We now wished that we had used the company based in Houston. Too late.
Regards, Samina

[waverider38]

New guy here. This is why I joined this forum. I need ecu repaired and looking for reputable source. Good to know where NOT to shop. Thanks for post.

[Samina]

Hi waivrider38,

Yes, and they are no longer in business as of last summer. You can read this link at the Jacksonville newspaper.
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog...to-parts-firms


Interesting latter history on our MIghty Max. After we finally got the ECU back, we sent it to Micro-Tech Automotive Industries located in Louisville, KY, who received it, looked at it, said the last company that worked on it did a bad job of repairing it, and sent it back to us saying that it was unrepairable- only charge to us was $30.00 to examine/test it. So, we figured all was lost. Then, my husband put unit back in truck and replaced the fuse near the battery and the engine started and idled! We didn't know what to think of the matter, but the second time I took it out to town it quit on me. We had it towed home. Long story short, we then put a new alternator in it, and problem continued with short after reaching engine temperature while driving a couple miles down the road. More testing and husband replaced idle control servo as he tested original and one of the coils was burnt. It now idled smoother, but still, truck would quit on way to town after reaching engine temperature. Then we, well, I mainly watched, he then changed out the timing belt, which had never been changed, so we did that as well as the water pump and pulley. Truck idled even better after he reset the timing, but random short continued on drive to town. Our only hope was to keep a handful of fuses in the glove. But then my husband did some searching and found a clue that it might be caused by the oxygen sensor. He crawled under the truck and found that the cable from the sensor ran along bottom of exhaust system and it had a visible short in the cable. He replaced that and now no more random short and the truck runs fine.
It seemed whenever I would make a left curve, the force of the momentum would flex the shorted wires, causing the truck to quit.
I'm glad this is fixed as I like this truck much better than my husband's 2008 Ford Ranger, 4 cylinder manual transmission, which doesn't have much umph. And, now my husband plans to keep this truck as the more he works on it the more familiar he is with its inner workings and how to repair it.
Regards, Samina

[Mohave]

Mine also went out six years ago and the ECU was rebuilt by Sunrise in Sac, CA. The car never ran after that and they later said it was a final sale and that they only replaced the known bad components. They also finally admitted they do not test it at all after the rebuild.

I had to let the truck sit for 6 years while I dealt with other family issues and finally got to it a couple of weeks ago. I determined it was the ECU still and bought a Cardone from Kragen. I put it in, drained and replaced the gas in the tank. and she started today with a lot of lifter noise.

I will see if it lasts.

[Samina]

Wow, six years! It's good to hear that you got it running again.
We had a bit of valve clatter but it unstuck after husband ran it down the road for a mile or two. I'm not sure if he put any of that ungunking stuff in the system or not, but I use the once a week and it hasn't clattered since then.

You may not want to put more money into it, but we feel it was worth getting the idle air-control valve replaced as these can go bad, too. Ours did. It cost $83.99 from auto zone. Check the oxygen sensor cable for visible shorts, if yours has one. Ours is just behind the front right wheel area under the body.

This is from foreign ecu repair site:
"With the 3.0 model occasionally the ISC motor, Idle Speed Control Motor or Idle Air Servo will fail and then short the ECU and burn it, so severely sometimes that the ECU is ruined and can not be rebuilt. If this happens to you, you'll likely know it from the smoke that's coming from your ECU."
Samina

[Mohave]

Thank you for the information on other components that tend to go bad. I have no problem with proactively replacing components that tend to fail. My truck is 19 years old and has less than 50k miles on it. It is extremly clean, but needs a new seat.

Regards, Robert