1g ecu question

[DSMNerd6889]

Hey guys, I've been having some problems with my car. I've tried a lot of different fixes, but no luck. I just pulled my ecu tonight and I may or may not have had leaky capacitors, there is a little gunk on the board, but I don't see any real damage, I'm taking the ecu to a local guru tomorrow, but my question is this: the ecu is labeled md166263... I was told that it may be a 91-94 ecu (my car is a 90, which may be the source of some of my problems). Can anyone tell me if I am dealing with a 91-94 ecu here? Thanks in advance.

[gthompson97]

This is what I found.

http://www.dsm.org/archives/1997/02/19970205.txt/1.html

EDIT: Here's another good one. http://www.ecanfix.com/users/mdhamil...onversion.html

[DSMNerd6889]

Okay, I did some more looking and I found that my ecu is for late 90-92 awd california cars. My question is this: can I use an ecu from a 90-92 fwd car as long as its still turbo? And can I use a federal ecu rather than a california one? Is there anything I would need to do to use a federal ecu. Thanks again.

[gthompson97]

I've NEVER heard of a difference in ecu's like that. Did you read the links I posted above? There's some good info in there if you want to get a 91-94 ecu in a 90 car.

[DSMNerd6889]

Well, this is what lead me to believe this. Here is website showing the serial numbers for the different ecu's (ie federal/california). http://simon.chi.il.us/ECU/ECUID.html

And then here is a clip from 1000AAQ which makes me think that there is more than just an ecu difference.

What are the differences between Federal cars and California (CA) cars?

CA cars have more stringent emissions requirements than Federal cars, so they have a couple of extra pieces of equipment. An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) solenoid valve is installed on CA cars next to the fuel pressure solenoid valve, while Federal cars have a empty space there. 1G CA ECUs are programmed slightly differently than Federal ECUs, making it problematic to switch ECUs from car to car without getting error codes.

To add to the confusion, all 1994 USA DSMs had California emissions, meaning there are technically no Federal 1994 cars. This prevents 1994 owners from installing an EGR blockoff plate, as the CA-style ECU is smart enough to notice and flag an error code. This requires the substitution of a 92-93 Federal ECU for the original CA ECU.

[Other changes to be added.]

Other than that, there are no differences between Federal and CA cars.

But the good news is, it seems that I don't have a 90 ecu, I should be able to use a late 90 thru 92... I just don't know if I can use a GST one and what will happen if I use a federal one.