Felicia ECU Issues

[Favorit Fan]

Hi. Has anyone had any experience with an Immobiliser emulator in a Felicia?. Something like this Ebay item: 264721728717 

I think I have burnt out the ECU in my 1.3 felicia, and this, coupled to an ECU from my local breakers yard seems to be the cheapest way to fix it. And would it matter which suffix code is on the replacement ECU?, as mine is a "C" but the replacement one is an "N". 

Thanks. 

[Thefeliciahacker]

Felly ecus are a mixed breed some say interchangable some say not, the issue is finding someone to programm the immobiliser which is actually quite hard as for the emulator I honestly dont know as the felly has very weird immobiliser.

[RicardoM]

11 hours ago, Favorit Fan said:

I think I have burnt out the ECU in my 1.3 felicia

Any evidence for that? Cause?

[Favorit Fan]

I was advised by an auto electrician (who has now retired, and wouldn't do the job. ), to replace the wire supplying 12V to my alternator to cure the repeated blowing of my rectifier. I read the manual, and attempted to do it myself but didn't realise that it was not a direct wire. So now I have a clock and stereo working, but when I turn the key they go off and nothing works, not even dashboard lights, just the starter solenoid or a relay clicks. 

[RicardoM]

5 hours ago, Favorit Fan said:

I was advised by an auto electrician (who has now retired, and wouldn't do the job. ), to replace the wire supplying 12V to my alternator to cure the repeated blowing of my rectifier.

That is a very strange advice.

5 hours ago, Favorit Fan said:

I read the manual, and attempted to do it myself but didn't realise that it was not a direct wire.

Yes, it is. A thick wire goes from the battery to alternator.

5 hours ago, Favorit Fan said:

So now I have a clock and stereo working, but when I turn the key they go off and nothing works, not even dashboard lights, just the starter solenoid or a relay clicks

That is why I asked about evidence for a faulty ECU. The ECU gets shot usually if you supply external voltage on some pins of its connectors.

What you are describing are not symptoms of a bad ECU but of a bad wiring. You messed up the wiring somehow. Show us photos of what you did.

[Favorit Fan]

I didn't change any original wiring, I simply added a 70 amp wire from the battery to the bolt on terminal on the rear of the alternator. 

[Thefeliciahacker]

are you sure the car has proper grounding?

 

[Favorit Fan]

Yes because I put in an extra "ground" wire from the suspension turret top to the battery -   about 2 years ago. You raise an interesting point though : I will try replacing the engine earth wire with my new 70 amp wire at the weekend. 

[Favorit Fan]

All sorted thanks guys:

It was the battery, it showed a voltage of 12.6V before i used it last weekend(A day after it had been charged.), so i thought it was fine,

but today after another 16Hr charge, it still didnt want to work! even with the extra earth wire attached. So i swapped it for my Fabia battery and it started first try,

and then still started without the extra earth lead, so i'll have to get a new battery.

[RicardoM]

Well... well... well... So let's recap.

1) It was not the cable between battery and alternator (??!) the culprit for voltage regulator's frequent failure. The battery was shot.

2) The ECU was not faulty. The battery was shot.

3) You didn't need an "immobilizer emulator" from eBay. The battery was shot.

4) You didn't need an extra earth cable. The battery was shot.

 

The moral: NEVER assume something without a proper diagnose. In our case, a battery doesn't last forever. Moreover, measuring 12.6V on the battery poles without any load means nothing. The health of the battery is measured under load.

[Favorit Fan]

Getting the car diagnosed is the difficult part, since the Auto Electrician retired: he was the only electrician with a code reader that worked within 10 miles. I suppose I'll have to buy OBD 11, or some Ross tech items if I'm going to keep the car!. 

[Favorit Fan]

P. S. The battery hasn't necessarily cured the rectifier fault, I won't find that out until I start driving the car regularly again in summertime 

[RicardoM]

2 hours ago, Favorit Fan said:

P. S. The battery hasn't necessarily cured the rectifier fault

You mean the charging alert indicator is still lit?

The old, faulty battery acted more or less like a short for the charging system. Unless the alternator got damaged too in the process, the problem with the VR is solved.

[Favorit Fan]

It didn't fail weekly, or even monthly, the shortest that a new one lasted is two months or so, so it's not an urgent problem: I just keep a spare in the glove box. I was just trying to fix it before I sell the car. 

[Thefeliciahacker]

Please dont sell broken cars, it is just not fair.

[Favorit Fan]

The car is not broken!!; it runs and drives perfectly, and has a long MOT. there is something causing accelerated wear in the alternator rectifier, which I will be fixing when I put the car back on the road this summer. 

[D.FYLAKTOS]

On 14/01/2021 at 09:25, Thefeliciahacker said:

Felly ecus are a mixed breed some say interchangable some say not, the issue is finding someone to programm the immobiliser which is actually quite hard as for the emulator I honestly dont know as the felly has very weird immobiliser.

 

Buying from ebay or e-store used ECU's it's a mega-risk, usually have some problems that's why many times are cheap.

 

The best way is to go to a programmer,he knows where to buy and he has some ''guarantee" from the suppliers that if something goes wrong he will replace it with no cost from you.

The programmer later can do his ''magic" and the Felicia will cooperate with the new ECU with no problem with the immobiliser.