not sure if you guys saw my earlier statement in the unichip discussion thread, but a couple of weeks ago my tranny went tits up. I did not have time to remove my unichip before taking it in to the dealer, if i wanted to get a loaner car. anyways after them haveing it for almost two weeks, they called me today saying the new tranny was in but they were haveing lights coming up on the dash. They reinstalled my unichip in the new ecu. They could not figure out why the light were on. so they put my new ecu in another tl & said it was fried & i would be responsible for buying the new ecu due to my unichip. like $645.00 + $89.00 diagnostic fee. i was dumbfounded & really did not know what to say. I just told them there were many other members with the unichip & no one else has burned one up. i was pissed. they have me by the balls as i must have my car. I did not have any problems with my old ecu or unichip. i told them just put in a new ecu & leave out the unichip. a half hour later I get another call from them saying they blew another ecu, this time without the unichip. This was like music to my ears as it meant my unichip did not cause the ecu to blow. they asked me what mods i had done to the car & asked me if i had done any other thing electrical to my car besides the unichp. They now have to call acura engineering to try to figure out what might be causing this problem as no one there had ever seen anything like this. They were also getting me ready for a fall too, saying if my chip was the cause of this my bill would be at least $1,000.00. WTF do i do if they try to stick me. I do not know enough to defend myself. Any ideas. sorry so long, but its kind of complicated.

 

i dont know man...


normally you can fight with them about bolt on parts... but when it comes to ECU and eletronic stuff... i dont know....

but good luck ...

 

As long as you havent done anything else they cant balme the Unichip since your car fried another ecu w/o the chip installed. Tell them you're contacting an attorney if they try to stick you with a bill at all.

 

omg, i hope it worls out for ya

remind me to take mine out when i go...

 

thanks, i tried in the beginning to get them to leave in the old ecu, but they said they change what the factory tells them to change. Any of you experts have any idea what could be causing the ecu's to fry?

 

Man...never seen that before. And I've done more trannies than oil changes Umm...pretty much as longas u have NOT cut into ANY ecu wires..you should be fine. Contacting ur attorney really wouldn't do anything to scare them. If u ask for the service rep's number they might get nervous and call up the dealer rep. Bascially explain the whole situation and u should be fine. i really can't think of anything that would cause this. Good luck and give us some feedback.

 

will do ant, thanks for the positive feedback. i'll let you guys know how this ordeal goes. Could be a war. i think my days of owning an acura are about done. Sad but true. by the way ant arn't you the one that had nothing but trouble with your unichip?

 

hehehe...yep!

 

did you get your full refund?

 

I really don't know what to say, I just wanted to wish you luck!

`John

 

Wow that sucks. Will definitely have to remember to pull my Unichip out before I have any work done to the car.

 

Sounds like a wiring short somewhere is causing the ECU to blow when it's plugged in & powered. I'd have them check the wire harness for any loose, frayed, or cut wires.

 

seattle dale,
first i would contact unichip and enlist their help in understanding this "alledged" problem that the dealership claims. we know that the 2 rearmost connectors for the PNP harness could be inadvertently switched into the opposite ports of the ecu. it is possible a dealer tech may have errored in the reconnection process and if this happened unichip could tell you if permenant damage would result.
i realize this may be impossible to now prove however since your original ecu/unichip combo was working logic tells me the problem is in the exchange process. i agree also with fuzzy's above comment that the wiring harness may have been damaged when they installed the revised ecu.

 

The fact that they put in a second ECU WITHOUT the unichip, is your trump card. The fact that they blew up the unit -- and presumably you didn't have a failed ECU previously -- points to their screwing up.

Look, I can't be dead positive, but here are the facts as I see them (tell me if I got one of the details or facts wrong):

1. You take the car in for a tranny fix. The tranny is screwed, but the ECU is basically working (yes/no?)

2. They put in a new ECU because your getting the whole ECU/Tranny/rebuild package (yes/no?)

3. You have a PnP harness that is currently in and working with the UNICHIP (yes/no?)

4. They plug in a "upgraded"/"modified" ECU and blow it up.

5. They then remove all of the PNP stuff leaving the "stock" harness in place (yes/no)?

6. With the UNICHIP and PnP harness removed they proceed to blow the second unit.


If they had removed the PnP/Unichip and unit #2 went in without a problem, the issue might even be more confused (my opinion here).

The fact that they "normalized" the situation and plugged in the unit minus the electronic mods makes them partially responsible for the problem.

Example: Some moron rewires an amplifier trying to fix a boo-boo. I then try and help and replace some blown transistors. If I don't find the error and keep tossing in transistors or other components without identifying the problem, should I blame the moron who re-wired the unit? I certainly could blame them for the original problem. However, I sure couldn't charge them for each and every set of transistors -- or other parts -- that I just tossed in and watched them sizzle.

There is a point, where the issue is not black and white and their very actions have confused the issue.

BTW -- can someone clue me in on the connectors that you can SWAP causing damage? Can you really swap two connectors (this is a very bad design -- and should NEVER be done unless there is some compelling reason to do so: cost?, utility, replacement, redundancy, etc.)

When I sorted out a set of connectors for a PnP/metering setup for the ECU, I ended up with a set of connectors that could NOT be swapped around. IOW, I have a few sets of Amp/Tyco connectors for building patch cables...

 

which dealership in Seattle?

Sorry to hear about your ordeal..damn, electronic mods are scary

 

"They reinstalled my unichip in the new ecu."


They should never have re-intalled the unichip. I surprised they touched it without asking. They should have asked you to remove it, or asked for permission to remove it and hand it to you when your car was ready.

It is not an Acura part, or "what the factory tells them to change."

Soulds like they wanted to make the customer happy, and got burned.

 

AND: "i told them just put in a new ecu & leave out the unichip. a half hour later I get another call from them saying they blew another ecu, this time without the unichip"

No unichip, AND still f*cked up...

 

[ BTW -- can someone clue me in on the connectors that you can SWAP causing damage? Can you really swap two connectors (this is a very bad design -- and should NEVER be done unless there is some compelling reason to do so: cost?, utility, replacement, redundancy, etc.)][QUOTE]

EricL, i have a spare PNP harness from Unichip, i"ll check the connectors again tonite . i posted that the inport connectors could be accedentially switched.

 

I got a 100% refund.

also...i've encountered things like this...not a uni-chip or anything but when I replace a part that has some sort of aftermarket modification to it...All I do is place it in the trunk. It's not my job to re-install ur mod because of reasons like this. Also...it's possible that they fried the ecu by trying to programm the new immobilzer in the new ecu w/ the uni-chip plugged in. Maybe thats what they did but it still doesn't explain why it fried another w/o the uni-chip in. I think they might be trying to screw u but hold ur ground.

Also...any new updates??

 

update, you guys arn't going to believe this shit. Acura called me 1st thing this a.m. & said, " Mr. Ruckman we have some good news, some very good news." Came to find none of the ecu's fried. What happened is after talking to engineering it was discovered they had not sent one but 3 ecu's for an acura 2003tl, I have a 2003TLS. even though they look identical, there is quite a difference between the two. My total charge for a tranny replacement, new ecu, turned rotors, new pads was $43.00, & that was for my oil change. Do you believe that shit, that really makes them look good. Here yesterday they were going to soak me for a grand because my unichip had caused all this grief. I asked them if they reinstalled my unichip & they told me they would rather not. Took my baby home installed my chip & she's running great. Better than before. I could really tell the differance from my ride home without the unichip & my later installation of it. Difference is like day & night. No cel, no lights, running like a champ. I'm one happy mofo right now. i was concerned the new e.c.u. might fuck with my chip, but no such luck.

 

great news!!!

down a cold one

 

That's great news. Glad it worked out.

 

thanks guys, already downed a couple three cold ones.

 

holy fucking !

 

no shit!

 

Congrats man!

 

terrific news , i'm still trying to get rid of reoccuring cel's with my unichip install. similar prob's to ant's any good news with this mod helps my outlook with what i'm experiancing
congrats

 

i never have had a problem with cel's, not one, never did quite understand how some of our cars have that problem & others don't. hope you get your unichip problem straightened out.

 

good shit bro...glad it worked out fine for u!! Plus I can't tell u how many times I wanted to break the fuckin ecu's over my parts managers head. First u have to hook up a Honda PGM tester to read the immobilizer key codes on the original ecu...then once it reads them then u install the new ecu and program the new ecu w/ the immobilizer codes. Well because the ecu's all look identical except for part number...many many times has this happened to me. Then I go into parts and say...can u run the vin and make sure this is the right ecu. He'll be like "oops" jokingly "nope" "oh well"....then I gotta do the shit all over again. Wastes soo much fuckin time and he acts like it's no big deal. Meanwhile it's my fuckin paycheck that gets affected........sorry..just venting here but I know how that tech must feel.

I swear...everytime I go into parts now for a part I ask him to check it by the vin to make sure cause my parts guy is an asshole. And when he's busy he'll be like "IT'S THE RIGHT ONE" and then when I walk back in a half an hour later he'll think it's a joke or some shit.

Anyways...it's not the dealer...it's the fuckin parts department that fucked up ur situation and I know personally how it feels. But...in the end u got everythiing OK and thats all that matters

 

i'm still really surprised acura admitted thier fuck-up. i'd be highly embarressed if i were them. Still pisses me off when i think about it, that they were trying to blame me & my unichip for the cel's. They were actually trying to soak me for a grand. Hello put the right friggin part in the car numbnuts.

 

the thing is that they probably were not doing it on purpose. i would much rather have them admit to it then to just play it off like it was my fault and that they are just fixing it as a goodwill favor of some sort.
dealers always try to do it to me. they dented some plastic in the interior, and you could tell it was prying by a screwdriver. they tried to stick me with the bill, but i talked to the mechanic and he said he would fix it. still he wouldnt admit he did it, but said hes a nice guy and would help me getting fixed for free.

 

Glad your ordeal came to a good ending...but which dealer was this? Acura of BellevueBullshitters, seattle, lynwood?

 

My guess is Bellevue - they're a bunch of asshats.

 

X 100

 

actualy it was hinshaws acura of fife, i'm a south ender. i avoid smellville (bellevue) @ all costs.