ECU shorted, melted coils and ruined cat

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Old 03-30-2013, 08:41 PM
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Angry ECU shorted, melted coils and ruined cat

I recently went on a road trip and had my ecu fry. This caused multiple other problems. It melted all 6 coils and plugs in the block. After all of that was replaced, my cat and 2 02 sensors went out 100 miles later down the road. Does anyone know if there is any other issues that may want to get looked at do to this? The car is still under warranty so I want to make sure there is nothing else that might have been affected by the ecu shorting. 07 tl type s with 58,000 miles on it. I'm new to the forum and would appreciate people's thoughts.
Old 03-30-2013, 08:46 PM
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why did the ECU short?
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Old 03-30-2013, 08:47 PM
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Soooo.... your cat didn't have 9 lives?


Sell that car.
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Old 03-30-2013, 08:55 PM
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Not sure they never diagnosed it. They just told me the ecu shorted. A local mechanic believes that it could be my alternator because he can't get the car to go into low voltage mode. Apparently the car should run at either low or high depend on what your drawling. He seems to think that is the reason for the ecu shorting. Dealership won't look at it cause there is no light on without me paying more money. I'm fed up with giving them my money and them not getting it right.
Old 03-30-2013, 08:57 PM
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Most of the time;when the ECU shorts, its from water.

Check the ECU area for corrosion,rust, etc.
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Old 03-30-2013, 08:58 PM
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The car has also had other electrical problems. The navi and hand free link both crashed and were replaced under warranty. It also seems to be really hard on battery. The last one lasted 7 months.
Old 03-30-2013, 09:04 PM
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There was no evidence of moisture in there. If there was they wouldn't have replaced the coils and plugs under the warranty. After I got a new ecu 6 coils and plugs I continued only 100 miles before the the cat and 02 sensors came up on my check engine light.
Old 03-30-2013, 09:08 PM
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the drain tubes get clogged up and end up dripping onto the ECU.
pretty well documented.



the only other way ive seen; is to connect jumper cables with the wrong polarity.
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Old 03-30-2013, 09:09 PM
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and it makes sense; poor combustion would foul the catalytic converters
Old 03-30-2013, 09:16 PM
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I brought the car into the first dealer on my vacation when the check engine light came on and reported "problem with starting system, check starting system" . Then threw a code for manual sports shift turned off. The dealer told me it was only a battery that needed charged. Less than 30 miles from there at a red light, misfire reading (all lite up within sec.) couldn't make it to next light before completely dead.
Old 03-31-2013, 03:09 AM
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Were you using the A/C pretty consistently on your trip?
Old 03-31-2013, 07:38 AM
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No not at all took the trip in February. I've read about the issues with the ac drainage but that doesn't appear to be the case here. There no signs of moisture in or around ecu. Anyone know if it could be my alternator never going into low output mode? Was told this by a mechanic at a local garage. Can't find anything similar to my exact situation on the site.
Old 03-31-2013, 02:48 PM
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I would document it heavily and look at the lemon law! This car has some extreme sensitivity to electrical deficiencies i would get prepared as this sounds way more than what we see typically!
Old 03-31-2013, 04:07 PM
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Went through that too. In pa under the lemon law you have to have 3 issues regarding the same thing while under factory warranty. The law firm and mechanic can't agree on the root cause so at is point the (first firm I spoke with) told me if I have another issue with the ecu or coils I have a case. A local mechanic in town is telling me he thinks it the voltage regulator is the root cause of it all (in these cars it's all part of the alternator). Also when I take the car to Advanced Auto, the alternator test comes up good but 3 different places all told me its bad because of what it did during the test. Please mechanics any suggestions or thoughts appreciated.
Old 04-01-2013, 06:57 AM
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Is this a flood car? I've never seen soa my issues on one car. First how do you melt 6 coils? The only way I've seen a melted coil is from over heating. And are they sure the ecu was no good? And they didn't mis diagnosed a faulty ecu due to the blown fuse from the coils melting? I see it all the time when spark plugs blow out coil packs and blow the fuse for the ecu/ign.
Old 04-01-2013, 07:15 AM
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No the car was never in flood or accident. I've had the car for 3 years. It has been handled by Acura mechanics only. The carfax and maintenence are exactly what you would want to see when buying a car. Other than car has 31 maintenence reports on carfax but 10 of them are basically oil changes and routine maintenence stuff. The ecu board was definitely fried ( about a 1/4 of it completely melted). The Acura dealer did say they replaced a fuse in the car when they did all the work.
Old 04-01-2013, 07:28 AM
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Your alternator may be frying your battery (as your mechanic mentioned) then all that excess current/voltage is burning up that other stuff.
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