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Replacing dead ECU with second hand one

Erad2008

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Hi.

My VZ SV6 Commodore has the classic symptoms of a dead ECU (Low Fuel, Service and Powertrain etc). I bought a second hand ECU thinking that would just be able to go to a mechanic and get them to link it. But I am being told that they dont want to do it unless I have the whole kit (PIMM BCM etc). Some are telling me it cant be done without the whole kit. I am confused now. Has anyone else out there done it before and what was involved? Also if you live in Melbourne would love to know where you went if possible.

Any help is greatly appreciated and if any other info is needed to answer question then am happy to provide.

Thank you so much in advance for any help. Cheers.
 

BlackVXGTS

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I don't understand why you think you have a dead ECU and need a replacement. Perhaps you can provide your rationale.

However, the reason why the mechanics wants you to have the whole kit (from the same car) is because they then don't have to link them because they are already linked. Presumably, because they don't have a scan tool that can perform the linking process. You need to have an Holden Tech2 scan tool (or compatible equivalent) to do the linking on the VZ.
 

Erad2008

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Hi. It is because I have every symptoms of it being the Ecu. I suddenly has Powertrain error message on dash, very low fuel error faulty gauge error service vehicle error and was intermittently not starting and now will not start at all until I jump 2 pins under the starter relay. Thanks for the reply. Cheers
 

lout

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see my post where i made a bypass
 

Lex

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Hi. It is because I have every symptoms of it being the Ecu. I suddenly has Powertrain error message on dash, very low fuel error faulty gauge error service vehicle error and was intermittently not starting and now will not start at all until I jump 2 pins under the starter relay. Thanks for the reply. Cheers
Have you tried recharging the battery?
 

losh1971

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It is common for the VZ V6 ECMs to fail, the early VE V6 had the same problem.
 

Erad2008

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It is common for the VZ V6 ECMs to fail, the early VE V6 had the same problem.
Yeah. It socks. I already replaced the stretched timing chains a couple of years back and replaced the transmission last year so very frustrating. I have replaced half the car in the 14 years I have owned it lol.
 
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