Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) ECU map file

I'm very impressed with that. I'm more of a hammer fixer so I'm lost with elecktrickery.

Do ECU's have a life span?
Maybe all our cars will be grinding to a halt in the future.

I spoke to Northampton Motorsport about about a remap for my 2013 +4, but as it's a ford ECU apparently it can't be tinkered with. Williams do some remaps so perhaps I'll give them a go.

I'm very impressed....satisfying I am sure!

On my T16 I was on ECU number 2 and that was starting to fail.

Yes, and it could be very short if the ECU is exposed to high temperatures.

Harald

All electronic devices have a life span, variables affecting this are usage, environment, quality of components. circuits are affected by electrical current running through them and gradually degrade as do all electrical components. So with time all ECUs will go to great maker in the breakers yard.

Frequently before the remainder of the modern car is due for disposal due to ageing (tinworm)...

In theory, it shouldn't be an issue, since ECUs aren't that complicated to make and there are plenty of aftermarket manufacturers around who could do the job - Emerald and MBE are the obvious UK choices.

If the relevant systems can be reverse engineered so as to ensure compliance with relevant emissions controls, the Government aren't bothered by any replacement ECU.

The problems really seem to be stemming from manufacturers seeking to prevent owners from being able to repair their stuff - General Motors and John Deere, for example, are seeking to deny that purchasers of their vehicles actually own them as such, but rather they have "An implied licence to operate the vehicle", due to the extensive nature of the software that controls them. So you're not allowed to fix your car, or get someone else to fix it without their approval because it's not actually your car!

So what Rog down in Somerset is doing is very sensible indeed. Fortunately my ECU is mine, fitted to a car which didn't have one originally, but if you want to keep your car for a long time, it's probably worth thinking about how that might be achieved if/when your ECU goes Phut!

I guess age will catch up at some point but the good news is that these ECU’s are very well designed. Take a look at the image below, it’s the one in my car now. It’s from an 11 year old Ford. It’s in exceptionally good physical condition, no sign of any corrosion or thermal issues. The photo doesn’t really do it justice. It looks like it was manufactured yesterday and all the Ford ones that I have opened have been the same. It has even been ruggedized with a silicone conformal coating as typically used on military equipment. And its spent its life located in the relatively benign cabin space environment so the good news is the components will not have been exposed to the mechanical stresses of thermal cycling that they would have seen if they had been located in the hot engine bay. Hopefully it will last a little longer yet.

However that said these ECU’s are not bullet proof either. I understand from the Ford forums that this family of ECU’s (used in the duratecs and V6’s I think) can be prone to failure should the coil pack fail, resulting in damage to the output transistors and the loss of spark on two cylinders.

Best carry a spare