Stranded with a broken ECU

[Gatecrasher]

Hi all

While driving yesterday my Griffith 500 it cut out. The MIL light came on and the fuel pump wouldn't prime. Thanks to a really nice guy called Paul who stopped on the side of the road in his van I have traced the fault to the ECU. One of the pins has melted and a couple of the tracks have burnt out. We tried to jump all of the broken tracks to get the car going but could only get it to fire a couple of times before it stalled again. I'm now stuck near Southampton when home is in Cheshire.

Does anyone know if the ECU from a Land Rover/Range Rover will fit to get me home? I have a Mark Adams chip which is on a chip carrier so I can swap this over to a Land Rover ECU to get me home. Are there any changes to the ECU between the Land Rover and TVR other than the different fuelling?

Thanks in advance for helping.

[The Moosehunter]

May be able to help, I do know a keeper of ecu's.

You still stranded ? If so will try to get hold of him

Cheers

[Gatecrasher]

Just got back home on a low loader. Now need to decide if I should replace the ECU with another standard one and transfer my Mark Adams chip or put something better in.

Thanks

[topsparks]

The 95 onwards Disco 3.9's have the removable chip ecus cheap on ebay,I think I have a spare as I broke a 98 Disco if you need one quickly

[shpub]

The question I would ask first is why? It could well be an external fault that has caused the ECU damage. The last thing you should do is plug a new one in without throughly checking that the extenal system is OK otherwise the ECU could become a very expensive fuse...

[Gatecrasher]

The replacement ECU being an expensive fuse is what I'm worried about.

On the ECU, pin No 14 has burnt where it connects to the board and pin No 40 has melted half way along before it reaches the PCB. I understand that these two pins run straight to earth. There is a burnt out track which is connected to the three large transistors on the underside of the ECU and it looks burnt underneath the transistors in a few places.

At the side of the road I jumped the obvious broken tracks with wire and rejoined the broken pin which allowed the car to start for a couple of beats and then stall. It seems to be over fuelling as I get a hydraulic lock after turning it over for a while but by turning it over with the plugs out I appear to get intermittent fuel mist out of the plug holes suggesting that there is still some sort of regulation on injector opening.

I know that I will need a new ECU but am wondering if anyone knows if there is a common fault that will have caused the issue in the first place.

[blitzracing]

If the cpu does not start in the ecu, the fuel pump keeps running all the time. Ive also seen the injectors "chatter" in this case, so fuel keeps going in. Dont forget cost wise these are just old Range Rover / Land Rover units with a TVR fuel map (plugable) so dont go and buy a "TVR" one!.
THere was circuit board change around the early nineties, and the fuel chips are not cross compatable, so you need one of a simular age.