Alfa Romeo Forum - View Single Post - ECU

fozzie3369 · 28-02-2008

Hello to everyone. I'm new on here, having only just found this site today, having owned a 2004 1.9 JTD GT for the past 6 months.

What a cracking site! I'm no mechanic, but can see that there are many of you out there who are more than happy to dabble with the maze beneath the bonnet!

Already found a solution on here to the stuttering electric wondow problem, and come 5pm will be hopefully fixing the said problem on mine with the 10 second reset.

Anyway, another problem where I am seeking advice if anyone has come across this.

Brought the car without knowing that the ECU has been chipped. Wasnt told, and wouldnt have known what to look for. Over the past 6 months, I have had the ECU failure message pop up twice, both times whilst on runs. The message corresponded with a drastic loss of power. Car was still drivable, but like driving a tractor. Strangely, over 24 hours, the problem seemed to go away, and normal service was resumed. I took it to a dealer, and was told that the ECU chip had been replaced with a 'power' chip of some description. They were able to reset the error message, but their diagnostics were unable to work on the new chip. They informed me that the error was a turbo charger power surge (or something like that), so I guess that the engine management then shut down the turbo, hence the power dropping to that of a tractor.

Dealer asked me where it was chipped, but obviously I couldnt answer. Does anyone have any advice?

Can I get this changed back to an AR chip? Any idea what these cost?

Apart from this, and driving with caution for when it will happen again, just love the car. Was going to go for a BMW 325, but now know that I made the right choice.

28-02-2008	#1 (Post Link)
fozzie3369 Newbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 6 Member car: Alfa GT	ECU - Chipped Hello to everyone. I'm new on here, having only just found this site today, having owned a 2004 1.9 JTD GT for the past 6 months. What a cracking site! I'm no mechanic, but can see that there are many of you out there who are more than happy to dabble with the maze beneath the bonnet! Already found a solution on here to the stuttering electric wondow problem, and come 5pm will be hopefully fixing the said problem on mine with the 10 second reset. Anyway, another problem where I am seeking advice if anyone has come across this. Brought the car without knowing that the ECU has been chipped. Wasnt told, and wouldnt have known what to look for. Over the past 6 months, I have had the ECU failure message pop up twice, both times whilst on runs. The message corresponded with a drastic loss of power. Car was still drivable, but like driving a tractor. Strangely, over 24 hours, the problem seemed to go away, and normal service was resumed. I took it to a dealer, and was told that the ECU chip had been replaced with a 'power' chip of some description. They were able to reset the error message, but their diagnostics were unable to work on the new chip. They informed me that the error was a turbo charger power surge (or something like that), so I guess that the engine management then shut down the turbo, hence the power dropping to that of a tractor. Dealer asked me where it was chipped, but obviously I couldnt answer. Does anyone have any advice? Can I get this changed back to an AR chip? Any idea what these cost? Apart from this, and driving with caution for when it will happen again, just love the car. Was going to go for a BMW 325, but now know that I made the right choice.