ECU 88-89

[conquesterd]

I've seen conflicting info about upgrading, whether 88-89 ECU is from auto or manual trans car. Does it matter whether auto or manual? I know the ECU has the same #. Does it matter that it's going into 87 or some other quirk?

[Indiana]

ECUs for 88-89 are identical but the ignitor from 87 to 88-89 changed and that change was about two things both of which are meaningless because you don't have the little valve on the air car and have it tied into the dual port wastegate actuator to reduce boost for cheap gas and to help in preventing a manual transmission to cause tires to spin. Putting an 88-89 ECU into a 87 won't solve any problems. Better off to get the ignitor because the one you have now is unreliable. Timing control is from the distributor not the ECU and both use a knock sensor. The "fuel cut" is on an 83-86 ECU because they are the ones that used a separate boost/atmospheric pressure sensor which is the only way to get the signal the 87-89 cars have no such sensor.

 

If your distributor is all gooey and sticky and your vacuum advance is leaking then clean and relube it and replace the vac. adv.

If you think you hit some "cut" then you're mistaken because there isn't one on any 87-89 ECU and in my opinion there is no reason to swap an 88-89 ECU into an 87 its pointless and gains you nothing. Its always been a popular swap but it does force you to tug on the wiring harness and plug and unplug the ECU and clean its connections and ground up in the process. How about you try that first. You are still dependent on the same input sensors and it can all go back to a dirty injector. The terminals on the injectors must be clean not rusty and then you need some dielectric grease on them because once cleaned and bare steel they can ozidixe while you drive and the same for the connectors. Those connectors might look clean but they are crimped onto some nasty corroded wire strands at the end and all that has to be cut off until you find clean copper strands to attach the new pigtails to.

 

A new connector attached to a rotten wire is no better than what you had, you have to strip back and find good wire in the harness.

http://www.b2600turbo.com/images/IM001013.JPG

 

The grounds for the ignition signal, these are under one of the mounting screws for your ignitor. There's two wires with a single ring terminal and its just laying under the ignitor and one of the screws mashes that against the fender apron onto PAINT. Clean this connection up its important.

 

If the injectors are dirty you should try and have them cleaned.

 

If you have fouled spark plugs it will never run right. A new plug can foul in a couple minutes if there's a problem. Having the correct type plug to begin with helps a great deal too. What plugs are you using?