Trouble with Prospeed RDX and ECU upgrade

Went out to the car today and on start up the Check Engine light and TCS light came on again and now it won't clear! I had the fuse pulled for over an hour and still no reset! I am now pulling the fuse and disconnecting the battery to see if this will help. Anyone else with the prospeed ECU upgrade and RDX injectors have this problem?

After a hour still no reset. I had the same problem the first day I installed it. Car would rev to 4000 RPM and then it seemed like it would go to engine cut off ( it would bounce just after 4k). I was able to reset the ecu last night and drive the car normally, but this morning the car did the same thing and now no reset.

Well round 2.

After about 2 hrs yesterday the lights went out and everything was back to normal (or so it seemed). Let the car idle again for 25 minutes even though it was not running rough or jumping idle speeds. Shut it off and the turned it to ON, to set the ECU program. Started the car without issue and drove again for an hour and a half again without issue.

Go out to the garage this afternoon and guess what...Same issue. TCS and CEL lit, engine idle is a little above normal (1200-1300) and will not rev past 4000 without engine cut-off. Brian from Prospeed has not responed to PM yet. I will try to pull the code(s) but I don't believe they will tell much because of the fact that I have been able to reset and run normal at times. Only change to the car is the new Prospeed Mod.

Does anyone believe that I should remove the ECU (unplug everything) or is just removing the fuse and disconnecting the battery basically the same thing?

Multiple resets of the ECU will not help you.

By resetting the ECU you're just resetting it to baseline from the factory. It will run ok for a while until it reads something is wrong. You are just repeating the cycle.

Pull the codes. Find out what's wrong and go from there. You can always try to restore it back to stock (Don't know how you would do this with the ZIF) and see if the issue goes away.

Thanks RYU for the response,

Quick question, By resetting the ECU should it not be going to the new settings on the Prospeed chip and not to factory baseline? It just seems a little odd to me that I can get it to run perfectly for a bit then shut the car off overnight and the same issue pops up all over again. It would seem the ECU will not "learn" the new tune. I am going to pull the codes later and see what comes up.

Interesting. I installed a Prospeed Stage3 chip back in 2008 .. way before the injector mod. Last year, I had exactly the same symptoms you mention in post#3 above .. CEL and TCS lights; fast idle; and RPM cutoff. In my case, it started as an intermittant thing like yours and the codes were usually a 3-1 which the manual says can either be a TCS problem, an ECU problem, or the wiring between them. Then it became a solid failure. I even removed the Prospeed chip and put the OEM one in but no change. I eventually replaced the ECU module and issue immediately went away and hasn't returned. I originally thought that maybe the same capacitor failure problem that appears in the Bose amps; the stereo head unit; the CCS system; and the SRS module .. was maybe making an appearance now in the ECU .. but there are only a couple of caps and they looked ok. So the only other thing I suspect is that when Prospeed soldered in the new chip mount, maybe one of the connections is now failed ... which makes me nervous about doing it again. Sorry I don't have better news. The ECU I bought was new from one of the Acura dealers in the US and ran about $850 .. list is closer to $2000.

I currently have a similar hesitation problem but I think it's linked to coil pack.

however this may help because when searching for a answer I came across other hesitation problems. One of which is if the injector isn't seated correctly.

it might be worth pulling and re seating your injector to rule this out. I believe they have o ring seals.

Thank you both for the replies.

I am going to pull the injectors and re-seat them to try and rule that out, I am really crossing my fingers that is the issue and not the ECU. I STILL have not heard anything from Prospeed and I wonder what recourse I may have if it was faulty workmanship on their part. That really is a shame to say because other than delays, I have heard very good things about them and this mod.

Well I might have figured out part of the problem. I have noticed when the problem starts I do not hear the Fuel Pump priming the rails. When it has work correctly I distinctly remember hearing the Fuel Pump come on. Sounds like this may be a programming problem with the chip?

Brian has gotten back to me and we are working to solve the issue.

Well so much for working with Brian! I received 3 pm's the same day and have not heard from him since. I have left voice messages e-mailed and PM'd him here on prime. I understand he is a student and is busy, but lets face it we are ALL busy. I am getting beyond frustrated with this issue. I pulled the code (shorting the port) and did not receive any code. so I am assuming code 0. The car had ZERO issues before the upgrade. I am hoping to get this resolved soon!

Well... I am now at a total loss. I sent the ECU back and Brian confirmed that he found no issues. I got the ECU back and installed it and now the car will not even crank, it tries to turn over but will not kick in. I have double checked the connections and that the injectors are seated correctly. I loosened the fuel rail bolt and confirmed that there was fuel present, but don't hear the rails being primed before starting.

The car had no issues before the install, so this is driving me crazy. I tried to pull the codes and did not get anything, no blinking just the steady CEL and TCS light. Anyone have any other ideas?

- - - Updated - - -

OK, Got the car to crank over and now it still has the CEL and TCS lights. There is a tick coming from the engine bay. When I checked it, I felt the fuel lines and there is a quick pulsing and that seems to be where the ticking is coming for. Car will rev to 4000k and then go to engine cut-off. Any ideas?

Fuel pump resistor maybe? Try shorting it.

Could the ECU Chip replacement somehow caused a problem in the main relay? It definitely has the symptoms of a relay issue.

No ideas here.

I'm still having issues where my car drops to like 100 rpms on start, sputters, lights dim, then it saves itself. It also bucks under partial throttle.
I'm sending my stock injectors to witchhunter on monday - Brian wants me to send my ecu back, but I'd bet the rom is fine, and I don't want to spend the money on shipping, or wait 2 weeks to get it there and back.
I don't trust it anymore. This whole process has cost too much money and time, and I'm cutting my losses.

This driving me crazy! I know in my gut there has to be a simple solution to this! I dont want to head down that slippery and expensive path to the dealership.
I am going to try the jump on the Fuel Pump resistor and also check the main realy for issues again.

Blackhorse06 said:

This driving me crazy! I know in my gut there has to be a simple solution to this! I dont want to head down that slippery and expensive path to the dealership.
I am going to try the jump on the Fuel Pump resistor and also check the main realy for issues again.

Click to expand...

have you have any help from prospeed, was it the ECU flash?

Yes I have be in touch with Prospeed. I sent the ECU back and it was rechecked and everything was good.

if this was my car at this point i'd take everything out and put it back to stock. In your case this means borrowing someone's ECU that hasn't been ZIF'd. Not so easy in NM, I know.

So many things could be happening here...
* Wiring is pinched/shorted/grounded somewhere. Either in the ECU harness or the injector jumpers.
* Injector is defective
* The Injector resistor bypass is defective
* ...

Should the engine start with the Fuel Pump Resistor unplugged? Because mine does.

Funny you mentioned that, I was going to put it back to stock tomorrow.

Yeah, I was just at an exotic car cruise... went to leave after the cruise and... crank crank crank crank... no start.
crank crank crank crank... no start.
mash throttle down, started right up.
That was embarrassing.

The stock chip won't fit into the zif socket that the prospeed chip is in?

I pulled the ECU again today to inspect it and discovered this:



I am not an electronic wizard, but would those marks on the board be a problem? I thinking they might be shorting the board?

^

It is hard to say without inspecting the board first hand. They look like surface scratches on the resin when the board was either removed, installed or mishandled. Can you see any of the copper traces underneath?

The photographs of the marks on the PC board are not close enough to provide enough detail (you would need a camera with a macro lens). However, from what I can see, it looks more like a surface mark rather than a scratch and does not look like there is any damage to the PC board. The traces (foil parts that carry current) on the board are covered by a varnish-like material. If that varnish-like coating has not been damaged (penetrated) where the marks occur, then you should not have a problem. As a suggestion, you could take a soft rubber eraser and see if the mark is removed. If it does, then it is just a surface mark and not the source of your agony. If it is more than just a surface mark and has penetrated the coating on the traces, it is possible that one or more of the traces could be cut or shorted together or worse, providing an intermittent connection. Again, from what I can see, that does not appear likely. I am guessing that the section on the PC Board marked IC404 is where the socket has been soldered in for the Prospeed chip on the opposite side. The solder pads look a little cobby; but, that may just be a result of the fact that it looks like the board was not cleaned after the soldering as there appears to be a lot of resin on the solder pads. Take a magnifying glass and look at the pads to make sure that there is no solder bridging two or more the pads. If it looks like there is solder bridging the pads, maybe take it to an electronics tech and they should be able to confirm whether there is a problem

Thanks for the replies and advice. I looked again and you are both correct. It does not penetrate the coating. I am at a loss as to why the car is in back-up mode. I have ordered a new main relay, which won't hurt to replace if I go back to stock. So we shall see if this corrects the issue.

Keep the ideas coming!

Crap!! I just lost everything I typed out!

Cliff notes:
1) How long have you had the tune installed? Mile of usage?
2) Quite possible that one of the pads is lifted or has a cold solder joint which would lead to an intermittent connection. As Old Guy pointed out take the board to a tech have him clean, inspect and possible resolder/reflow the connection pins.

Other option is to swap out boards to see if the problem goes away. You should know quickly.

Good luck.

- - - Updated - - -

I just noticed you live in ABQ. Have a brother who lives there and I will be passing through to CO next month and August. I may be able to look at the board July 5th or 6th.

Any luck with the fuel resistor shorted? Not unplugged, shorted. The fuel pump is a 2 stage pump where from 0-4000rpm is on low, and 4000-8000 is on high. By shorting it, you are forcing it to run on high. It sounds like the engine is not getting enough fuel after 4k rpm.