Tundra needs a new ecm, toyota wants 15k

I feel like this is one in a million issue and i was the lucky one.. Toyota dealership wants 15k to swap out my ecm and harness, my truck isnt even worth that much.

Has anybody had to go through the process of sourcing an ECM and is there a reputable shop that sells good refurbished ECMs or will repair mine? I have a 2013 tundra sr5 db. Ive seen some online i would just rather get one from a trusted source.

Background Story
I use my truck as a work truck, i am a field mechanic, its been a great truck and i always kept up with maintenance it for the past 100k miles, i got my truck when she had 70k miles, now its getting close to 170k, has king shocks, airbags, bump stops, baja designs fog lights, booster antenna and i carry a 50g transfer tank.
One day when heading to work, i filled up at a gas station, after filling up i turned on my truck and she started to idle rough and wouldnt rev up, eventually it died and wouldnt start back up, crank no start. Sprayed starter fluid and it started but died, figured it was fuel pump. Checked all fuses and relays. Also bypassed fuel control module and very faintly heard the fuel pump.
Swapped fuel pump
EFI fuse is now blown(wasnt before)
Fuel pump works when EFI is in and starter relay is removed.
When i install another fuse into EFI slot once i turn key to ON position it will start cranking by itself, i either have to pull fuse or starter relay out to make it stop. Saw another member(808dakine) have a very similar issue and he said it turned out to be the ECM, so i took it to dealer to verify issue, sure enough they said it needs a new harness and new ecm for a grand total of 15k, nuts. Going to tow it back home and source the ECM and harness to install it myself.

 

A couple of folks on the supercharger thread just swapped out ECUs in the last two months. I'll see if I can dig up and tag names.

 

Obviously no first hand experience here with your exact issue, but I would definitely trace the harness wires for a broken wire or short. Did they say why they needed to replace both the harness and ECM?

 

They said harness shorted it out and ecm looks to be shorted it out as well, service advisor wasnt really that helpful, im going over later today to talk to them and hopefully have tech show me where. Im hoping to repair harness and swap ecm myself.

 

Yeah, that’s what I would do. I hate to sound negative but, I really think the “art” of being a mechanic is gone.

Dealers seem to just throw parts at vehicles on your dime until the problem goes away. They send people away “fixed” only to have the issues return the next day. It’s frustrating.

I’m sure this is something you could repair yourself for much less than $15k if you can get them to show you what needs to be done. ECMs seem reasonable on the used market, I’m not sure if they need to be flashed to your truck or not.

https://oemusedautoparts1.com/produ...eWfBmtfOy-gpaidkrfgLnrgJ1bRfn4wcaArPFEALw_wcB

 

Truly it is, I was hoping a Toyota tech with more knowledge in electrical would figure something out or atleast pinpoint the issue but I knew in the back of my mind they were going to bend me over with a big bill but no where near the 15k range more like 4-6k to fix, so I took the chance to see what they would say.

I had a feeling Ecm or pcm was bad from researching other peoples posts but I didn’t want to throw modules and tear truck apart before knowing the true issue.

Thank you for the replies and link, looks like a good source. I was hoping someone had a source they’ve used before or know a place where I can send mine in but seeing the price of that one I might just give it a go.

As far as flashing it, I might be able to with my Autel scanner, haven’t checked yet but it is very capable of doing a lot of other things.

 

No problem. I try to do everything I possibly can myself, even if it means buying a few specialty tools.

Keep posting on here, pictures etc. and I’ll gladly try to help you in any way I can. I’m sure others will as well.

 

If you get a ecu off ebay make sure it is the same exact part number. That way it will be plug and play. I ordered one and it worked also @Fastlane47 changed his out with no issues.

**also go over the harness at access points and look for any chewed or shorted wires. I repaired a few on my highlander from those pesky chipmunks.

 

If the harness is suspected - change it first or you may fry your new ECM. Take the old harness apart and inspect every wire, there could be an unrelated wire isolation meltdown that causes your issue, like downstream H2OS sensor heating burnt and shortcut +12 to H2OS signal, resulting in a damaged ECM. That one is actually a true story.

I did both harness and ECM and other computers on anther, perhaps more complex vehicle, not a rocket science. Even blown a flash and EEPROM chips (contain software and configuration) with hot air and transferred them to a donor ECM to avoid reflashing it for my car.

 

After my recent visit to the dealer, I am not all surprised. A new harness cost me(insurance) over 7k. (It was 5,200 for harness and about 2k for labor.)

Good luck with your endeavours. Sorry to hear.

My harness story if interested

Spoiler

https://www.tundras.com/threads/act-of-rodents-electrical-damage.127119/

 

If you have the wiring diagrams for ignition I would pay attention to those first.

 

I was in a wreck and the entire front end was replaced.
Inner/outer fenders, hood, radiator support, battery tray, fuse box, new clutch fan, radiator, bumper, plastic, new body mount welded to frame,......entire front end.
$15k.
So yeah, that seems a little high for a wiring harness. I know it's a pita, but not $15k PITA.

 

Which EFI fuse specifically?

 

EFI fuse no1, its a 25 amp under the hood fuse box.

I found some ECMs on ebay and i saw that some can get delivered already programmed to your vin so i might order one. Wont get to work on until i get back from work in a couple of weeks but i will update thread once i do.

 

I think I might spend sometime looking the truck over before I just go to buying parts. Unfortunately I don't have much faith in dealer techs. Have seen them call for ECU replacements before and it turns out to be a fuse or something stupid.

 

Did you try unpluggin the fuel pump ecu and seeing if the wired starting issue when away. The Fuel pump ecu us connected directly to the ECM and when they go bad they can do weird things to the ECM.

 

I havent tried that but i will once i get home, could be related since all i did was swap fuel pumps and had bypassed fcm to double check if old fuel pump was bad or not.
Service advisor said they weren't getting enough voltage across the harness and they found an exposed wire under dash, so the 15k they were trying to charge me was for engine harness, dashboard harness and new ecm.

I have a new fcm at home that i had ordered doing the whole ordeal and found a toyota junkyard nearby me that i could source a harness if needed. So far fcm was 150 and if i do decide to order a programmed ecm it will be 350, harness should be around the same price.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/diagnosing-my-possessed-tundra.11989/#post-273959

this is the post of the guy that had an identical issue as me

 

If you can find one with same part number its cheaper and you don't have to mess with the key immobilizer. You also can hot wire the fuel pump. You can bypass the fcm to see if it helps the situation.

 

Yes, pull the current ecu out, the part number will be on it. Do a search online and fine a used unit. Should be easy to find and install. I got one from eBay for 200.00 and it works great .

 

Tanin Autoelectronix may be able to help. You will need to email them, referencing make and model. They repaired my 1UZ ECU. It's apples to oranges. There is another site that workd on the 1UR ECU, more on a performance scale, but I don't recall their site atm.