[Bogart]

Wanted to give some info on a problem that I had the other day on my way home. As I made my way onto the off ramp my Z suddenly lost all throttle response, SEL came on slip light came on, and no matter how much gas I gave it, the rpm's never made it above 1100. Of course I was freaked out, first thing I thought was the ECU finally made up it's mind to take a dump because of the exhaust mods I added. So I pulled over, with the car still running I pushed the gas pedal 3/4 and still no throttle response. I then shut the car off sat there for a few minutes and started it up again. Started right up idled fine but SEL was still on. I call my service guy and give him the details, wants me to bring in the next day.

Next day: So they run a code check and find out it has something to do with the throttle actuator. After further probing they find that the ECU is bad causing it to pull voltage from the throttle actuator which in turn causes the ECU to go into safe mode. Since none of my mods are to blame and there are no signs of the ECU being altered they decided to order a new ECU.

I think this is a freak incident since I couldn't find any ECU problems when doing a search but if anyone has any info about this I'd like to hear it. They also looked to see if they're were any TSB and none come up. I'm hoping it's an isolated incident but time will tell.

 

[KShep]

This is the first I've heard of an ECU pulling voltage. Sorry you had an issue but it's nice to hear the dealership is responding favorably.

How many miles on the car?

 

[Bogart]

I'm a little over 27000 right now.

It's great the dealership is working for me, considering the bad past I've had with them. The service guy has been top notch. There were no questions at all from him just complete cooperation.

The whole issue is really perplexing, like I said, I just hope it's an isolated incident considering all the quirks the Z has had since it's debut.

 

[jetpilot718]

Hey, worst case I couldnt think of a better reason to get an ECU upgrade!

 

[jinxxycat]

Sorry to hear you had problems, but thank goodness Nissan is working WITH you....thanks for posting this, hopefully no one else will have this problem but it's always good to keep an eye out! :cheers:

 

[Bogart]

I was very fortunate that I was still under warranty, they weren't exactly saying I was at fault because of my mods, but they weren't just bending over and excepting my story. Once they completed all the tests they were certain it was a bad ECU. One other thing that confirmed that I had done nothing to cause it was the fact that when they used there computer to run a code check, the computer had no problems reading. The service tech said if it had been tampered with or modified there computer would have errored and not read any codes. I win :clap: I'm not sure the extent of the service managers search, but he said they looked to see if there was any history of anyone else having this problem and it came up negative. Now the wait begins to see if it is a fluke that I was lucky enough to experience.

Oh, and today I went and picked up my Z, everything seems to be fine. Now as soon as my warranty is up, plenum and ECU reflash here we come :clap:

 

[KShep]

So...it was a faulty ECU and....they replaced it with a new one?

 

[BootieMAN]

[/quote]

Glad to hear you got the Z back. Looks like we roll this weekend :shiftdrive:

So...it was a faulty ECU and....they replaced it with a new one?

Yes Kshep, it was a faulty ECU.

-Bootay

 

[Bogart]

[/quote]

Yep Kenny they replaced it with a new, they said a new ECU would cost $900, warranties are great! :clap:

Oh, thanks Bootie for clearing that up since I'm a bit slow at replies :doh: :rolf2: :nana:

Bootie, we should be able to roll this weekend, hopefully GB will send me a PM to let me know if we're good for Sunday.

 

[Daking350Z]

I had the same thing happen to me..Wasnt the ECU, it was the wiring on the harness was a little loose causing a bad connection..we fixed it ourselves..

 

[BootieMAN]

[/quote]

Yep Kenny they replaced it with a new, they said a new ECU would cost $900, warranties are great! :clap:

Oh, thanks Bootie for clearing that up since I'm a bit slow at replies :doh: :rolf2: :nana:

Bootie, we should be able to roll this weekend, hopefully GB will send me a PM to let me know if we're good for Sunday.
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[/quote]

Sounds good. Hopefully GB_KSU can make it so we can take some pics of the cars. I hoping to take some before and after pictures since I plan on doing a slight drop on the car sometime next week.

-Bootay

 

[Bogart]

[/quote]

Hey Julian,
What did you do to fix it? Did you open up the ECU and resolder the connections?
The service tech never gave any specifics, I think he just determined there was an ECU problem and decided the best way to fix it was to replace it with a new one.

 

[ZSUNSUN]

Same thing happened to me last weekend :doh: , no power, RPM at 2000~3000, this is my second time. First time, shut engine off then turn it on, however this time didn't work. Had to reset my ECU. After that ran good.

Went to dealer, told my story, they told me they can't do any thing if they can't see or proof this issue and + I reset my ECU (battery off) they cannot tell by codes (SUCKS)

Any idea of what I can or any comment from you guys would help!!!

:monkey:

 

[peptidbond]

This type of issue HAS come up before, but it was a long time ago and it may not be the same issue.

The 350EVO racing team in 2003 kept getting knocked out of races when the ECU would go into safe mode. It had something to do with excess vibration and the TB. Other people who had really early production versions were also having the same issue on the track. Nissan even had a TSB for it that involved reflashing the ECU. Again, it might not have been the same issue, but it is similar. If you own a really early version of the 350Z, you might have this problem. However, it only presents itself under hard driving (very hard driving).

Just my $0.02 for anyone reading this in the future.

 

[LeMansEAKZ]

Mine had this problem one time but with only a few thousand miles on the clock. It freaked me out big time and the local Nissan dealer spent two days trying to diagnose the problem but never found a thing. the did mention a TSB for reflashing or something like that so it can't be the first time it has happened. It was the first time this dealer had the problem or heard about it.

It simply reset itself after I stopped the car and restarted and now it is fine. The dealer did tell me that it did "throw" an error code but it was not specific enough to tell why, only that it went into safe mode.

Weird. But so far so good. I am upt o 12K and it never happened again (knock on wood).

 

[Bogart]

I have added a similar but different post pertaining to this. It happened to me again with different results, here's the LINK