Demand a replacement ECM?  We sell preprogrammed "plug and play" engine computers (ECMs, TCMs, and PCMs) for all makes and models!  Nosotros only sell OEM parts that are GUARANTEED to work with your vehicle.

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Information technology'due south every car owner'southward worst nightmare:  You're driving down the road and the "Check Engine" lite comes on.  What do you practise at present?  Is it a serious problem, or merely a pocket-size fix?  Perhaps the biggest question: How much is this going to cost?

While nobody likes to be confronted with expensive auto repairs, the fact is that cars, only like everything else, are increasingly technological, and feature thousands of parts, any 1 of which could potentially go incorrect.

Does My Command Module Need to Be Stock-still?

One of the about frequent causes of the Check Engine calorie-free coming on in your car is an error code of some sort reported through your Engine Control Module, or ECM.  Call up of this as basically the brain of whatever modern motorcar.  It'southward the primal computer that controls and monitors all those thousands of components that are needed to keep your car humming along.  Usually, when the Cheque Engine lite comes on in a modern car, information technology signals some error that the ECM has received and is reporting information technology to you, anywhere from the driveshaft to the exhaust system to even, in some cars, a loose gas cap!

Just what about if the ECM itself is the trouble?  What practise y'all do when the car'southward brain requires surgery?  In people, brain surgery is complicated and costly, and in cars information technology's no unlike.  In about modern cars, in fact, the ECM is one of the most expensive components to supercede!

Average Costs to Replace an ECM

Replacing the ECM is a simple and straightforward repair (provided you have the right tools and can program it correctly to the vehicle).  It'due south the actual function itself that costs the most.  Correct now, the average cost of just the ECMitself is $830, leading to a $1,000+ job at a dealership when you lot factor in labor, taxes, and other misc fees dealers like to charge.

Driving with (and Ignoring!) a Broken ECM?

Only what if you lot don't replace the ECM?  Surely total failure isn't the just affair that tin can go wrong?

While that'south true, running a car with a faulty or failing ECM is inefficient at best and dangerous at worst.  This isn't simply a matter of putting electrical record over the Check Engine light on your dashboard and driving on.  A bad ECM can effect in everything from higher emissions, engine damage, and down-line office malfunctions all the way to total undriveability.  Mod cars are designed to piece of work with an ECM for superlative operation and any failure or flaw in the ECM can shorten the lifespan of your automobile.  Either way, it's just not smart, and may not exist condom.

So if you take a auto that you doubtable may be showing signs of a bad ECM, yous now have to ask yourself whether to take it in to the dealership or an independent mechanic.  We all know that the independent guy is going to be cheaper, only is that e'er the best solution?  Some mod cars are designed in such a way that an independent mechanic will have to purchase expensive specialty tools to re-code the ECM, even if it's an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) part.  Your smaller shops may not have the upkeep to afford this expensive specialty equipment for every make of automobile they work on.

And so are you left with the only selection being the more expensive, faceless corporate dealership?  While dealers may be the most experienced mechanics in your car'due south item quirks, since they fix dozens or hundreds of cars in that make per month, that consequently ways they usually accuse more for their specialization.

Tin can You Replace an ECM Yourself?

At this point, you may be thinking to yourself that it might be a job yous can do yourself.  Later all, nearly modern ECMs in cars are designed to be essentially "plug and play" engineering science.  If all you accept to practice is bandy the function, you can save yourself some labor toll, correct?   Well, not always, depending on how and who yous order your part from you may not be getting a new reckoner that is uniform with your vehicle.   As we said earlier, ECMs accept to be coded to "talk to" your particular car.  That can sometimes require expensive specialty calculator module equipment to ensure that the ECM tin can communicate with the other control systems in the vehicle.

That existence said, if you supervene upon your engine command module (ECM) with one from CarComputerExchange.com, then you should definitely consider repairing and replacing your ECM yourself.  All of our engine computers come up "plug and play" and are guaranteed to work with your exact model — nosotros inquire for your VIN afterward the checkout process to ensure you lot're getting the latest and greatest software directly for your car from your auto's manufacturer.

Really, yous're left with three options if your "Check Engine" low-cal has come up on, and a mechanic has diagnosed the issue to exist a failed ECM:  You can either accept it to the dealership, and pay for their expertise… along with their dealership that cost $3-30 1000000 to build.

You can accept it to your local contained mechanic, but you lot may not save much money if they have had to gild specialty parts or tools to exist able to replicate what the dealership can exercise. Finally, you tin can order a figurer module from us and replace information technology yourself. It's a few minutes out of your mean solar day, merely you're saving hundreds of dollars and a trip (or ii) to the dealership or mechanic.

In the finish, performing "brain surgery" on a auto and replacing the Engine Control Module tin can be an expensive procedure if you rely on others, but it can also be a relatively cheap and painless process if you want to exercise it yourself.