Take care of your car’s electronic control unit

When an electronic control unit (ECU) – also known as the computer of a vehicle – needs to be repaired or replaced, motorists are often confronted with a hefty repair bill.
This makes sense as it is a very powerful control system capable of gathering hundreds of channels of information to control every aspect of your car’s engine management or other important vehicle functions such as handling characteristics, braking systems and climate control.
The ICU controls a series of actuators to make sure everything is running smoothly in the engine. Within the engine bay, there are several sensors that provide it with maintenance information. The ECU uses these sensor readings to adjust engine actuators for optimum efficiency.

“What motorists might not know is that they can contribute to the premature failure of ECUs by being unaware of the damage caused by not adhering to a few simple rules. Jump-starting your car incorrectly is one of the most common causes,” he points out.
Mc Master provides the following useful hints to help motorists extend the ECU’s life expectancy:

• Be aware of the polarity of the leads when jump-starting a vehicle with a flat battery as many ECUs have been damaged by short-circuiting them. Always connect the positive leads to positive and negative to negative and although most vehicle manufacturers have equipped their vehicles with overvoltage protector devices, damage might still occur in the split second before the fuse in the system blows.

• Always connect the positive leads of both batteries first, then the negative ones. Gavin Martins of Battery Centre Nelspruit, suggests dead battery positive to live battery positive (not the other way round).
This will “soften” the flow of power through the earthing system and prevent power surges or spikes. It is also suggested that one connects the negative on the live battery first and then connect its other end to the block of the car with the dead battery, in order to earth it. Must admit that this is the first time I hear this, but it does make sense (Ed).

• Never attempt to connect the jump leads with the key in the ignition – only insert the key once the leads have been connected. Failure to comply might lead to the coding between the key and the ECU being corrupted and in many instances this is irreversible.

Source: Miwa / RMI