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ECU? Yes I know. Again


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I am having real issues with the ECU on a '03 TD5 defender.

It started with a hose out of the vehicle interior, after which the engine would fire but would not rev. I replaced the pedal and TPS thinking it must be that, but alas, no.

I think I have narrowed it down to the ECU. It is the NNN000120 ECU that is fitted. I tried one from another '03 TD5 defender which was NNN50020 but it won't even start with that one on.

Where do I get a suitable replacement ECU? What part number ECU do I need? Should I just be able to plug it in and go or do I need some kind of diagnostics machine?

Please help as I am totally stuck.

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It's unlikely to be the ecu and you can't just swap them around anyway without programming them to the alarm, injectors etc. Yours will almost certainly have an alarm/immoboliser, very unusual to find a home market one without.

You really need to get it plugged in and faults and live readings taken to see what the problems are or you are just throwing bits at it blindly.

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I have one of those bluetooth OBD2 adapters... never tried it with my android phone tho. I know i couldnt get it to work with my old nokia no matter what i tried.

EDIT: just installed it on my phone, going out to try it...

EDIT2: Cant get it to work with the cheap ebay elm-327 adapters, It will connect, but no values from the ECU are present.

Shall have to try a more expensive obd2 adapter.

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I have one of those bluetooth OBD2 adapters... never tried it with my android phone tho. I know i couldnt get it to work with my old nokia no matter what i tried.

EDIT: just installed it on my phone, going out to try it...

You need to go to the play store on your phone and download the app!

The pro version is £5 but you can try it free first.

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I am not a Td5 owner but I'm fairly sure you won't be able to reprogram the ECU by use of the OBD socket. Even if you don't need to reprgoram it, you'll probably not be able to clear the fault codes

Ask your local independent Landie specialist to drive to your place (possibly on his way home as a 'cash' job ;-) with his diagnostic machine (Nanocom/Hawkeye etc).

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I am not a Td5 owner but I'm fairly sure you won't be able to reprogram the ECU by use of the OBD socket. Even if you don't need to reprgoram it, you'll probably not be able to clear the fault codes

Ask your local independent Landie specialist to drive to your place (possibly on his way home as a 'cash' job ;-) with his diagnostic machine (Nanocom/Hawkeye etc).

Already thought of that, first port of call really. Trouble is he is closed for a fortnight.

Dont want to clear the codes or reprogramme, just want to know the problem.

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Dont want to clear the codes or reprogramme, just want to know the problem.

It started with a hose out of the vehicle interior, after which the engine would fire but would not rev.

Sounds to me like the engine is in 'limp home' mode, in which case you will need to clear the fault codes before it will work properly.

Most likely cause - the water shorted out some contacts, giving odd readings, so the ECU put the engine into limp home mode in order to protect the engine, and logged some faults. It now won't allow the engine to be taken out of limp until these faults are cleared. As you've proven, cutting the power will not clear the codes.

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Sounds to me like the engine is in 'limp home' mode, in which case you will need to clear the fault codes before it will work properly.

I don't think it's in limp mode.

The Landy can't limp anywhere. Dip the clutch and accelerate and the engine dies.

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I have one of those bluetooth OBD2 adapters... never tried it with my android phone tho. I know i couldnt get it to work with my old nokia no matter what i tried.

EDIT: just installed it on my phone, going out to try it...

EDIT2: Cant get it to work with the cheap ebay elm-327 adapters, It will connect, but no values from the ECU are present.

Shall have to try a more expensive obd2 adapter.

Which software are you trying to use?

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After contacting the developer of the android software it would seem that as the Defender is 03 and not 04 it is not OBDII compliant. I think I'll get a nanocom and try that.

As far as the Defender goes I think it might be the switch on the clutch master cylinder that's the problem. If I depress the clutch the check engine light lights up and the throttle pedal becomes unresponsive. Only £20 odd from John Craddocks so worth a try.

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A common misconception...

All Td5 Defenders have an alarm unit - a 10AS unit - a green box screwed the bulkhead behind the clocks/instruments.

In it's most basic form - the Engine ECU will ping the 10AS unit for a code, if this code is what the engine ECU expects to see (matched pair), it allows the engine to start.

The 10AS can be programmed to different levels from the most basic poverty spec to full XS.

There are predomintly two types of 10AS - central locking and none central locking.... both can be set from poverty spec upwards.

Swapping Engine ECUs - as mentioned the engine ECU and the alarm 10AS unit needs to be matched together, so if you just swap the engine ECU - they are no longer matched, and the ECU will not start.

Really you also need to make sure you have the correct ECU calibration on the ECU, and the injector codes are swapped over from your old engine ECU.

Was the throttle pedal you used as the replacement new or second hand? Is it the correct post 2002 3 track pedal, or have you fitted an earlier 2 track pedal? - as if you've fitted the wrong type, it will not rev - the ECU needs to know if its a two track or three track.

The NNN500020 is fine to use on your Defender, with the correct files - but will need to be matched to your alarm ECU - I can do this via the post if needed... or I can remove the need for a 10AS unit completely, giving you a plug and play ECU - probably not needed for your application.

Ian

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  • 3 weeks later...

Many thanks for the help and advice!

I turns out it was a burned out relay. £8.00 fix :D

As for the OBD thingmy, I have bought a HawkEye diagnostic tool. I have not used it yet as I figured out the problem before it arrived. Looks like a handy thing to have though....

Anyhoot, thanks again for all the advice.

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  • 4 months later...

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