Club 80-90 Forums

I was wondering if it is a straight swap if I wanted to swap my ECU for a later one? Mine is from a 1995 golf and isn't proper OBDII, so i'd like to swap it for a later one if possible. I know the later ones have an immobiliser chip that would need working around, but is there anything else I need to look out for?

As well as upgrading the ECU so I can use Torque Pro on android to monitor stuff, I thought it might make sense just to have a spare one on my growing spares shelf!

If yours has the external atmos pressure sender then the ECU pinout is 'early', a few pins are swapped around compared with the later ones. You could use a later ECU from a Golf but you'd have to swap the contacts in the plug housing.

syncroandy wrote:If yours has the external atmos pressure sender then the ECU pinout is 'early', a few pins are swapped around compared with the later ones. You could use a later ECU from a Golf but you'd have to swap the contacts in the plug housing.

Cheers Andy, what does an external atmos pressure sender look like?

I was looking at an ECU on ebay described as "new", from the US with no immobiliser - it said I may have to trim the plug to fit, depending on my plug, as it has a couple of lugs in the corners.

I might be inviting trouble going down this route by the sounds of things!

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx21 ... sensor.jpg

No need to bring an ECU from overseas, plenty of suitable ones here.

syncroandy wrote:

No need to bring an ECU from overseas, plenty of suitable ones here.

Cheers - I will have a look to see if I can spot one!

It was a UK seller by the way, but he said it was a US spec:-

"New VW ECU (Electrical Control Unit or ECM) for VW TDI with AHU or 1Z Engines. This is a US Spec ECU. This was originally for 97-99 Jetta TDI 90HP in the US. The good news is that the Golf III and Jetta III TDI's in the USA, never had the immobilizer. "

Several times more expensive than an old, secondhand unit though...