Aftermarket ECM suppliers (esp. EEC-IV)

[Tom Cloud]

There seem to be two channels of ECM availability:

 1 - OEMs and the companies they authorize, who together
provide remanufactured ECMs through dealer channels;

 2 - and those involved in the remanufacturing of ECMs
for the true automotive aftermarket.


The names I have of the companies in category 2 (for the eec-iv)
are (in alphabetical order):

        - A1 Cardone

        - Echlin
                http://www.echlin.com/

        - Micro-Tech Automotive

        - Standard Motor Parts


Searching the web found these URL's
        
        http://www.ultramall.com/Autodig/index.html
        http://www.ultramall.com/Autodig/suppcat/ignite/ecm.html

which has a listing of ECM suppliers (including eec)
     A-1 Cardone 
     Arles International Inc. 
     Auto-Tune/BWD Automotive Corp. 
     Autoport International 
     BWD Automotive Corp. 
     Echlin, Inc. 
     Filko 
     Flight Systems Inc. 
     G. P. Sorensen 
     The Hastings Company 
     Holley Repalcement Parts 
     Intermotor Ltd. 
     Kem Manufacturing Company, Inc. 
     M & #38; M Knopf Auto Parts, Inc. 
     Lazorlite Import Parts 
     Micro-Tech Automotive Ind. 
     On Time Development, Inc. 
     Parts Center International Inc. 
     Product Research Inc. 
     Regitar U.S.A., Inc. 
     Standard Motor Products, Inc. 
     Uritec Industrial Co., Ltd 
     Vei Sheng Co., Ltd 
     Walker Products, Inc. 
     Wells Manufacturing 


Many remanufacturers work through both the traditional (distributors,
jobbers, installers) and the growing non-traditional (retail and
diy repair) channels. There typically is a core charge, refundable
on return of an undamaged but non-functional product (sort of an
oxy-moron  ;-)

One of the common problems of electronic remanufacturing and
marketing is the effort to avoid the misuse (perhaps unintentional)
of the product. The old electronics adage of "try using a known good
replacement part" can lead to the destruction of a replacement ECM
when one places it in the exact circuit and system which caused the
first one to fail.  In most cases, the ECM fails because something
external to the ECM caused it to fail. All this is only background
information and if someone needs further information to help develop
their repair skills there ought to be someone on this list, the
diy-efi list or other specialty groups that can help with
problem identification and problem solving before the installation
of the replacement ECM.

Some of these companies catalog and offer product (or repair service)
on almost 800 different ECM configurations for Ford-made vehicles
in the model years from 1977-1993.  Obviously, not all of these are
EEC-IV units (I think EEC-IV first appeared around 1987 ??) and
some of these are consolidations of applications where units have
been proven and tested to be comparable.  It seems reasonable that
many of the different versions are identical in hardware, differing
only in the software, so a *really uneducated* guess might be
less than 100 units with any real hardware differences and how
many of those differences are truly significant?

The above number is only for Ford units so foreign made vehicles sold
under the Ford nameplate would increase this number.

Tom Cloud <cloud at peaches.ph.utexas.edu>