I went over to mark's place tonight and we did ecu swaps........his ecu works just fine as we installed it into my car and my car started first time, second time it died but then i would expect it to after all the crap i have done........

here is the issue, with either his or my ecu plugged into marks car, after you turn the car on and then off, the oil light and brake light stay on(dim but on) and the temp gauge needle maxes out, and no fuel pump noise indicating it works........

so, if you have any clue or any idea what the problem may be, help mark out, thanks guys!!!

-bobby

 

UPDATE:

I got it running! I want to thank Bobby and Ryan for all their help. It sucks when everyone is scratching their heads and can’t figure out what the hell is wrong.

What was the problem……….?

It was on of the harness plugs. The problem plug was plugged in and looked ok. I had previously checked this plug by unplugging it and plugging it back in and it looked fine. The connectors looked clean and everything was seating correctly.

I found this was the problem only after checking the ECU (thanks to Bobby—I owe you a beer!) and checking all the fusses, relays, fuel pump, ignition, and ground straps.

Upon double checking all the plugs while I had the key on I heard the fuel pump come on when I fu^#ed with this plug. I sprayed the connector with electric connector cleaner and that fixed it!

Learn from my headache! If you ever have a problem with your 2003 WRX where when you turn the key on the check engine light doesn’t come on and the fuel pump fails to run and the instruments give weird indications such as- when the key is turned off the temperature gauge goes to hot, and the oil pressure and battery light stay on, you may have this problem.

The problem is the Brown rectangular wire harness plug which is located right next to the battery. This plug has about 16 wires in it and could be failing to make good contact even if it looks fine.

The symptoms started with the engine missing at WOT (wide open throttle), and the speedometer needle would jump around. This condition slowly got worse till it would not run at all.

Anyone with these symptoms in a WRX or STI should check the brown plug next to the battery. Go buy some electric connector cleaner and spray the sh#t out of it! Let it dry and plug it back in. Make sure you disconnect the battery when you do this!

Thanks of everyone’s help

P.S. Thanks Ryan for sticking up for me, the WRX ECU is no doubt working fine with the STI engine.

--Mark

 

I thought the USDM wrx ecu and harness can run an AVCS equipped motor.
It had something to do with swapping the TGV prong into the empty plug location on the harness where the AVCS should be on a USDM WRX then reflashing the ecu
to think its an sti.
Can someone confirm this?

 

From what I understand, you can use the TGV plugs on the engine side of the harness for your AVCS, but you still need a factory (JDM STi) ECU capable of running it. Other option is to run Hydra.

 

Thanks for the info.
I always knew you guys are the ones to go to.
Can you dudes get a factory (JDM) sti ecu?

 

Thanks I can hunt around if you're intrested in getting an ECU, what year are you looking for?