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2001 Toyota Echo

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ryannemae

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My mom has a 2001 Toyota Echo and her check engine light has come on - the dealer says that it is ECU engine failure and that it will cost about $1500-$1700 to repair. Any ideas or would they have given her a specific code number? Thanks for any feedback.
 
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As it's a 10 year old car, I wouldn't invest that kind of money. Especially into an ECU.

I had a ECM (I assume similar) issue that was not so well diagnosed by the dealer. They wanted roughly the same as what you are suggesting. My trusty mechanic could order a refurbished unit for $250ish and install for $100. With the diagnostic in hand, I'd take it somewhere else and have them do it. A quick perusing of ebay suggests a price of about $100-$200, but I wouldn't order it from there. Just find a good mechanic using google reviews or something and get some quick quotes.
 
Go to autozone/advance auto parts and have them scan the light for you. Report back with the code number.

If it is indeed the ECU, ebay has them for $100-200.
 
overst33r said:
Go to autozone/advance auto parts and have them scan the light for you. Report back with the code number.

If it is indeed the ECU, ebay has them for $100-200.
Click to expand...

This. Or check car-part.com for a junkyard that has it in stock ($50-$300). It's not something that is common to go bad so I would feel comfortable buying it used from a salvage yard. It seems strange that it would be the ECU if the car still runs properly but is throwing codes, but I guess you need to find the code out first and do some research to see if that is indeed the proper diagnosis.
 
I have a hard time believing that an ecu would go bad, but the car would still run, I'd go the autozone route and find out exactly what is wrong with the car. It sounds to me like they are just trying to get her to trade it in. I can imagine if you went the go ahead and fix it route they would replace the ecu, and some cheap sensor that was actually the problem.
 
+1 to what everyone said. If it does turn out to be an ECU/ECM (same thing really) then a refurbished unit or salvage unit is the way to go. New OEM hardware like that is stupidly expensive.
 
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