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Manual and Auto ECUs.
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:20 pm
by silverGPX
Hey everyone.
Just curious to know if the standard FTO Ecus are the same for manual and auto, as i have reason to believe that autos have a separate Ecu?
Has anyone swapped one etc with sucess?
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:26 pm
by silverGPX
And yes to everyone that has noticed i ask LOTS of questions lol
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:54 pm
by vipfto
As far as I know they are identical, you are correct that auto has its own seperate ECU and I have done manual conversion and car runs awesome on original ECU still, so I would be picking that they are identical
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:57 pm
by silverGPX
yea thought that would be the case. however some have different part numbers? would that be different revisions of firmware?
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:06 pm
by vipfto
I belive that facelift models use a different ECU also but would pay to double check that others are identical for Auto and man. I know that a 95 and 96 use different part number for instance yet are identical, So some confirmation will be good
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:03 pm
by Bennoz
Well you got all the different engines, which require different ECU's - GS, GR, GPX
Then you've got facelift versions, such as the GR becoming the GX - which had a 63mm throttle body added & a revision to the tune which saw an extra 10hp.
So there's 4 different ECU's, plus I imagine there were firmware revisons over the years, so there could be heaps..
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:18 pm
by dstocks
There are heaps in CAPS thats for sure. This suggests the ECU ive got may be suitable for you then silverGPX if you need it. Was out os an auto GPX I believe. Easy to confirm.
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:42 pm
by Storm
Given that the engine ECU in an auto wont let the car start if it is in Drive or Reverse I would think that means that the ECU is different from a manual one, which doesn't need to talk to the gearbox ECU.
Bill
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:56 pm
by I8A4RE
Storm wrote:Given that the engine ECU in an auto wont let the car start if it is in Drive or Reverse I would think that means that the ECU is different from a manual one, which doesn't need to talk to the gearbox ECU.
Bill
Im not 100% sure but I dont think that either ecu have any control over the non-starting function. Think of it more like a switch, if the car is not in park or neutral then although there is power (turning the key) the switch has not been flicked on.
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:43 pm
by vipfto
^^^^ This is correct as when I converted mine was just a matter of connecting two wires together although my auto ECU is still connected I dont believe it has any control on starting I'm sure as long as you use GPX ECU it will work
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:19 pm
by Storm
The people I know who have had a manual conversion done have all had to keep their gearbox ECU and connect the wires so it thinks the autobox is still there and in park.
If the engine ECU was the same across manual and auto surely there would be no need to keep the g/box ECU and wiring? Disconnecting the ECU from the engine one would be easier and more foolproof were it possible

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:35 pm
by Bennoz
Storm wrote:The people I know who have had a manual conversion done have all had to keep their gearbox ECU and connect the wires so it thinks the autobox is still there and in park.
Yeah but the feature you are talking about (not allowing the car to start) is a function of the engine ECU, not the gearbox ECU..
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:06 am
by Storm
Bennoz wrote:Storm wrote:The people I know who have had a manual conversion done have all had to keep their gearbox ECU and connect the wires so it thinks the autobox is still there and in park.
Yeah but the feature you are talking about (not allowing the car to start) is a function of the engine ECU, not the gearbox ECU..
So back to my original point, why would a manual ECU have this function? I still say they should be different but thats no garantee that they are of course!
Probably best to look up a tip GPX and a manual GPX of the same year on the system Ben to see if the part numbers are different.
Try mine - 1994 GPX tip, de3a 0008760 and compare it to someones manual GPX of the same vintage.
Bill
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:00 am
by FTEvolution
Since this is an ECU thread I may as well as here instead of making a new one...
@Ben (or anyone else with a 6A13), in your pre-6a13 research, have you found out anything about the VR4 ECU's? I hear there is one that has more aggressive, well, everything over the standard VR4 one (I'm using one from a 97 Leggy).
I'm not interested in a standalone computer at this point, but a simple plug in ECU upgrade may be on the cards if I can figure out what I need.
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:01 am
by silverGPX
Alright everyone thanks for the responses that was so quick. So basically I get from this i can use an auto Ecu as long as i do something with the park selector wires?
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:27 am
by nvr2low
You also have to run 2 wires to the manual gearbox for the reverse lights
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:02 pm
by Bennoz
FTEvolution wrote:Since this is an ECU thread I may as well as here instead of making a new one...
@Ben (or anyone else with a 6A13), in your pre-6a13 research, have you found out anything about the VR4 ECU's? I hear there is one that has more aggressive, well, everything over the standard VR4 one (I'm using one from a 97 Leggy).
I'm not interested in a standalone computer at this point, but a simple plug in ECU upgrade may be on the cards if I can figure out what I need.
Yeah, the facelifted leggies had more grunt apparently. But whats more important, the plastic-cased facelifted leggy ECU's are now reflashable.
There 3 types you can do it on from what I've gathered on ozvr4:
MD340288
MD362895
MR578135
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:11 pm
by silverGPX
Just an update.
Yes you can sucessfully put an automatic ECU into a Manual loom without any modification.
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:24 pm
by vipfto
silverGPX wrote:Just an update.
Yes you can sucessfully put an automatic ECU into a Manual loom without any modification.
Thought so
