Hello, first post. I am not very knowledgeable about cars so I could use all the help you guys can give.

I just bought a 2005 350z Grand Touring Roadster. The car has 30,000 miles on it and was a rebuild after a relatively minor accident - I've seen the repair history and read the police report.

I knew going in that the car might have an ECU problem because the dealer I took it to could not hook up his computer to test the car.

I did a full inspection today and the ECU is corroded (unrelated to the accident and this was not a flood ticket) and needs to be replaced. The rest of the wiring is fine and we do not need to put in a new harness or anything like that.

Dealer quoted me $1,275 for the ECU and $325 for labor.

Questions:

1) Where can I find a lower cost ECU? Ebay? Other?

2) Does it matter that the ECU exactly match the year and trim of the car?

3) What is a fair price for this part and work? $1,275 seems steep.

I got a really good deal on the car so even if I have to pay dealer prices (worst case) I'm still coming out well, but I'd love to save some money if possible.

Thanks guys!

 

You can get a new ecu for less than $200 off ebay or the forum classifieds. Just make sure its from a compatible year & trim. You will have to either get it reflashed by the dealer ($250 or so) so that it'll work with your keys or get an Uprev reflash ($300) to disable the NATS security. With the Uprev reflash you'll also get the benefits of a tune, car will run much stronger.

 

ebay or the forum for sure…

 

Thanks guys, that's helpful. I did not see any on EBAY or any other site for anywhere near $200, the lowest I saw was around $780.

The way the dealership filled out the forms is confusing. The first form says "Found ECU has failed. Found corrosion on ECU. Need to replace ECU (Engine control unit)."

But then on a second form the service advisor gave me a parts number, 23710-CF105 and wrote "ECM"

When I search for the parts number, I find this:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...05&_sacat=6030

Unfortunately this is a lot more than $200. Sorry for the confusion, but I'm wondering if you guys know where I can get this part for under $780 since that is the lowest I've seen?

I'm going to call today and clarify whether it is ECU or ECM, but I'm pretty sure they meant to say ECM because the part they showed me looks like the picture in the link I posted.

Thanks for any help.

 

ECU vs ECM = same thing. And there are many 350z ECUs on ebay under 200. The key is finding a compatible unit. Check out the uprev documents regarding CPU compatability for your car to help you locate the correct ECU code - then look for that code in the pics on the ebay units.

 

Thanks everyone for the help. I got a low priced ECU and this issue is now resolved. Really love the car so far, it's a lot of fun to drive.