How to keep ECU trouble free?

The ECU of your vehicle translates to the engine control unit. It is sometimes more commonly known to people as PCM, or in other words powertrain control module. It plays an important role because it is basically a 'car computer'. It has the job of controlling your vehicle's engine. In more specific terms it controls the input and the output to the system. It also manages the fuel economy and the emissions from the engine as well. It has several other features in addition to this but those mentioned are the main ones.

As you can see, the function of the ECU is pivotal. If the ECU of your vehicle damages then you will end up having to seek a repair and this can cost you a lot of money. It is important that you avoid this all together and maintain the quality of your engine control unit. There are some tips you should make note of in order to ensure that your ECU is kept completely trouble free. Read on to discover what these tips are.

The best way to look after your ECU is to determine what not to do. There are certain things individuals do to their car and these will damage the engine control unit as a result. However, if you are careful with your car and avoid doing the following damaging things, then your ECU will be entirely trouble free.

One occurrence that will damage the ECU is if there is too much voltage going into the computer unit. For that reason you should clearly not do anything that will result in high voltage occurring, such as using cheap jumper cables to jump start your vehicle these usually result in strong and erratic voltage.

Sometimes you can actually damage your ECU through voltage issues as a result of another issue with your vehicle. Don't underestimate how one element of your car can actually influence your ECU. Any electrical fault can end up resulting in damage to the unit.

If you think about it logically it is quite easy to see how voltage issues would destroy an ECU. After all, if you overheat any computer system it can frazzle. In the case of the engine control unit, too much voltage can be highly damaging to the EEPROM and the microcontroller specifically.

Aside from this there are several other ways you can ensure your ECU is trouble free. Make sure you are extremely careful regarding the parts you use for the fuel relays and the system. If you use the wrong part then you can result in a failure to either of the components and this can then affect the ECU as a result.

Aside from this, connecting the battery cables incorrectly can also be detrimental, so you should be mindful of this. If you connect the battery cables backwards then you actually completely reverse the polarity of the whole electrical system.

You now know what you should avoid doing if you want to keep your ECU healthy and trouble free. Don't say that you weren't warned!

Author Bio: RAV4 ECU repair is the one stop shop for all repairs and it even deals with ECU faults.

From the Wreckage - scrap car services, their strengths and shortcomings

With a number of governmental scrap car initiatives having failed in recent years, are the privately-owned scrap car businesses playing their part, providing reliable and efficient car recycling schemes that are actually helping the environment?

If you've suffered a car accident, it can be a harrowing and often traumatic experience that impacts on your life in a number of ways; your health, your well-being and your financial situation.

If the money for your next vehicle purchase is tied up in your old, broken or damaged car, it can be difficult to know what to do. Unable to sell your car, you may turn to the loan companies to give you a helping hand, and provide you with the money you need to purchase another.

Unfortunately, as is often the case when you deal with loan providers, their interest rates can cripple you, and you might stand to lose more money than you would by simply doing nothing with your damaged car, and giving up on it.

Scrap car companies provide a solution, but are they doing enough?
Growing in popularity in recently years, there are a number of scrap car companies out there who now help you recoup some of the costs from that newly-written-off car; companies that offer cash for your damaged car and make sure that all hazardous parts are disposed of in accordance with the latest environmental procedures, and that all metal is sent to steel mills where it's able to be reused.

Unfortunately there have been reports of scrap car dealers operating illegally, failing to ensure that the scrap cars are being scrapped, recycled and de-polluted efficiently. And not just this, there's a disturbing trend that sees scrap car thieves targeting car garages and stealing specific car parts to later sell on.

Where do our priorities lie?
We now find ourselves in a situation in which used cheap cars are more valuable when scrapped than they are when sold on - and even when they are sold on, many scrap car companies fail to dispose of them properly; a trend that sees both theft and pollution rising.

So it seems that rather than an effort to reduce the harmful impact our current car production and disposal methods are having on the environment, many initiatives have been set up with one goal in mind: money.

What can be done to tackle to growing trend of vehicle theft while still providing scrap car owners with an initiative that'll see them opt to have their scrap car salvaged for parts and being recycled?

By Rob Henry