Ok with out writing a book here let me just break this down as simple as i can. I bought a 98 civic about two months ago and it already had a b18c1 in it. Everything is just about perfect with the car, no rust, not using oil, runs (well ran) great, etc. Anyway we got a serious amount of rain a couple days ago and i drove for about an hour and a half around town in it. It started acting as though it was having spark or fuel issues and was bogging quite bad and eventually died. My first thought was water in the intake so i let it sit in the garage for a few hours, went out to start it and it just kept bogging, wouldn't rev past 3500 (protect mode) also it had a horrible burnt electric smell ,so i went online and was pointed towards main relay, i wasnt getting the fuel pump on for prime so it made sense, i replaced it and still nothing (yes the relay clicks) I jumpered per the manual and verified the fuel pump worked, so next was check my grounds, all looked good, i went through and cleaned all the main ones and re-tightened. With all that out of the way now here is the issue, water had gotten in behind the fender and into the car getting the ecu harness wet. The ECU is for sure smoked, so the obvious thing is to replace it and better seal my kick panel/fender area. The problem is this is an aftermarket ECU, there is a sticker on bothsides of it, red with claw marks making it look like the paint is being clawed off. i cant find any ECU fitting this description.. i opened it up and don't see anything obvious to me that anything was replaced, i guess perhaps i don't know what to look for, i definately dont see like a s100 on anything, or hondata, i have no idea if this is a full replacement ecu, or an elaborate vinal sticker job, the guy told me either it was chipped or had a different computer, he spoke no english so his wife had to translate my questions to him. So now i have no clue what to do, i just started a new job so i cant afford to just go buy some super expensive ECU for the car (unless i absolutely have too), my concern is can i just get another GSR ECU and be done with it or do i need a special ECU? To the best of my knowledge its upgrades are as follows, catback exhaust w/custom piping to header, AEM Intake,and a Skunk2 Intake Manifold, the header appears stock, throttlebody looks stock, injectors also look stock, i have no idea if there is anything done to the motor, the car sounds really great, its not high pitched, it has a really gurthy sound to it and drives really nice, makes me wonder if it has aftermarket cams perhaps.. i don't want to make it all of a sudden drive like crap and sound horrible.. i doubt that would happen, but i have always known exactly what is going on with all my previous cars because i was always a part of the entire build process... Any help here would be much appreciated.. cheapest i have found a stock ECU for was 215 so i don't want to buy the wrong thing and be out 215+ dollars... Thanks in advance!!

 

Post a picture of the code on the side (example below) and the insides of the ECU you have now.

 

This is the pic of both the cover and the numbers... the sticker is on both sides of the ecu very perfectly cut.

it seams as if the owner purchased the ecu like this, i cant imagine a reason why someone would waste the time to put that image on both sides of the ecu just to stuff it in a kick panel and also perfectly cut it to fit.. seams like a company did it to me... but i couldn't find a brand online that does that image.. car was bought in Chicago if that helps jar a memory... any help would be great.. im about to buy something off ebay that claims to tune ecus per bolt-ons...

well if my god damned computer would ever load the rest of the images i could upload them... 8700k i7.. BS!!

I have to get my car running so i must order an ECU or send mine to be fixed/tuned by end of day. There are people on ebay claiming to be able to tune an ECU for exactly the mods i have in my car, no idea if they can fix my existing ECU, if not than i have to by an ECU and than have it tuned, or perhaps i just get a stock GSR ecu and get it tuned.. any one know what ECU this is?? OBD1 is what it looks like to me... also has anyone been able to recognize this ecu stickers? Looks like a can of red monster kind of.. Any help would be much much appreciated.. thanks!!!!

Small Board
Bottom of Small Board
Whole ECU
Area That Blew Up
All I.C.'s are crossed out.. Why??

Hopefully this is enough for someone to help me.. its a P30 ecu

ok got pics

 

Looks like a stock P30, which is an ECU for a JDM B16. I could be wrong about that engine though.

Looks like you can grab a replacement and be on your way, or get an ECU specific for the GSR motor you have.

Before you buy anything, study the connectors and figure out what OBD harness you have in the car. Is there an adaptor harness installed? I'll assume yes since you have an OBD2 car with an OBD1 (i think?) ECU.... It's been awhile since I've messed with this kind of stuff.

 

Yes I do have a conversion harness going into the ECU. I did a bunch of digging and it is indeed a jdm p30 which is for the b16, any idea why he would have this ECU instead of one for a b18? It has an aftermarket intake manifold which I read is a must for a b18 to work with this ECU.. I just don't get why not just use a teg ECU to begin with. I am assuming this ECU isn't tuned, there is no socket installed for a chip so I am leaning toward just getting another jdm p30 and being done with it. Car runs really great, I would have never guessed it was using a b16 ECU.. Vtech engages really aggressively, not sure red line, I always shift at 8k.. Would you agree this looks totally stock? I think I'm going to buy an ECU I found, its the same one, virgin, and not to salty.. Would I get better performance from a teg ECU? I don't want to make a mistake buying an ECU, they are pretty pricey..

 

The B18 ecu would throw a CEL since it would be looking for the butterflies which are in the stock intake manifold of the GSR motor. The B16 intake manifolds do not have those so no CEL. It's most likely easier to find an OBD "JDM" B16 ECU since B16's in Civics only came in the 99-00 Civic SI and might be more difficult to source.

Don't think about it too much. The easiest answer is usually the right one. Yes, as I mentioned in my earlier post, I believe it's a stock ECU and has not been modified. Getting a set up that you can actually "tune" will cost a good amount of money, so many people just get something that will run the car relatively well.

There isn't a big enough difference in terms of timing or fuel delivery between the b16 and b18 (not talking about sensors). If you went through the hassle of making a B18 ECU run the motor (with no CEL) properly, you wouldn't notice a performance difference.

If you don't have any additional work done, that intake manifold isn't doing you any favors and is most likely shifting your usable power range to higher end. Aftermarket intake manifolds on an otherwise stock motor is purely bling factor. Your 8k rpms shifts tell me that you either race everywhere or you need to go that high to reach usable power.