KL36 ecu

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » November 17th, 2005, 9:38 am

I put my KL36 ecu on my ZE today, and was kinda dissapointed with the results. I didnt really notice any real change. everything seems about the same, power wise anyway. It did however take off the cel light that i had for my coolant temp sensor, and it also made my idle alittle better. I've seen people say the K701 was the stock mx-3 ecu, but my car had a K801. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if i might actually advantage from the 36 otherwise im just going to resale it.

Rick Johnson · Post by **Rick Johnson** » November 17th, 2005, 3:06 pm

After running both and monitoring them with a wideband, I'd have to say they run almost the same. The main differences are the no CEL and different VRIS points and a few people have had idle issues that have been resolved with a 31/36...

I'd really like to dyno both side by side just to compare...

relisys_3200 · Post by **relisys_3200** » November 17th, 2005, 3:11 pm

The thing that I noticed most was the gas mileage. I had to make 2 rather large trips within 2 weeks of eachother. The first trip I had the k8 ECU in and for the second I had my 31 ecu....I noticed a fair increase in gas mileage after switching.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » November 17th, 2005, 4:03 pm

slimmy, I'm not sure what your running on your ZE other than you said that you changed your ECU. Now comes the pulling of teeth part to find out what is coupled with your ZE. Since you removed your KL08 ECU, can we assume that you are still running the KL08 IM? Has the EGR been transp[lanted to the ZE? Did you also ensure to migrate the coolant filler neck from the KL08 to the ZE so as to retain the 2 water thermosensors? As LF1 mentioned, the 2 different ECU's will have different gates at which the VRIS will operate. If your still running the KL08 IM, VAF and TB, than I would say continue using the KL08 ECU. I would only switch over to the KL31 or KL36 ECU if I had the correct corresponding IM, TB and VAF, otherwise you may end up with a whole mess of problems. Post back with what your running with your ZE as far as IM, TB and VAF and then we can go from there.

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » November 17th, 2005, 11:19 pm

no my ZE came with the curve neck KL47 im so thats the one i left on it. I am using the JE-50 vaf on the ZE and i have the KL68 tb. but see the main thing is i didnt really notice any difference in the VRIS shift points. both still kick in about the same with both ecu's. thats the main thing i had heard would be different. but it dosent seem to be.

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » November 18th, 2005, 9:07 am

the vris points would be a little different but not a whole lot, it would be hard to tell if they s--- at different rpms unlesss you have one guy bring the rpms up and another guy watch the vris point then figure out what the rpms opened at, then do the same with the other ecu. the best way would be to dyno the car. but the klze ecu gives maybe 5 hp, my opinion anyways, if even that.

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » November 18th, 2005, 10:44 am

Yea i would like to dyno both, but theres not really any where local that i can do that. It does seem like im getting better gas mileage though, so thats a plus. And i do like not having that annoying cel light on. My problem is i dont think its worth 200 bucks to get a little better gas mileage and a cel light off. But im still comparing the two trying to figure out which would be the best for me.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » November 18th, 2005, 1:04 pm

slimmy, a few things of note. You could do everyone and yourself a favour by posting this data and any other noteworthy mods or updates to your car in your signature block which is within your profile. Something like the info you input for your age, location etc. In doing so you won't have to continually re-post that info that is always critical to diagnosing problems. You may even find quicker and better responses in the future too. It only makes sense to put the odds in your favour.

Now back to your specific issues. Well you came across with about half the stuff I mentioned. Did you transplant your coolant filler assembly from the KL08 to the ZE? Like I said, the KL08 has the one single wire temp sensor for the instrument pod gauge and the 2 double wire thermosensor (black and green) units. These are used by the rad fan and the ecu. Your ECU wants to see inputs from those 3 sensors. By switching to the KL36 and thereby not seeing the the CEL any longer does not mean that the problem has gone away. IMO, it's probably to the contrary. (There is a way to retrieve ECU codes from the diag box which is covered available via a search of old posts.) I believe that you may still have coolant thermosensor issues. Not migrating those previously mentioned sensors would be one reason for that. Or it could be exactly what the KL08 ECU indicated in that your coolant thermosensor is faulty (that's if you have it). There's not going to be a lot of big differences between different ECU's wrt specific or individual engine managemant tasks, IMO. The process of reading sensor info by the KL08 ECU is more than likely no different than it would be for the KL36 to try and process the same information from the same sensor. It's what the ECU does after the fact with that specific input data. The ECU may be artificially bumping up the mixture because of missing or faulty input data, namely, coolant thermosensor info. You see where I'm coming from here? I'm going to assume that the TPS and ISC funtions of the TB are within tolerances as per the on-line manual. It will also be ideal to make a thorough cleaning of that IM and TB.

To answer your last post statement - Stay with the KL36 ECU and do not go back to the KL08 one. You have all of the correct corresponding parts IM, TB and VAF to compliment the ECU. What you should, or what I would recommend you do is post back the specifics on the themosensors that I've asked twice for and try a complete TPS adjustment/verification. Is the timing spot on?

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » November 19th, 2005, 12:36 am

The reason i didnt state about the thermosensor is because i didnt swap the filler necks but i had gotten a tap and die kit and was going to put it in the ZE's filler neck on Saturday (tomorrow), so it wasnt on there but was soon to be. I have never been able to find the online manual that everyone speaks of. So if its on here somewhere i must be blind. But i do have a chiltons manual, which is where i get most of my info. And yea i know i still have a thermosensor problem because its not hooked up i was just stating that the cel light was no longer on. Also the tps and isc are within tolerence so that is also ok. My big question on here though was is it really worth $200 bucks for the little gain of a KL36 or KL31 ecu. I wasnt trying to see if anything was wrong with my car. But i do see what your saying about putting my info in the signature and i also know how to do it I just havent really got around to doing it yet. Oh and to answer your last question yes my timing is right. Also i do know all about what the ecu reads and how it responds with all it information, i read like a 10 page artical about it shortly after my swap. So i do see what your ssaying about the sensors and stuff. But thanks for your help and opnions it is greatly appreciated.
Damon

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » November 19th, 2005, 2:27 am

Damon,
Here's a link to the MX3.com Homepage and the on-line manual is located along the left hand column under "Technical Info". If you've never been there before than there's a ton of excellent info there, albeit most of it hasn't been updated in a while, a good majority of it is still valid and valuable resource material.

http://www.mx-3.com/index.cfm

Good to hear about your future items that you're going to tackle and that all the other items checked out OK. As far as the ECU part is concerned. The KL31 or KL36 ECU is meant for or matched to work in unison with the other ZE specific items like IM, TB and VAF. They are all matched to give the best output/performance from your ZE. If the ZE ECU is not an option for you, you could get by with a MX6/626 ECU (KL01) but then you would have to get the corresponding MX6/626 VAF - KL02. Another option would be to go all out and shoot for an after market engine management system like MegaSquirt. That can be quite involved and not for the electrically challenged. The results from that sort of conversion can be quite rewarding from what I've read but the overall cost for something like that is going to be more than what a ZE ECU should cost. Sounds like your almost there - excellent. Hope this helps,
*John*

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » November 19th, 2005, 2:40 am

slimmyslim1420 wrote: I have never been able to find the online manual that everyone speaks of. So if its on here somewhere i must be blind.

The link is on the main MX-3.com webpage, right under Techincal info where it should be. This should help though: