AAA jump start fried my computer

I'd take it to Toyota. If I took it to the preferred shop it would be my luck the same kid who caused the problem would be working on it...

 

Truck has 200k on it. A used ECU doesn't necessarily seem unreasonable. Personally, I'd be less concerned about the part as I would who's working on it.

If it were me I would give AAA the choice between the dealer or your trusted mechanic. And I would insist on that.....firm but diplomatically. Either choice they make would then benefit you.

 

This would be entirely fair to all involved IMO.

 

Agreed. Considering Toyota is going to rape them just as bad as they'd rape anybody else for a NEW ecu that's going to function and perform just as well as one pulled from a wrecked vehicle in a junkyard for a fraction of the price. I can't blame them for not wanting to pay thousands of dollars more than needed to fix an employees fuck-up on a customers high mileage, decade old truck.

 

This!

 

Except that nobody knows exactly what a used ECU has been through,if I got a used one I would demand at least a 6 month warranty.

 

FWIW your truck w/ never be the same running a used ECU esp. if you're AT

 

Probably the same as any other ecu driving around perfectly fine in any other truck on the road.

 

They screwed it up, tell them where you want to take it and how you want it done.
There should be no haggling on this on their part.
If they refuse tell then to go pound sand and lawyer up.

I agree with others on here that people make mistakes, I understand that, they just need to make things right to your satisfaction not there's.

 

This is decided on because the garage is an IN-Network provider and will cost less than an Out-Of-Network Provider to AAA

 

That is actually not what a fuse is for and a fuse is not a fast enough acting device to protect against reverse voltage. I design electrical systems for aircraft and this misconception is held by many people. The purpose of a fuse is to blow (it isn't instant either) when the rating is exceeded so that the wire will not heat up, melt and cause a fire due to being overloaded.

To protect against reverse voltage a diode needs to be in the circuitry inside of whatever to protect it.

Fuses also do not protect against voltage spikes etc.

I can't believe AAA did this. I had a neighbor that was so cheap she tried to replace her own battery and hooked it up backwards, blew every fuse in the car but no serious damage, but it was a 1980's vehicle without much in the way of electronics in it.

 

What happened to this post?

 

And the reasoning behind this statement is...?

 

I'm still embarrassed to say this is still going on after 19 days. AAA is really dragging their feet and not communicating with me. Against my orders, I just found out they had the truck towed to the garage which caused the problem in the first place, and they don't plan of replacing the computer. They are going to rebuild the old one. Replacing only the chips that are needed.
I'm not sure I agree with this? Thoughts?

 

FUBOS............

 

Court time!
The minute you let them start telling you what they are going too do and NOT want you want ,you are going too be screwed.
A rebuilt one with just a few parts replaced,sounds like the guys saying you should except an old unit pulled out of the junkyard,they are called junk yards for a reason,you don't fix a car by using junk yard garbage.SUE THEM.

 

Wow! My 1st thought is why did your mechanic allow them to take the truck, without your permission? Technically, that's theft. However, if you call the cops, they'll tell you, "it's a civil matter". Secondly, the electronics are most likely potted in goo. If so, it's not just a simple matter of soldering in a new driver transistor. Thirdly, is the shop going to be soldering on the computer? I doubt very highly they're qualified.

 

There is nothing wrong with that, ECU repair is quite common and if done by a reputable company will last as long as would a new one--and would certainly be more reliable than a used module from some unknown source. They are likely doing this (which likely costs more than a used unit) rather than using a used ECU so as to cover there backside "down the road".

As for AAA, like the AARP they were once a great co-op/pooled risk member based organisation--but are mostly now just a large marketing/lobbying/insurance corporate conglomerate...

 

Exactly!

 

This chart from LittleFuse's ATOF spec sheet is a real eye-opener--if you look at the rightmost curve you will see that with a 60A load it takes 1000 seconds (16.7 minutes) for a 40A fuse to "blow"--it takes 1 second with a 100A load, 1 s is an eternity for any computerized device...