How to Replace Engine Computer 2005-11 Honda Civic
Created on: 2018-01-03
How to replace a failed electronic control module or computer on 2008 Honda Civic.
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step 1 :Disconnecting the Battery
- Apply rust penetrant to the battery hold down bolts
- Loosen the negative battery terminal bolt with a 10mm wrench
- Disconnect the negative battery terminal
- Loosen the positive battery terminal bolt with a 10mm wrench
- Disconnect the positive battery terminal
- Loosen the battery hold down nuts with a 10mm socket and ratchet
- Unhook the battery hold down bolts from the battery tray
- Pull the hold down off the battery
- Pull the plastic cover off the battery
- Pull the battery out of the engine bay
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step 2 :Removing the ECU
- Remove the 10mm bolts from the ECU cover
- Lift the cover off of the ECU
- Disconnect the three connectors from the ECU and pull back the bar
- Remove the ECU
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step 3 :Installing the ECU
- Insert the ECU into place
- Connect the connectors and latch on the bars to the pins
- Slide the plastic cover over the ECU
- Tighten the 10mm bolts to the ECU cover
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step 4 :Installing the Battery
- Put the battery tray into place
- Lower the battery onto the battery tray
- Put the battery cover onto the battery with the opening in the front
- Hook the battery hold down hooks onto the battery tray
- Tighten the battery hold down nuts with a 10mm socket and ratchet
- Connect the positive battery terminal
- Tighten the positive battery terminal bolt with a 10mm wrench
- Connect the negative battery terminal
- Tighten the negative battery terminal bolt with a 10mm wrench
Tools needed
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Gloves
Rust Penetrant
Complete Metric Wrench Set
Complete Metric Socket Set
Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!
Open the hood and pull the release inside. Find the secondary safety release on your hood. On our Civic, we've got two spots we can put the proper on. Put it here or you put it in the service position and open it further. We're going to use that one.
I'm going to disconnect the negative terminal of the battery before I start touching anything. This is a 10 millimeter on this car. Just loosen it up. Just put this aside. After negative terminal's been disconnected, remove the positive terminal with a 12mm wrench. This terminal is live, so try not to touch the wrench to any other metal while you're removing it. This is just on here in plastic. Move cable over. Going to spray some rust penetrant on here—it's a little rusty. Using a 10 milliliter deep socket. So if the deep socket isn't deep enough, you can just take a ratcheting wrench or a box wrench. Whatever you have handy. You don't have to loosen them off fully.
Oh, that one popped out. So once they're loose enough, you can kind of move this around. Like, this one popped out of the little hook. So that's unhooked. Then you can maneuver this one. Take the whole bracket and mount out. There's a plastic cover on here. You can just pull that off. And then reach in. Might want to wear some gloves because the battery's going to have acid on them. Just pull it right out and put this aside.
There's a third bolt down here that's hidden by the battery. With the battery out, we can get to it. It's 10 millimeter. Going to use the 10 millimeter socket and ratchet to remove it. I'm going to remove this one up here. Remove this 10 millimeter bolt in the backside.
There's a plastic cover on the ECU. It's got two little tabs here. If it's kind of loose, it'll pop right out. Slide the cover off. And we're going to just gently pull this over. There's three connectors, they're locked, so you going to kind of push in the lock and then pull this open like that at the same time. And it'll kind of push off. Do this for all three of them. Pull the ECU right out.
Reinstall the ECU. You can't really mess up the connectors because they don't reach. So they only go where they reach. Try to push them on evenly. Get them kind of closed, and these little bars are going to go in and catch, uh, pins there on each side of the connector. As you do that, they're going to lock in place. Those are locked into place.
Position it on the bracket. Don't forget to reinstall the plastic cover. It just slides over. And it's got these two little tabs that are going to go in here. That's going to sit like that. Now I can reinstall all the bolts. You have to move around a little bit, get it started. Just get it tight, and an old quarter turn wash should do it. ECU's reinstalled.
I'm going to reinstall our battery. If you have a plastic cover, now you can reinstall it. Got the battery tight on and the hooks attached, so you can reach down, hook this in. Kind of just like that. Do the same for this side. Use a 10 millimeter deep socket to tighten these.
Reinstall the positive terminal. Yours might look different. This car's had the terminal replaced. But the idea is the same. Put that over there, that go up on there. Take 12 millimeter and tighten this up. You don't have to over tighten these, just tighten it and then give it a good tug. Make sure it doesn't wiggle or come loose. You can kind of see how they bend as they tighten. Take our negative terminal. Just go back on here. Tighten this one up. This is a 10 millimeter. There's a possibility that the original positive terminal is also a 10 millimeter. Make sure that's nice and tight. The battery's replaced. When you're all done, just close the hood.
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