Buying a second-hand ECU

Are you thinking of buying a second-hand ECU? You can get a great deal on a used Haltech ECU on popular sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Craigslist or Trademe. But just like with any other second-hand product, there are some things you need to keep an eye out for.

Visual Inspection

The first thing to do is a visual inspection – Here’s what to look out for:

Check the pins inside the connector to ensure that none have been melted from a fire or because of a serious wiring problem.

Check the screws that hold the ECU cover to the backing plate – If they’re missing or look like they’ve been tampered with, it is possible someone has tried to pull the ECU apart to look inside, and there is almost never a good reason to do that. If they’re rusty, that could be an indicator that the unit is water damaged, and best left alone. Water-damaged electronics aren’t a good buy.

Have a sniff! Yes, really. Burned electronics have a distinct smell, if you can smell anything funny, walk away.

Serial Number

Do check for a serial number. It should be on a silver sticker stuck somewhere on the unit. Firstly, make sure that the sticker doesn’t say “Display” – If you’ve got one of those, it is a dummy unit someone has stolen from one of our event display stands.

Once you have a serial number, you’re welcome to email that to us at Haltech. We can give you the production date of the ECU, and tell you whether anyone has ever reported the unit stolen to us. If you happen to come across an ECU without a serial number sticker, don’t panic. Once connected to Haltech software, we can see the unit’s serial number, and give you that information.

Firmware, Software and Accessory Compatibility

If you’re looking at a Platinum series ECU, you’ll need to run Haltech “ECU Manager” software on your computer. While stable and quite capable, ECU Manager is getting on a bit now and is no longer getting any updates. Don’t let that stop you from looking at a Platinum ECU, though. They’re still a very capable unit, especially for the second-hand price.

All Elite and Nexus units now run on the current NSP (Nexus Software Programmer) and can be updated to the latest version no matter when they were manufactured.

All Nexus, Elite and even Platinum Sport ECUs have a CAN port and can make use of the bulk of Haltech’s current range of CAN devices, such as a Wideband Controller, or iC-7 Dash. CAN Keypads will not run on the Platinum range, however. Platinum and Elite ECUs share the same connectors, but be careful if you’re upgrading from a Platinum to an Elite ECU because the pinouts are slightly different. If in doubt, you can always contact our support team to help you with that.

Password Protection

Sometimes second-hand ECUs will come to you with password protection enabled. Again, don’t panic! You’re not locked out of your ECU. What you are locked out of is the “map” that was created by (or for) the previous owner. All maps/tunes remain the tuner’s intellectual property, so they’re entirely within their rights to put a password on them. While you cannot reset the password to access those maps, you can run a factory reset and set the ECU back to factory default. This is fine because if you’re buying a second-hand ECU, you’re not likely to use the old map anyway!

Haltech ECU Health Check and Repairs

If you happen to find a great deal on a second-hand Haltech ECU, only to be disappointed when it arrives and you find it is damaged, or not working, don’t despair. Haltech has an amazing after-sales and repair service, and in many cases, a Platinum, Elite, or Nexus ECU can be repaired. You can find the repair return instructions on our website.

Alternatively, if the ECU seems fine, but you want to be 100% sure it’s fully functional before you install it, you can send it to us and, for a small fee, we can test it and provide you with a condition report, just for your own peace of mind. While we’re at it we can also update the firmware and software to the latest version available.

Price Check

And finally, before you pull the trigger on purchasing a second-hand ECU, make sure you check our website and see what you’d pay for a brand new unit – It may not be a lot more than the second-hand unit you’re looking at!