BRAIN EXPERTS NEEDED! Mercury 225X 2.5 liter Motorola PCM issue.

[tozlakes]

I have a 225X 2.5 liter that went dead on me while on the water this week. I pulled a couple of plugs and turned the motor over and had no spark. Once out of the water I pulled a couple different plugs and they would randomly have a spark. I took it to the Merc dealer in Bullhead City AZ and the Tech leaned toward a faulty Motorola PCM. He said the sparking was random, the HP fuel pump was continuously running when it shouldn't have been and he could not communicate with the PCM on his laptop. He made a call in to Merc for help and they also leaned toward it being a PCM issue according to him.

Tech wrote on invoice:
-Intermitant spark, all spark or no spark, Spark weak and red in color.
-Fuel pump running with main power relay which cycles.
-No tach signal to helm-changed CPS on change.
-Laptop cannot communicate with PCM.
-System monitor has no communication with PCM. (Smartcraft I think he meant)
-Excess fuel coming out exhaust while testing, result of test with fuel pump running continuously may have injector stuck open but cranked end with plugs removed and did not have fuel coming out plugs.
-Jumped across MPR with no results.


Question: Can these PCMs be re-flashed or rebuilt by someone? Tried contacting Brucato on Tuesday with no luck. Will a different model PCM work? $2k for a motorola replacement according to the dealer and need to find a different solution if possible. Hate to put out that kind of money and find out it is not the culprit. Thanks John

[Dave Strong]

Make sure all of your grounds are good before you do anything. Wild crazy issue's like this can be as simple as bad grounds, so elemimate them first. JMO.

Dave

[tozlakes]

Thanks Dave, The Tech spent about three hours on it and told me he checked the grounding but who knows as I actually was not there. Does anyone such as Repar (or similar spelling) do anything with these Motorolas?

[FWP3LCF]

try simon motor sports 619-843-6795 i had good luck with him

[mizer]

Yep send it to Simon. He can check the PCM and see if its working. Sent mine to him when I thought mine(225x) was bad. If I remember right he can even repair them to some degree. He can also reprogram it and turn your RPMs up. Great guy to deal with.

[Jay Smith]

I send all my ECU's to Simon... I've been REAL pleased with the outcome..

Jay

[Euroski]

I would think the merc tech would have checked for power and ground for the no communication concern. And yest have simon check it out first.

[tozlakes]

I talked with Simon and will send out Monday morning for him to test and if bad likely buy one from him to replace although $1250 at this point is a lot of money to spend on a boat I was planning on selling at the end of summer. If test shows its good and not my problem, I will have to start from scratch. It seems that everywhere I read that these particular PCM a notorious for failing. I see a few of the same part number Motorala PCMBE0101 859610 for sale on the net but they say they are off of a 2000 MERCURY OPTIMAX 225 HP DFIs and not from a 2001 Mercury 225X like mine. Are these interchangable between these two motors or is there a different program flashed to the unit? I thought I have also seen the same PCM part number on some of the 496 inboards. interchangable or not?

[HookSetFreak]

Question....
I have a 1993 Mercury 175 XRI, with a bad EFI box. I was told, that I can install an EFI box off of a 200, and this would not hurt the engine. How true is this?

[Go Time]

While ECUs from other models may run the engine, they don't have the correct fuel delivery curve program and probably will not delivery proper performance.

[HookSetFreak]

See... this what I was thinking. But the guy talking to swears, the only difference in a 1993 Mercury engine between a 175, and a 200, is the computer... I"m stuck between a rock and a hard spot, because I don't see spending $1000-$1800 on this engine, nor have the cash to buy a new one.

[Go Time]

That is also not true...175 & 200 have other differences, such as porting,
There several 175 ECUs on ebay or send it to Simon motorsports in CA for repair ~$650.

[150aintenuff]

let me look i have a few ECMs for the 1990-1995 Laser system i may have a 175 HP unit io know i have a 220 and a 200 hp unit but there is one i need to look at program, its either 150 or 175...
if its a good unit and right HP id sell for 500
let me hook it up and look at its curves

[150aintenuff]

Question....
I have a 1993 Mercury 175 XRI, with a bad EFI box. I was told, that I can install an EFI box off of a 200, and this would not hurt the engine. How true is this?

will run PIGLET RICH... porting on 150 XRI and 175 were same but box program and timing were less on 150 a promax 150 and a 175 XRI efi run about 2% difference from eachother and a 150 production motor sees less fuel and timing across the board. find the right ECM look on Ebay they pop up often

[LongShot]

The 225x box is a wicked little animal. If the motor is a 2004 or earlier the PCM has no protection from a coil if the coil goes to ground. You get ignition voltage on every ground on the motor. All the sensors will fry and the PCM will burn its internal ground. Good news is if that is the problem Eric can fix it. Bad news is you will be buying 6 new coils at $120 apiece and replacing all your sensors, TPI, MAP etc. I have heard raves about the 225x but I found it to not be worth the time and trouble once something goes south. I am putting 16 amp electrics on mine if I ever run it again.