Yes, the ECU and the ECM are the same. ECU stands for engine control unit, and ECM stands for engine control module. Both are names for your vehicle’s main computer chip. It does not matter whether you call it the engine control unit or the engine control module, it does the same thing. Let’s talk about this amazing computer chip below as well as your automobile’s system sensors.
Engine Control Unit/Module
The ECU or ECM constantly communicates with the computerized system sensors to make sure everything is working as it should be while you are driving your automobile. This communication starts the minute you fire up the engine and lasts until you turn the engine off. The communication is critical to make sure your vehicle remains safe, efficient, and reliable on the road.
This chip also controls some of your vehicle’s operations. For example, the cylinders are filled with air and fuel which the spark plugs ignite. The plugs must ignite the air and fuel in a specific order for your engine to run inefficiently. The ECU or ECM controls the order in which the plugs ignite. It also controls things such as the balance of air and fuel in the cylinders.
Computerized System Sensors
We want to encourage you to look at your dashboard the next time you start your automobile. This is an example of the second thing that the ECU or ECM does. As we mentioned above, it communicates constantly with your computerized system sensors. You will notice that all of the lights on the dashboard turn on when you start the automobile. This is the start of this communication.
The lights are on because the system sensors are testing their systems. Once they report that everything is okay, the ECU or ECM turns off the associated light. The system sensors continue to test their systems while you are operating your automobile. If something goes wrong that the ECU or ECM cannot fix, it will turn on a dashboard warning light so you know there’s a problem.
For example, let’s assume for the moment that you’ve lost the oil pressure in the engine. The ECU or ECM will turn on the oil light. Another example is a faulty oxygen sensor. In this case, you don’t have an oxygen sensor light so the ECU or ECM will turn on the check engine light.
Once you bring your vehicle to our shop, we will run a diagnostic test to retrieve the data from the ECU or ECM. This tells us what went wrong so we can fix it.