Is anyone up for a seemingly insurmountable problem. A problem too great for internet geniuses and local greese monkeys alike?

[OG1]

Hello all, I'm new here and to electronics. But i'm learning. I have a 1998 Honda Accord LX 3.0l v6 car. The immobilizer unit has gone out. Now the internet geniuses and local dipstick mechanics say you can't simply bypass this on the motherboard. They say you have to replace the ignition module, the electronic sending unit around the ignition and the ecu. Then you have to reprogram all your keys. Of course costing more than the car is worth! That is if you can find the parts which honda no longer produces.
Older repair forums have shown that you can remove a chip from the ecu board. The car will then start, but you need an after market bypass chip to be able to read obd2 codes. My problem is the old forum ecu pictures and instructions are for a different board.
You see my problem?
I can't find a diagram of this old motorola ecu. I'm an old vet. When I was on active duty, I watched techs hack complicated missle and radar systems with ease. I can even find diagram schematics for some of these once classified programs. But I can't find anything on a simple, twenty year old, hex code, rom car computer! THIS IS MADNESS!
Any help would be appreciated.
Wally

 

[narkeleptk]

What is ecu part#?
Some Honda's yes you can remove one component in the ecu and disable the immobilizer but you will have check engine light on with dtc for ROM error (internal fault in pcm). You can also use an emulator to bypass the immobilizer. I don't recommend either of these. There is no other immo-off that I know of for these year Accords.

The 98's can have a few different immobilizer chains but the most common are:
key > antenna ring around ignition > immobilizer in engine ecu.
& key > antenna ring> separate immobilizer ecu > verification with engine ecu.

What part are people actually saying is bad? engine ecu or just vaguely saying Immobilizer is bad? Many times keys just need reprogramming on these.

It is true that you can not buy a new antenna with out buying the wheel lock, ignition lock and ignition switch assembly, so your best option, and what I would do if you were my customer would be to replace JUST the part in the chain with a used one. Then run the immobilizer/ecu replacement options in HDS (or another good scan tool). Its very easy job, anyone that claims different just doesn't know what they are working on well enough to advise properly.

If you can't find anyone locally I offer mail in services, You welcome to PM me if you want and I will send you my company information.

 

[narkeleptk]

Does your ecu look like this? Its the only Motorola ecu I remember for Honda and its pretty rare. If it is, there might be a few things to try to disable the immobilizer for a temporary solution til you can fix it properly.

 

[OG1]

Bingo brother!

 

[narkeleptk]

If your so-so with a soldering iron, I'll give you 2 things you can try. check your pm.
Be careful not to break the case apart or you will need to solder jumpers connecting it together in a few spots before trying to seal it back up.. They only like to open/close a few times before the seams give way.