ECU shorted and VVEL replacement from using battery tender?
 

Dear all, I'm a new owner of a 2010 370z Roadster with 20k miles in pristine condition with no modifications, bought from my brother who pampered it and had no issues ever.

As this is my weekend car, I used a CTEK battery tender to keep the battery maintained while not driven.

Two weeks later I came to start it up for the first time to drive and the engine idle was very low, would not rev to a higher limit, and the start up was very weak exhaust note.

Took it to my local dealer and they said the ECU was shorted and it needs replacement, reprogramming. Additionally today they said the VVEL needs to be replaced as well.

Does any of this make sense and anyone with similar issues? My 991 Porsche is plugged in year round when I'm overseas for work and she starts with no issues.

Mainly I'm boggled how a CTEK trickle charger/battery maintainer can short the ECU on the 370Z....dealer was not helpful and did provide an explanation as to possible root causes.

At this point I just want the car running again so I'm at their mercy.

Thank you in advance for any information you might be able to enlighten a new 370 owner with on this issue.

Regard,
Vg:confused:

Sounds like bullsh1t to me. You need a second opinion.

Bullsh1t.
I have used CTEK before to keep my battery charged and had no such issues.

The only incident I heard of an ECU being shorted was this guy running tons of lights around his car and the wires burnt due to load and shorted to the car body.
One sign of this is when the mechanic used a socket wrench to loosen the negative terminal of the battery, a short is created when the wrench touched the car body.
Also found the ECU was shorted too.

Thanks for the information and affirming everyone. This is the Nissan dealer in Fremont , CA. Makes no sense to me either on what they said and may have caused the issues

Will keep you posted

:iagree:, second opinion needed.

It is highly unlikely that a trickle charger would short out the ECM and VVEL.

My guess is that your battery has gone bad. Get the battery checked or just go ahead and replace it.

If the battery turns out to be the problem, never return to the mechanic that told you it's the ECM/VVEL.

vvel is like $4k to replace

Yeah, but it's really unlikely it would need to be replaced because of a battery tender.

Thank you very much everyone for your input and most valued feedback - just like to update this in case someone else runs into a similar issue (although it still seems odd and boggles me), the dealer said there is a seal sensor attached to the VVEL module which somehow came loose and over time water/moisture got in and shorted the ECU along with the VVEL module.

Total cost for repairs was $3k for the ECU and VVEL module. I'm just happy she's back to her normal form and running again now.

Although it is strange that the original owner, my brother never had any issues until I parked it for 2 weeks after taking ownership and plugged it into the ctek battery tender all the issues came up.

Unfortunately I'm traveling overseas for business and did not have time for getting a second opinion..




She's running now, thank you everyone again


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Very common for water/electricity problems to take a while to show any signs. The water causes the metals to corrode and, as the corrosion "flowers", two conductors can come into contact. Depending on conditions, the leak could have been there for years before things shorted out.

Edit: The battery tender was probably just coincidence.

Call nissan HQ and open a case, if you get lucky they'll give you some money back. Keep it positive and tell them how much you love your z