Subject: Mitsubishi Eclipse 1990 trouble
Question: Thanks for the response. I called up the place and they wanted $350 for the part, plus I have to pay $100 in labor fees to the dealership, so I'm looking at $450 to fix it. Is it even worth it for a 1990 with 120,000 miles? The A/C doesn't work all that great either down here in Florida.
Thanks again
Mark

Answer: Mark,
$350 is a decent price for a professionally rebuilt ECU. $100 in labor fees isn't too bad for a dealership. That's less that 1.5 hours in labor.

If you want to try to find a cheaper ECU, there are folks that are always selling used ones on eBay for $50-$100. But there might not always be one for your exact car. Which this all basically boils down to if you really want to keep the car. I have a '90 Eclipse with 175,000 miles on it. I replaced the capacitors in my ECU before they went bad. My A/C doesn't work at all, but then again I don't live in Florida.

If you really like the car, spend the $450 on the new ECU, and Florida has the best A/C repair shops. You can get your old A/C system converted to the new system for about $150 (if there's not damage to any of your piping). So, you could either spend about $600 (ball park) to get your car running well with a new A/C system, or spend thousands on a new car. 120,000 is pretty low mileage for a 13.5 year old car. Plus, being in Florida, you don't have to worry about snow or salt in the roads that will rust up your car.
Good luck!