2014 Spark 3up HO - ECU+IBR problems

[Westcoaster]

Hey All,

So I have an interesting problem here I am hoping somebody has some insight into.

We purchased a spark new in 2014. Worked great no issues until about 400 hrs when the IBR failed. We looked at the option to replace the IBR but the $2000 price tag was a bit steep. We opted to change it out for the manual shift. We did not remove the IBR unit, just swapped out the gate and installed the manual parts.

This worked like a dream, no issues other than the odd IBR error that went away immediately. This was up until just over 500 hrs when the IBR error came on and would not go away. The machine got stuck in limp mode. Now on first startup it will hit a few IBR errors but still work, after about 40 mins the IBR error sticks and it is in limp mode.

We brought it to the dealer and they could not fix it. Their options were replace the IBR or replace the ECU with a non-IBR ECU. They also stated there is no problem running the machine as it is simply a ECU problem.

We use this as a work machine for teaching kiteboarding. It still works as is, and I can even plane on flat water with one person, but with 2 or rough water it is a long ride back to shore.

The dealer said it is the IBR doing a self diagnostic and getting stuck in an error.

Is anyone familiar with this issue or know a fix?

I would like to replace the ECU with a used non-IBR one if I need to, but wondering if any later year ECU's will also work for the 2014.

Also does anyone have a 2014 spark non-IBR ECU for sale?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

[RXP-SWE]

The ECU's are exactly the same hardware wise, it's just the software that is different, maybe you could reprogram it with a Maptuner or something, try to find somebody that knows about flashing these ECU's.