So what did I do with the house?  Well I live in it!  I also am an AirB&B superhost, and I have hosted hundreds of guests.  The ePartsland warehouse is also here.  Anyone in the ares, look for my listing on the airB&B in Reading - you can stay at the ePartsland compound, check out the Saab Fleet.

If you pop up to the garage while I'm working, you will almost always find me tinkering around with some old car like my Metro RallyX car, or Saab 900 24 hours of Lemons car (not a misspelling)

I also wanted to mention I have a new part time employee that will be helping me list new items.  Hopefully we are able to keep the listing quality as good as always- I know, I never have a single screwed up listing.... HA!

one last run on thought.  I wanted to say I appreciate all my customers on ePartsland.  I have now had over 10,000 sales!  This is huge for us.

Well, we have been busy.  Busy shipping busy posting new items, and busy handling customer service.  

There have been many customers (and an almost equal amount of happy customers!) and in the late half of 2016 as well as 2017 we hope we will have more of the same.   Saab customers, Volvo customers, All makes and models.  We sell parts!  at reasonable prices with a warranty.  It's our job and we enjoy it.

And for me- Jeff?  I get the parts, and I do the writing for the listings.  I love doing this, and it's one of the only reasons I bother to get up some mornings!  That, and I like helping out customers save money on their car repairs!  I love hearing about customer success stories, so please.  If you have one, tell us about it.  If I use your story in one of our upcoming blog entry, I will give a $200 store credit - you can use it on anything in the store, or even give me a "special request" - even if it's NOT something in the store, I will get it for you if I can!  For our Saab/Volvo customers this is a potentially great value, we have a LOT of inventory for you guys.

Yep, on Feb 16, 2014 at 2:43AM, we sold our 4000th product at epartsland.com!  A Saab 900 Turbo ignition distributor.  Heres to another 4000 products, and 4000 more happy customers!

As always...  If you can't find the part you are looking for, please send us a parts request and I will do my best to get it for you.   Anything quirky, weird, European, French... I can get it!

You may see this in some of our prices!  Yes, we are not always the cheapest, but if you get a bad unit for cheaper somewhere else, and have to return it, and try again... well, was it really cheaper?  I don't think so unless your time is worth nothing!  Anything we are capable of testing, we do test.  Other items which we can not test come with a 30 or 60 day warranty, so you can always send an item back to us.  I have a well used ohm meter, many test vehicles, and a dedication to customer service! 

As always, our items come out of salvage crash damage cars most typically, and never come out of flood or fire damaged cars - "crash damaged" on most older cars can be as minor as slight damage to a fender and a door.  Insurance companys total cars these days for the most minor of damages. this means that even on items we were not able to test, they came out of an operational car, and have a very very high probability of functioning properly.

And like I always say?  Our inventory is ever increasing.  If you need something that we don't have... let us know!  Good chance I can get it for you.  It's my Job!

Also, we try to keep discontinued or so called "no longer available" parts on our shelves.  Again, if you need something we don't have, please e-mail.  I will get it "on my list" and try to get it in inventory for you!

Back in April 2009, even the surf and sand of Cleveland, Ohio, where, for the record, my ass and toes never feared to tread, was breaking up with me. So was a varied, more than decade-long career in journalism. Who knew that the depths of the Great Repression would have a small business magazine in northeast Ohio in its sights? But, there I was, a unsuspecting doe wandering about underneath a deer blind inhabited by a particularly spiteful economic downturn.

So, when my job left Cleveland on a train, I took it to mean that the fasten seatbelts sign had been turned off and I was free to move about the universe again. The universe took it to mean it was time to shove cowboy boots on my feet and drop the needle on the record. And there I was, almost to the happy freedom of Pennsylvania in my Li'l Red Saab 900 when, at a quick fill-up at the last stations in Ohio, crack and tonk. The nozzle was in the filler neck and the fuel door was on the ground.

I know when I'm beat and when sticking a finger in fate's eye means the whole world goes without fuel door flaps, so onto the passenger side floor it went to wait a month or two until I could swap filler necks. I'm not going to say that helped get things back on track with the rest of my life, but it at least made her look a little less ragged.

If your luck hasn't been as good and your gas door has been everywhere but on the side of your car, check out Chief's latest offering. We don't have a Talladega Red in stock, but if your '94 ComEd convertible is missing it's lid, we've got you covered.

Any PA classic Saab drivers out there?  I am one too!  E-mail me with your VIN, I'll give you a 30% discount code for anything for your classic Saab on our website!  I love classic Saabs, and I want them to stay on the road!  It's one of the reasons we are in business.  Also, special requests?  I can get almost ANYTHING for classic 900's!  Let me know what you need and I will get it posted here for sale!  Pick up is available.

 If you need something for your Saab, please shoot me an e-mail . I will do my best to get it for you, at a great price.  Last guy who e-mailed got himself a red velour rear seat for his 1978 Saab 99 turbo for $50!  Pick up's are available, and as always- if you pick something up from us and you own a Saab, you may end up spending some time "talking Saab!"

Come to Carlisle, meet the ePartsLand crew, and buy some parts you need! Find us hanging around the PAIR of Saab 99 Turbos!

Erica: What Chief is trying to say here is that Carlisle is the best fun you can have in a field in Pennsylvania with, in or under all of your favorite import cars.

If you're coming with a Saab, make sure you check in with the Central Penn Saab Club so your car is counted toward their goal of 300+ Saabs on the showfield in 2013. Pre-registration is closed at present, but drop them a line to let them know you're coming.

E-partsland is here to help our customers keep their cars on the road!

Save even more, Enter the discount code "ebay discount" at checkout and get another 10% off the price !!! - Limited time offer.

Want to save even more?  Enter the "SWITCH&SAVE" discount code at checkout, and you will save even more!  Keep your car going, and don't spend more than you have to!

The ECU, also known as an PCM, ECM, DME, or simply “control unit” is a complex microprocessor electronic control device. These units cost manufacturers hundreds of dollars per vehicle, with initial production costs in the millions of dollars! This is why these often times cost several thousand dollars for a new replacement ECM from the manufacturers. Even though there may be only a few hundreds of dollars worth of components, they are trying to differ their initial investment. If the ECM you are looking for is for a low production vehicle these costs can skyrocket and the difficulty of finding a correct unit for your car from anyone but the manufacturer rises dramatically.

Why would they go wrong? There are many cars that will last their entire lifespan with their original ECU and never have a hiccup. Other cars have a near 100% failure rate by the time they are 15 years old. The 1989 Saab 900 models come to mind. Most are somewhere in the middle. Many times the initial ECU design is flawed and a manufacturer comes up with a revised unit that has a significantly better lifespan. Other times an individual situation such as a solder joint that was never as good as it should have been from new, fails once it hits a certain age. Sometimes internal corrosion is the issue… Other times wiring faults such such as a short circuit or a bad alternator can cause a failure. Also, The ECU’s internal “ROM” does not have an indefinite lifespan either. Typically ROM can store data (such as a cars fuel maps) 100% reliably for approximately 30 years. Occasionally, and possibly by external factors such as heating and cooling cycles, this can potentially be dramatically reduced. Other times, there are no identifiable reasons as to why a failure has occurred, it “just happened”

What does it do? Quite simply the ECU is the brain of the car. Everything related to the engine control, and sometimes more is done here. The ECU has data stored in it’s ROM (Read only memory) system which the ECU’s internal CPU (central processor unit) uses to calculate the amount of fuel to inject based on sensor inputs. The CPU is where the data is processed. The ECU’s CPU uses the sensor inputs and the data stored in the ROM, to calculate the amount of fuel to inject turn on the fuel pump, run the emissions equipment, and all other external devices connected to it. This makes it quite clear why this device is so critical.

Also, on many newer cars (typically 2005 and newer), these ECU’s are “married” to the original car they were installed in at the factory. The reason for this is increased theft deterrence, to deter after-sales, and to decrease the likely hood of the wrong ECU being installed into the wrong car. While this does deter after-sales, it does not prevent it! As long as the vehicular VIN is provided along with the used ECU for which is it programed, it can be re-programed to work in ANY car – provided the part numbers match. We offer full VIN programing on all SAAB ECU’s that require it. Dealerships also have this capability as well, but sometimes require a bit of arm twisting to get them to do this for you, as they would rather you to buy a NEW ECU from them… at probably 10X the price. A simple VIN-program will only get them about 1/2 hour labor from a customer. In time ePartsland hoped to be able to offer more VIM programing so you can avoid this trip to the dealer with newer cars.

Sometimes Jeff just plain forgot what kind of car from whence he plucked them. Other times, they’ve been on the shelf longer and, well, that doesn’t help kickstart the collective EPL memories any better. They stump all kinds of research, Googling and even the occasional call to a dealership parts desk.

They’re our orphans, the auto part equivalent of Jane and John Does.

There’s this Mercedes Kraftstoffpumpe

or this Nissan transmission computer unit.

Try as we might, we just can’t find them a home in the right model category. And, short of putting their photos on the backs of milk cartons, we may never know their true identity. If you do, drop us a line here and help us put some of these unsolved mysteries to rest.

P.S. There’s one more week to take advantage of our November discount code. Just enter “THANKS” at checkout and get 11 percent off your order only here at our store through Nov. 30.

For the next five years or so, that car was chariot and cradle. My grandparents idled it in the driveway until I woke up from the nap I had started during their daily drives. I probably logged at least 25,000 miles strapped into a carseat with Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and other assorted Midwestern states passing along to my left and those fantastic peaked headrests straight ahead. And one of my earliest memories is when two guys showed up in the driveway on a cold fall night and drove away in MY car. I never saw it again or had its magnificent marble factory lull me to sleep.

My parents dabbled in U.S. diesels next, picking up first a white 1978 Oldsmobile 88 that smoked only slightly less than a 1930s Hollywood starlet and balked at turning over on the coldest mornings the Chicago region threw at it. Combine that with my father’s tendency to oversleep and it’s no wonder I completely failed to learn my morning prayers at school. A 1980 Olds Cutlass followed but both cars proved to have the worst Detroit Diesels engines one could buy at the time and they departed with little fanfare after multiple failures tested my parents’ patience and wallets. When my aunt’s diesel VW Rabbit was retired, an era ended in our family. We were officially gassers.

So my point, and I do have one, is that this li’l BMW 524td ECU from the mid-‘80s that we’ve got for sale holds a special place in my heart.

Turns out a lot of folks still love these cars, too. YouTube has a bunch of clips of folks drifting their 524tds through forested twisties. Not a lot came to the United States, but a few of them are still out there burbling away and can be found on Craigslist for anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand bucks. I revisited diesels for about a year in the mid-‘00s with a TDi New Beetle — shoulda held out for a Jetta wagon, honestly. But the sound of a diesel idling still brings a smile to my face and a ride in one through, say, a Midwestern state still makes me a li’l sleepy.

Got your own memories of dabbling with diesel? Drop us a line and we’ll post ’em up!

P.S. Don’t want to miss a single blog? Visit this page and scroll to the bottom to subscribe to our blog feed and get e-mails when we tell you about all the latest parts, discounts and crazy stuff we find along the way. And don’t forget our 11 percent discount off orders at ePartsland.com during the month of November by entering THANKS! during checkout.

Now, I know it doesn’t look like much pulled from the dash of an Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo, but this VIC – Visual Information Center – was pretty much the closest to Kit from “Knight Rider” you could get in an Oldsmobile in the late ‘80s. And man, was it ever chatty! “Engine overheating – Decrease engine speed.” “Climate control problem – AC overheated, compressor disengaged.” I mean, it’s amazing more Trofeo’s haven’t ended up deceased due to driver inattention to the road.

Still, there’s something neat about a car that wants to tell you all of its secrets, its wishes, its desires as well as give you a calendar and a neat-looking radio display. It almost makes me want to find a used…nah, it’s cool, but not that cool. We’ll let one of you snap this puppy up.

A VIC (not ours)in action

P.S. Don’t forget about our November 11% discount, only good here at our store. Just type “THANKS!” at checkout. Also, check us out on Facebook and click to subscribe to our blog feed to find out the lastest about what’s new at the store and more.

P.P.S. For some real Trofeo yuks, check out these YouTube commercials. Roger Moore Harry Belafonte

Jeff: No, you?

Erica: Hmm…It seems something has changed. Maybe you should take another look….

Jeff: Huu, just looked, it looks the same to me?

Erica: Jeff!!!

Jeff: Oh, wait I see it. I had to click a different link. I had to click “catalog”

Erica: What did you find?

Jeff: Well it looks like we have a few new items listed that we used to only have exclusivly on eBay.

Erica: “A few new items”? Just a few, Jeff? Try 800 or so.

Jeff: Wow, how did we do that?

Erica: While you and Paul were off searching for more merchandise today, I was back at the ePartsLand ranch posting merchandise to the site. You can find all of ePartsLand’s amazing stuff on our own store now, too! And I even managed to cook dinner, too. Amazing, I know.

Jeff: How do you do it?

Erica: I’m just that amazing. And, for folks visiting the site, we’ve got a discount to celebrate, and, well, to make more work for you and Paul.Through the end of Oct. 31, customers who enter the discount code BADBRAINS during checkout can get 10 percent off their order. And, having posted more than 800 items today, I know we’ve got a pretty good stock of ECUs, switches, relays and a bunch of other stuff to keep your favorite car on the road. Speaking of bad brains…what’s so important about having a spare ECU around?

Jeff: Well, funny you should ask. In some “high failure rate” cars, such as any car with a Bosch, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, or Bendix ECU, it’s about as important as having a spare tire on board! Though unlike a spare tire, a defective ECU can leave you stranded with a $500 diagnostic fee, plus a $1,500+ bill for a NEW replacement unit. For example – Cars with Bosch ECUs usually won’t start or start and stall. Sometimes they will run but have no power. Sometimes they will work intermittantly. Idle control circuits can go defective, which will cause a stuck slow or fast idle speed. Sometimes the fuel pump turn-on circuit will die, which can cause a no-start due to no fuel pump function. But, if jumpered, the car will run. Also, potential lean running, or very rich running causing excess smoke or pinging are possible. None of these symptoms are necessarily ALWAYS caused by a faulty ECU, but they are some of the typical possible causes.

Erica: So, it’s a good thing to have in the trunk? Maybe the glove box if it’ll fit?

Jeff: Yes! Even if you own a car that does not have a high failure rate ECU, they are still good to have due to the expense of getting a correct replacement unit. And the savings are clear if you already need an ECU for your car due to a failure. Price one new and you will buy from us. And, remember, the easiest way for our customers to find the exact part they need is to compare the part number from their original to the ones we have in inventory. They can be sure to get the right unit that way! And our customers can be assured of quality. even though our units are used, they are guranteed functional on arrival and offer a 30 day replacement warranty!

Erica: OK, now for the really important question….What’s a girl got to do around here to get a slice of pumpkin pie?

Jeff: Ya gotts-a walk into the kitchen & get it. Bring one for me, eh?

Erica: Oh Jeff….