A couple of days ago I posted a question about ECUs. A reply from Interstition suggested an interesting question:

"...My point is that there are a lot of still "good" pink labels out there and I wonder if maybe all the bad ones failed fairly early so the remaining ones can be considered relatively trustworthy."


Hmmmmm. I wonder whether that's true.

So: how many out there in Brick Land are running a pink label 561 ECU?

Thanks for participating.

Doug Harvey

I have several running. Two 89s, a 90, two 91s.

I'm always very interested in this pink/white innuendo because so far, the only way I know to determine if the 561 ECU is prone to the failure you are worried about is to open it up and examine the hybrid microcircuit. That may work in the pick 'n' pull, but not while you are looking in someone else's car.

But I must agree, I've only seen pink labels on the old style circuit, and the one white label I saw was neither a rework nor a programma/injection labs repair, and it had the new hybrid.

For those interested, here's an earlier post where I described the differences:
http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=734901
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Art Benstein near Baltimore Crrrrazy Ray's!

I posted a similar survey on the 700 board since they used this ECU too.
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Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

First a question for clarification - you mention a "pink label" 561 - are there different 561s with different colored labels with only the pink label being the culprit> Or did all 561s come with the pink label.

Don't recall what color label my wife's 89 740 561 has, but it's still going strong with 135K miles. And my 89 240 California car with the 561's ugly step sister, a 556, has evidenced no problems in 190K miles.

I'm wondering if the 562 problems may have been been limited to a particular batch or batches.

I know I have read the the original 561s had a pink label and are supposed to be the worst. Then later 561s had a white label and are supposed to be somewhat better. The 951 is supposed to be the final correction and considered to be fine.

I also think I have read that there was a similar replacement for the California LH 2.4, but don't know about label colors.
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Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

Hey Doug, Thanks for posting this. I didn't think of making a survey out of it, but I am curious too about the experiences of others. I'll be very interested if anyone posts any recent examples of the classic "no fuel pump" failure that the pink labels had.

As I had posted originally, my 147K '89 came with a 951 already installed so I assume a P.O. had the failure and paid the big money. Then I found a pink label 561 at our local pick-n-pull in a '91 with about 150K. That one drove my car around for a week or two without problem. I switched the 951 back in because I would rather not fail at an inopportune time, but I've wondered all along if maybe all the bad pink labels are long gone.

I have been watching the board closely for over a year now. I recall a few of people supsicious of their 561 when they had no-starts. I don't recall anyone posting that they actually had their fuel pumps stop and that a new ECU was the fix. A post or two certainly could have slipped by me.

I also tried to help a guy with an unrelated problem in his '89 740 8 valve and noticed that he had a pink label. That car had about 135K and had clearly lived a hard life.

Happy New Year
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Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

I've had somewhat different experience reading about -561 failures. Seems like there have been quite a number diagnosed just with the help of this forum. There's even an unanswered plea for help dated 1996 on an electronics list looking for help "fixing" the hybrid. It might be hard to nail them all down using a search key like "no start" as I figure most of the diagnostics to determine the lack of pump relay pick are done before the questions are asked.

The pink 561 has made the 951 king of the 240 ECUs, pricewise. The marketplace tells you all you need to know on the big picture. No other ECU has that kind of demand. A few years ago, 510 and 503s from the sad old B23a were in demand, but that has died off as the endless supply of plain jane tan and brown 83-84s have died off. OK a bit of personal bias injected to keep things flowing.

I bought a 92 245 last year with a 561 pink label, runs great. I also have a 951 waiting in the wings.
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Bruce S. near D.C.

My 91 had a pink label 561 when I bought it last summer, and it worked perfectly. I do a lot of driving, and didn't want to take a chance, so I found a 951 at the pick-n-pull. I sold the 561 to somebody on ebay.
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1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.

I have a 92 244 with the pink label 561. 134K miles and counting......

Danny Mac