Ok, here we go... I have a 1997 FZJ80 that last year this time was a Victim of what I believe was a power surge caused by a lightning strike here in Florida. The ECM in question is part number 89661-5542. Here is the short version, I narrowed it down to a bad ECM. With help from the Service Manager at the Toyota Dealer who I have known for sometime suggested I send it off to Jacksonville and have the ECM reprogrammed. Soon after I was told that the ECM was that fried from the power surge. So I purchased one new for less that half the price Toyota was asking with a lifetime warranty. I have been doing a lot of reading on this and other similar sites that raise reasonable concern regarding the engine immobilizer may or may not mate or recognize with the new ECM and will not be able to start the vehicle. being it is a 1997 and has the non coded or chipped key there has to be some reasonable workaround. I am looking for any bypasses, shortcuts, or hacks, if you will, to take the immobilizer out of the equation and save me from paying the dealer an outrageous fortune. I really don't want to cut wires and changes electronically unless I know it is a reasonable solution.
