Turns out that the ecu went bad. Swapped a new ecu in and the car runs fine? I been in this game a long time and never seen a evo 9 ecu **** the bed.

Oh well..

Thanks so much for all the input guys!!

 

Years ago a failing ECU was almost a universal problem on DSMs. There were two capacitors on the board that leaked electrolyte dissolving copper traces on the circuit board. New capacitors were about a dollar for both and I soldered new ones in, one of the scarier repairs I ever did because I knew I was working well above my skill level.

So, if you have the old ECU in your possession, I'm asking you to open the can and take a look at the circuit board, looking for damage. Maybe we have the same thing starting again as the Evo ages.