Hi all, i don't know anything about cars! And I dont have anyone to help me! 
 
Ive had my 2001 MR2 Spyder for 5 years now, it has treated me well up until about 6 months ago. 
Ive taken it to 4 mechanics and an autoelectrician who tell me they can't find anything wrong with it. Other forums i read make me think that the ECU has some kind of fault... can anyone help me???? Ive spent $500 so far paying mechanics to just look at it, and toyota tells me that they dont see enough MR2's to know what's wrong with it!
 
When i park my car and leave it in first gear, it then flashes gear '3' and beeps at me as if theres an error. Then it turns off. When i see this happening, i know the car will stuff up on me the next time i go to drive it. 
So when i finally do, as im in first gear and go to second, all the error lights come on (including the SMT light) and the car stays in first gear until it stalls and turns off. Then im stuck on the road! Until it decides to turn on again. It flashes gear 3 at me again!
 
The only thing ive done with this car was change the engine (as my previous engine was faulty), and the autoelectrician told me that he couldnt see any error codes and that it all seemed ok.
I took it to another mechanic, who re-wired the plugs to my ECU (dont even know what this means!) and the car was great for 4 months. NOW all of a sudden it has done it again!
It turns off in the middle of the road as im going from first to second gear!
I need an MR2 specialist who can just take my car and fix it! Can anyone help me plssssssss- i need to get to work by next week!!!!
 
 

Where abouts are you located? Sydney?

Yes im in Sydney, Blacktown area

from reading your post it seems that your problems started after the engine swap. if that is the case then the mechanic who swapped the engine should rectify the issue, easier said than done though.
 
I dont own a spyder but they are known to have issues with the gearbox, can you clarify what type you have i.e. sequential or manual?
 
if you think its a faulty ecu, maybe you can ask another spyder owner (there are a few on the forum) to plug their ECU into your car to see if that makes any difference. this should only take half an hour or so

Thanks for your post.
Its a sequential (SMT). 
The mechanic who changed the engine is very good at what he does. He is the one i took it to first and he had a look at everything for me over two days and didnt charge me a cent. He thought it might be gearbox, but i feel like its either the ECU or SMT. I heard these cars have major SMT problems.
The other mechanics and autoelectricians ive taken it to cant give me an answer, only a bill for labour!

Well I own a couple of these but dont know much about how they work along with everybody else in this world. I have a ECU here that you can try as I just pulled my motor out and will not be using it again. These problems are usually caused by the TCU though which is the computer to control the SMT. I have that you can try also but at thge moment it is in my other car 15 mins up the road but can be pulled out in 30 seconds. If you have taken it to these different mechanics they should have found the codes that it was throwing?
If you go onto Spyderchat and get onto Cap Weir he could give you answers better than Anybody on what the problem is and how to fix it. From what I have seen the TCU isd always blamed but it is usually just a small part that is at fault and an easy repair once you know what it is. You are welcome to try my ECU and TCU to see where it gets you? I am in Penrith.

Am i possibly right by saying that if noone has heard of this problem before, then it mustn't be a common part of the car (e.g. gearbox ECU...), but rather a loose or faulty plug/wire???? Just an idea

For people on this forum who are curious to know what the result was, and to save others from this absolute headache... it is the ECU- it needs to be replaced.
Once the ECU has been replaced, if it still doesnt fix the problem, then the SMT itself also needs to be replaced. Then problem fixed!

How did you decide it is the ECU?

I was told about this mechanic in Leppington who specialises in SMT's and MR2's in general.
He's dealt with this problem many times before, and knew exactly what i was going through with my MR2 before i could finish off my explanation. I also wasted $60 asking a toyota specialist online who told me the same thing AFTER i had already found this out by helpful people on this forum and that specialist mechanic.
The online specialist said that once i change the ECU, if its not fixed- to change the TCU, then finally the transmission assembly itself. This is what he wrote:
 
 
"Those particular MR2's had a slew of problems, especially the sequential transmission models. Before getting yourself too deep into this, I want you to weigh your options carefully. Because this repair could potentially cost you up to $7000.
 
Those had problems very regularly with computers. An updated ECU was released from Toyota to correct the computer problems. You also could have a problem with the transmission computer. These are also common for failure. And finally, you could have to replace the transmission assembly. There is a very real possibility that the only real fix for you would be to replace all 3 components, which can be extremely costly, very quickly. Unfortunately, due to the intermitancy of the issues, and the way Toyota has the system designed, you never really know exactly what the problem is until you replace one of the parts and see if it is fixed. Just be prepared, that after you replace the ECU, it may be fixed for a week, a month, or 6 months, and then it starts acting up again with one of the other 2 components I mentioned in a failed state. I have seen this happen many times.
 
If I had to take a stab in the dark, I would start by replacing the computer with a new one and see where it leaves you. Unfortunately, the only way to know is to replace it and see what happens"
 
 
Hope that helps someone else :)