You're right to think the mechanic's advice is suspect. He's clearly clueless: Stereo amp instead of ECU, duh!

Seems like part replacement shotgun style. Do check FAQ's and find a way to focus troubleshooting or you'll keep spending money without fixing problem...

Or find a better mechanic, what part of country are you in? small town, big city??

I've had those symptoms from time to time, but "fixed" it by removing and replacing the fuel pump fuse. See my "Fuel pump?" thread. You might have a fuel pump on dead or on the way out, but like someone already suggested, you need to isolate whether it's lack of fuel or spark before blaming the ECU.
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1992 745 approaching 500k km

Sound like you hafta start somewhere so I'd just see if each plug has a spark. In the faq it says you can make a neon tester (smart idea). However, I just use a wire and an alligator clip to see if a spark jumps to ground (although maybe this technique is frowned upon - yet I've done it for 40 years without difficulty. Oh, maybe I've been zapped once.

hi,

I am no expert so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Have you checked out the faq for 700/900 cars? There is plenty of good information there. That is probably your best bet until someone here that knows what there talking about chimes in. But the whole thing sounds confusing to me.

I had an ecu failure recently but from what you are saying I really can't give any advise except get your hands dirty. What your mechanic has to say confuses me even more. There is a myriad of things that could be going on: are you getting fuel, spark, etc.?

I have heard of cheap ecu's but I paid about $50 american for a used one that has worked for a few months now with no problems.

Again no expert here but I would probably avoid that mechanic.

I hope this helps in some way until a more knowledgeable person responds. Just thought I would try to help.

Benton