Umm... Is this junk in my ecu normal?

frankozz · 10-03-2008, 03:44 PM

I bought an eprom ecu about a week or so ago... I received it a few days ago and today I finally unpacked it to get it socketed... I opened the ecu and I found this.... Black silicone...

?
I talked to the guy and he says that the ecu was rebuilt and that it's just something they do when they rebuild ecu's... He said it was perfectly normal and he has had several ecu's like that.

jusmx141 · 10-03-2008, 03:50 PM

I squirt black silicone all over everything I rebuild. It's completely normal.

Actually, I've NEVER seen something like that done. I know how difficult black silicone is to remove, and if that ECU were ever to need rebuilt the person you send it to would probably want to kick you in the balls.

Wouldn't you think a thick coat of silicone on the capacitors would prevent them from cooling properly, possibly causing premature failure?

I'd send it back.

govproperty · 10-03-2008, 03:52 PM

Not really "normal" but it was probably an attempt to keep the capacitors from leaking. If they leak it can really mess up an ecu. But the stuff on there shouldn't cause any problems.

RedTalon95 · 10-03-2008, 04:03 PM

I fail to see a benefit to that in any way, nor have I even ever seen another ECU like that. I would not call that normal.

interex · 10-03-2008, 04:12 PM

It looks like someone is trying to hide something. Maybe it has leaking caps and they wanted to try and cover it up. I would look for info on who rebuilt the ECU. I had a Motoguys Garage ECU that was rebuilt and had no such thing with it. I'd send it back or if you paid for it with PayPal file a claim.

tkelly27 · 10-03-2008, 04:25 PM

Not normal. When I do chips on dodges I'll cover them with a removable hot glue cover. Those ECU's are outside the cabin though. It looks really randomly placed all over everything.

frankozz · 10-03-2008, 04:43 PM

What would you guys do? Use it, or send it back?

PIMking · 10-03-2008, 04:51 PM

I bought one on ebay and it was the same way. It worked fine but I didnt like it though.

steve · 10-03-2008, 05:07 PM

I see that a lot and in my opinion that rebuilder pretty much trashes the ECUs when he does that.

You'll also notice that they forget to put the heatsink back on, but my big issue with it is if you actually dig the silicone out you'll find that they didn't really clean the leakage from the caps off before drowning it so they just die later when something else gets eaten from the electrolyte.

Yngvar · 10-03-2008, 05:11 PM

that doesn't look right and steve knows what he is talking about

Dsm78 · 10-03-2008, 05:30 PM

Yeah definitely not NORMAL! I bet the caps are leaking for sure and he covered it up. Send that ECU back and get your money back if you can. By the way great job on my ECU Steve, car runs great and fires on all 4's!

fwdmaster · 10-03-2008, 05:40 PM

, I don't think that's normal

jusmx141 · 10-03-2008, 09:27 PM

If you're in doubt, email the guys at ECMTuning with your photos. They'll give you a reliable answer....although most of us agree that coating the board with black silicone is 100% wrong.

doggo · 10-03-2008, 09:37 PM

I've done a LOT of electronic board repair work for industry over the years, never seen ANYTHING like that. To say that is normal is COMPLETE BULLSH*T. Who are these clowns? I think everyone here should know who they are because to cover a board like that with black silicone is just complete, utter crap. I can't even imagine why they would do that, leaving oozing old caps all over the board would actually look BETTER than what they have sent you. That stuff they've used will just hold heat in and cause premature failure of any components buried in that shit.

Get your money back and go to someone reputable like Motoguys or something. I used them from my socketed ECU and it was perfect.