1G Clicking behind radio

[sjgYFZ200]

Uh oh. I just got my car running after being torn apart since summer. I put in a new headgasket and put in all new belts. The clutch was fine before I did all this, now I'm pretty sure that's shot, as it grinds and pops out of gear.

But here's the deal. Now there is this clicking coming from inside the dash. I'm assuming its the ECU, since it sounds like its coming from behind the radio. Why would my ECU just go bad all of a sudden? The car runs perfect, it has 50,000 miles, and besides a new headgasket and belts, has never needed anything, nor has anything been done to it.

If my ECU is bad, what do i do?
thanks

 

[steve]

The ECU itself doesn't click. The MPI relay that is controlled by the ECU is what does the clicking. The usual cause is capacitor leakage on the ECU board but anything that interrupts the power to the MPI relay can cause it to chatter.

Why now? Because it has been sitting since summer and the capacitors haven't been charged, now that your applying voltage to them they fail. The car may only have 50k on it but it's 13 years old and it's age not miles that impacts electronics.

Pull the ECU, open the case and look around the capacitors and everything else in the center for any dark discoloration. Even if you don't find anything, any ECU with original capacitors need to have them changed the earlier the better. Once they start to leak the cost of repair only goes up.

Steve

 

[FourG63 97GST]

or your battery cables could be just too lose, so everytime it jumps off the battery and reconnects, you hear the click

 

[sjgYFZ200]

i doubt it, because the lights stay on when it clicks

 

[sjgYFZ200]

ok so if i pull it out and there bad, where do i get new ones? or where do i have it done?