1G ECU Damaged; Repairable?

[thepunkdrummer]

Well, I pulled the ecu outta my talon after the car was acting up and the rotting seafood smell that was emerging from the dash area. Well, it doesn't look too good. The damaged areas are circled in white. The main question is, is my ecu salvageable or is it time for a replacement?

 

[dirk3]

http://www.tmo.com/howto/ecu1g/caps.htm. I think it's worth a try. It depends on how long it's been leaking. Your best chance for success is replacing them at the first signs of trouble..

 

[Spoolio]

ok well first things first, as i can see from the pictures your capacitor leaked and is shot, you should have a fish smell commin off the area that it spilt, from what i can see the capacitor looks like a 37uf 50v, if you want to try fixing it yourself, get a solder gun, heat up the solder on the other side of the ecu and wiggle the capacitor off, take a look at the side of it, your gonna need to find a set of numbers, EXAMPLE: 37UF 50V, thats all you need to know to replace it, you can call these guys and get the part for i think like 2$ www.digikey.com, they pretty much have anything and everything you need for ecu repairing , i used them guys when one of my capacitors leaked in the notorious stealth/3kgt ecu's., well after u get the part you need to find ur + and - sides on the ecu, best thing to do is drop 2 small blodges of solder in the holes where the capacitor needs to go then turn the ecu around heat up each hole one by one and slowley work the capacitor ends in, if you dont want to do it yourself, you can call these guys, Foreign Auto Computer inc. .... www.ForeignECUrepair.com they are based in dade city florida they did an amazing job on my friends ecu, he had it back in 4 days, you pay overnite shipping, and they'll throw in overnite shippin back to you for free, if you need any further assistance on replacing the cap. on the ECU, you can email me at [email protected] or i/m me at the hondapower238. Good LUCK!

 

[Spoolio]

, oops, u must have posted while i was still typing, unless i didnt see it, but you can use that link the guy above me gave you as a good reference and good pictures to get a better look on how to replace the caps.

 

[badbu68]

You can try and replace the caps, but I doubt it will fix it.

 

[steve]

Yes, it's very likely the ECU can be fixed but just replacing the capacitors at this point isn't going to do the job. All of that corrosion will need to be cleaned up, the damage repaired to the surrounding circuits and the capacitors replaced including the SMD C14 and the other SMD parts you've circled as needed. Once the electrolyte has wicked under them they have to be removed to clean or the acid will continue to eat away at the solder and copper traces until they cause a failure down the road.

Don't even think of using a solder gun on an ECU. It will burn the traces right off the board and cause more damage. It's always a shame when I get an ECU to fix and it's been messed up by somebody using the wrong tools.

Since it's an EPROM ECU you really should have it fixed. As long as there isn't any cracking/bubbling/burning to IC6 (CPU), IC5 (Port Expander), or IC4 (Gate Array) the rest of it can be taken care of.

Steve

 

[thepunkdrummer]

I really didn't want to give up on it due to the fact it is an Eprom ecu. Thanks for all of the input, and I am going to save it. Its going to be shipped out to Foreign Auto Repair or ECM to go monday.

 

[huafist]

I really didn't want to give up on it due to the fact it is an Eprom ecu. Thanks for all of the input, and I am going to save it. Its going to be shipped out to Foreign Auto Repair or ECM to go monday.

You'd be better served sending it to Steve. He does amazing work.

 

[n0c7]

Yes, it's very likely the ECU can be fixed but just replacing the capacitors at this point isn't going to do the job. All of that corrosion will need to be cleaned up, the damage repaired to the surrounding circuits and the capacitors replaced including the SMD C14 and the other SMD parts you've circled as needed. Once the electrolyte has wicked under them they have to be removed to clean or the acid will continue to eat away at the solder and copper traces until they cause a failure down the road.

Don't even think of using a solder gun on an ECU. It will burn the traces right off the board and cause more damage. It's always a shame when I get an ECU to fix and it's been messed up by somebody using the wrong tools.

Since it's an EPROM ECU you really should have it fixed. As long as there isn't any cracking/bubbling/burning to IC6 (CPU), IC5 (Port Expander), or IC4 (Gate Array) the rest of it can be taken care of.

Steve

What do you recommend using to resolder on this?

 

[steve]

What do you recommend using to resolder on this?

A temperature controlled soldering iron. I use a Weller WESD51 that replaced my older 921ZX that the cord broke on. That plus some good 60/40 rosin cored solder.

Steve