Electrical Issues

[sniver]

The other day my car stalled on the interstate after having the cars version of a seizure (bucked and kicked and died out while the computer went nuts), it turned over ,but would not start. so after playing with many things I've figured out all I have to do is unplug the coil pack, turn over the car and plug it back in and it'll start up. (must attempt start after unpluging, just unplugging and and repluging won't work).... or I can wait a long time until something cools down. I also have Horrible hesitation and stuttering when the motor is cold, to the point where it feels like a dirtbikes power band....nothing until a certain rpm and bam takes off. Do you guys think the coil pack is going bad,or does it sound like the computer dieing? If it's the computer should I try installing new capacitors, or would it have to be replaced. Also i went to upnlug on of the spark plug wires I got shocked to hell...should i change the wires?

car=90 nt eclipse 5spd 186,000 miles

 

[ROOKIE1]

I would say computer .

 

[chrisfrye]

Yeah i had a similar problem, pull your ecu out and take the 4 bolts out of it, take a good close look you should see noticable damage if its causing that big of a problem. I have pics in one of my other post of my ecu melted haha, got another one from a junkyard and rebuilt it.I will say also my buddy wth a z28 had similar problems(had to wait for hours after he ran it for it too cool down to be able to restart, and then when it started it ran like crap), and it ended up being his ignition coil i believe, i'll ask him later and double check.

 

[sniver]

I've been busy with work so i haven't got a chance to open and check the ecu ,but i just noticed that there is randomly this horrible smell...like battery acid on a dead rotten animal ...is this a sign of leaking electrolyte?.. thus meaning my ecu is going to soon be garbage? If so should i just order a ecu from advance for $250?

 

[chrisfrye]

leaking electrolyte from where? your battery?? You need to check that out if your really smelling that, and its pretty distinguishable if you know what it smells like. and your ecu's really easy to pull out, i'd say 15 minutes

 

[sniver]

*electrolyte from the capacitors in the computer*
well I was forced to pull ecu today seeing the car became undrivable
(would run for 15 seconds and reset 10 times and jerk and buck and stall. however i managed to get 3 miles to my house like that )
, and I discovered one of the capacitors has leaked a little bit, but i think if i put in new capacitors i might be able to save the computer seeing the there isn't anything to bad, the only leakage is on a small part, but it looks ok.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

this is a general picture from the capacitor replacment page on vfaq but it shows the part im talking about. Right to the right of where the capcitor is being inserted there is a small rectangle with "c37" directly to its right, there is some electrolyte from the capacitor on that and nothing else, does anyone have anyknowledge of what that does?
I think i should try to put new capacitors,It'll cost about 15 after shiping and handling, does anyone have an opinion as to if I should try this, or is the ecu garbage despite how it looks?

 

[chrisfrye]

hmm if you can get me a picture of what your talking about(c37) and if theres more of a serial on it, i can try to look up what it is. The capacitors are easy if you've ever soildered before. How bad did the capacitor spill on it? has it degraded its shell any? can you clean it up some and see if it looks anybetter? when mine leaked(wasnt even the capacitors) it destroyed a lot of chips but i picked up a junkyard ecu for 50bucks and rebuilt it with a little bit of board repair.

I didn't even see the C37 if that picture, haha, i'll try to get back to you later with what i can find out.

 

[steve]

C37 is a .1uf 50v SMD cap for noise filtering on the 12v backup power feed.

Steve

 

[luvmygst]

C37 is a .1uf 50v SMD cap for noise filtering on the 12v backup power feed.

Steve

Where does he get this stuff from???
Do you have the schematic for the ecu? I would love to see one.

 

[chrisfrye]

Haha yeah, me too! i rebuilt mine with no schematic. I do have a c37 cap on my junkyard ecu i used for parts. If you need it let me know i'll try to unsolder it and throw it in an envelope!

 

[steve]

Do you have the schematic for the ecu?

Nope, You have to sit down with a pencil, paper and a meter and figure out what goes where.

Steve

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

Wow steve you rock....!

Replace all 3 caps while you are there, and clean it up before you put the new ones in.

By the way, what weight of oil in in the car? Do you know? If you just bought it and it still has the oil from previous owner; thick oil or oil with alot of Lucas Oil stabilizer will make it run kinda slow. Just an aside, as it seems the ECU is the primary issue.

 

[luv2rallye]

Steve is THE DSM GOD when it comes to ECU knowledge. And if you ever find a ECU schematic on this planet you'll be the first and could sell it for any amount of $ you wish.

 

[sniver]

Well earlier i got those parts from digikey, put them in, then i went to start the car....And it started and idled fine, but under any load to move the car it would stall, and do the same old crap. Also it stumbled under free revs. When it stalled sometimes the check engine light wouldn't come on before i went to start it, and thats when it wouldn't restart, but if it was on then it will start and then die out soon after under any load was applied. All this was accompanied by the clicking of the relay, and the computer struggling to stay alive but couldn't. So I've ordered a computer, and I'll go get it this morning and say if it fixes it, and if it doesn't ,I hope i can get my $306 back.

 

[sniver]

I put the new computer in, and the car runs correctly now. Also i have power to pull out quickly in the morning when its cold, and my idle isn't wobbling. At this pace I'm gonna basically have a new car ...I've done had everything fail on me...the water pump,oil pump and trans are all thats left...and the trans is basically done. With all the money invested in this car, I could have bought some 1g turbo awd that runs better. AND still have money to pay the additional insurance and gas.