Resolved How to open 2g 98 Black Box ECU

[seth98es]

I have a 98 GSX ECU and need to open it. Water leaked into the passenger side and I had the ECU on the floor as I was working on my wiring. Need to check and see if any water got in as my car now runs like crap and is breaking up all over the place. The ECU is the same style thats in this ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Epro...categoryZ33596QQihZ019QQitemZ8075266630QQrdZ1

 

[seth98es]

Ok I got it open, nothing was wet on the inside, looked a bit weird though:

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Those silver patches supposed to have gold/brown spots in them? Also theres a clear "glaze" over the board which I assume is a portective coating?

 

[steve]

Those silver patches supposed to have gold/brown spots in them? Also theres a clear "glaze" over the board which I assume is a portective coating?

Yes, that's the conformal coating applied to protect the ECU from moisture in the air.
I don't see anything abnormal but the camera shake doesn't help.

Steve

 

[seth98es]

Yah the ECU looked pretty normal to me. But my symptoms have gotten worse, whatever it is, it is getting worse. I replace the potentiometer but that didnt change anything. I am thinking it possibly is my wideband o2 sensor has gone bad or something. I have it wired kind of weird. The Wideband simulates the front o2 sensor and hte rear o2 sensor just isnt hooked up, in whihc I get a CEL for. Here is what it is doing now:

On startup, starts fine. Idles fine for a few minutes, the AFR gradually climbs to 21 and stays there for about 30 sedonds then goes to 14.7 at idle. After a few minutes of idling the AFR will start to richen up and the car starts to break up and miss. If I rev it a bit, it sounds find though. WHile driving now, the car hesitates, misfires, breaks up under any load. If I floor it it just missfires bad.

I have no clue what is going on, just last weekend I drove the car to Myrtle Beach, SC and back with 0 issues. It even drove fine on Wednessday through all the rain and flooding we had here. I was forced to go through some deep puddles just to get home from the mall. By deep, probably 8" or so of standing water. Just today on my way to work, after I got onto Military Highway I started noticing it hesitating slightly but not as bad as it is now.

Plugs look normal, plug wires are Acell, pretty new. Could be my coil pack or power transistor? It is my dailey driver and I need to be able to drive it! I have a spare power transistor if I can find it, I just sold my spare coil pack. What else should I check? What else could have shorted out in the flooding that would cause this?

 

[steve]

I am thinking it possibly is my wideband o2 sensor has gone bad or something. I have it wired kind of weird. The Wideband simulates the front o2 sensor and hte rear o2 sensor just isnt hooked up,

Making sure the wideband sensor is still good would be my first step.

Steve

 

[seth98es]

Yah, the sensor is mounted perpendicular on my neck of the downpipe. Hopefully it is something as simple as that.

 

[steve]

Based on the fact that your feeding the ECU it's feedback from that sensor and your output shows the AFR going off the ranch while the car starts running badly would point that direction.

The wideband sensors don't last like the narrowband ones do. If you can hook up the narrowband in the O2 housing and feed it to the ECU again or just disconnect the WB from the ECU and see what happens.

Steve

 

[seth98es]

Thanks for the tips, I forgot I had a spare wideband o2 sensor. I replaced it with my old one and the car runs just fine again! Im not sure how long this sensor will run for me, but the car ran fine around the block and a short drive there after. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong for the next few months. Thanks for the quick responses Steve