Hi all,

Well I managed to get the ECU out of my car, open it and inspect it.

It's all nice and smooth and shiny on the board, exept around one of those green square "capacitors" or whatever they are :redface: (its the last one on the bottom). The actuall protective coating on the board around there is not smooth but a bit rough (like it was sprayed rough or its actually melted a bit :doubt: ). Anyway have a look at the pics guys and tell me what do you think - is that one leaking or not. I know I'll have to take it to be professionally inspected I just don't wanna jump the gun if you guys think its OK.

Thanks muchos

I'm pretty sure those green things arn't capacitors, the one i had to replace had 2 metal legs. Try cleaning the board with metholated spirits and see if that clears it up abit. Also re solder the back if there's any dry connections.

its probably just the glue or varnish they cover the board with to help resist corrosion.

why did you pull it apart? i wouldnt touch anything other than make a new earth or two.

if it aint broke...

why did you pull it apart? was something going wrong with your car and you suspected it was your ECU?

get a strong solvent(acetone,ether) or use metho if you have to and put a small amount where the stain is and give it a light scrub with a toothbrush or something(don't be too rough!) it could be excess glue or it could be raised and discoloured due to a problem with that part or heat etc

MAKE SURE YOU DRY THE BOARD AFTERWARDS...........

Well. I did scrub it a bit with an ear cotton tip with some methilated spirit and it came off. It seems that it was the coating (rough for some reason) or just some glue. Noticed that it melted in methilated quickly while other parts of the coating (shiny ones) elsewhere were withstanding the light methilated spirit no probs (I did a test to see if all the coating is that weak - and its not, just around there it seems). The part of the board in question is not shiny now. Probably just a sub par coating around that part or yes might be that that part is overheating. Anyway it looks ok at least where the capacitors are with no signs of leakage whatsoever so back in it goes.

Hmm, not sure what those green ones are, my guess is a resistor, but never seen anything quite like it before. Can't say I've ever heard of a squared capacitor before (some are kinda rectangularish , like tag tantalums, but I've never seen any that were a definite blocky shape).
As I said, I don't know exactly what to look for, but I'd say if your caps were screwed you'd well-and-truly be able to tell looking at the board.
Of course, nothing to say that they will still be fine next week... I'm starting to get a bit worried about mine now...

Why I did it? Well a bit rough idle sometimes (not idle motor - checked, not electric plugs on dissy or anywhere else - checked and cleaned, not spark plugs or leads - were replaced before I bought it and top-guns put in...) so I had a precautionary look as caps start to leak when they are the age my car is. Never hurts to be on top of things (in more ways than one ;) - ah Gzeus you pig you :naughty: . Just hope the car starts when I put the whole thing back together tomorrow morning. :pray:

Anyways, thanks to all for help. I feel good that the ecu seems "preaty fly for an old guy" :D

Resistors but can't tell without looking at the under side for pin layout or be bothered running the numbers through a Farnell catalogue...

The stuff is damaged due to heat, thats for sure.

Measure the resistance of them on the reverse side to test. I think that says 3044K ohms.

On the "better safe than sorry" side of things, anyone know of a decent place in Brisvegas to get an ECU overhauled? And what kind of price such an outing would set one back?

Rogue, just your local car electrician will do . He should have the capacitors as they should be generic ones anyway - don't hold me to it, but mine sure look very generic. If they are generic then 1 hour job really, don't think he should charge more than $60-100. For other things other than capacitors myself will not bother.

Might be cheaper to replace the whole unit

Replace? That would be into the $700 Im sure. Unless you'd wanna put in an aftermarket sports ecu instead for that price.

They are capacitors but they don't look like electrolytic ones so no risk they would leak.
The stuff on top is called conformal coating and I would really avoid removing it, it protects the pcb and components from corrosion, vibrations ...
The capacitors that can leak are like the round one at the top of the 1st picture, can shape with a shinny top. If they start leaking you will see that they don't have nice cylinder shape anymore and there will be some white powder/marks around them.

From those pcitures all looks 100% to me.

Nic

ummm. the green things aren't the capacitors that play up in the ECU. You can see half see one capacitor at the top of one o the photos.It is a Black cylinder and stands up in the centre of the board beside the small vertical curcuit board. if there gone there will be a brown stain around the base of them and running down toward the plug. They might also have half popped the can off the top if they've got hot.

The defective capacitors have Rubicon written on the side of them (made by Rubicon electronics) if they have been replaced then they will be another brand.

Put the ecu back, put all the plastic back on, reconnected the battery and the car still works, whoooaa that's a relief :clap:. Anyway, thanks to all of you for input - I appreciated every post on something as delicate as this.

Im a happy chappy that my ecu is still in very good condition .

Peace :dancin: