Anyone good at repairing circuit boards?

[yrretvr4]

Cause I'm definitely not. The reason I am asking is because I believe my ECU on my car has leaky capacitators, and I can pick up the parts from Radio Shack, its just having soldered only once before, I dont really want to "perfect" my technique on something as important as my ECU, lol. I'd gladly buy dinner or lunch or whatever you want in exchange for a little help.

[STIBungy]

Why do you think they have leaky capacitors? Have you run them through an oscilloscope and measured the leakage after it's charged?

[Weston-work]

Or are they just physically leaking?

[yrretvr4]

They aren't physically leaking as of yet. This is a very common problem though, with the early year VR-4 ECU's. Also, many people have had the same exact problem that I am having with my car and their problem was the ECU.

[yrretvr4]

Why do you think they have leaky capacitors? Have you run them through an oscilloscope and measured the leakage after it's charged?Wha? Can you explain this in Lehman's terms? Or where might I find an "oscilloscope"

[Weston-work]

At the oscilloscope store... DUH!

You'd have to remove them from the board to really test them though... since the other components would interfere. What is it doing to lead you to believe that they are bad?

[yrretvr4]

Well, It all started when I was driving like 60 mph in Longmont, and the car just died. RPM's went straight to zero, no stutter or anything. So I coast to the side of the road, and it starts up again, no problem. So I am thinking this is a one time thing, but no, lol, 2 miles down the road, it does it again, except now it wont start for 20 minutes. So in 20 minutes, I start it again, and I go maybe 20 ft and it dies. I pop the hood and find the idle control screw missing, so I leave it, come back the next day with a new one, put it in, it starts no problem, so I think this was all the problem was, except I go another .5 mile and it does going about 45 mph. I go home, search on 3SI, and found maybe 10 or so other people that have had this same exact problem, and all of them fixed there problem by repairing the ECU, so I figured this would just be the best place to start. Chances are, it's probably the ECU. Our ECU's kind of suck apparently.

[yrretvr4]

A capacitator could be leaking a small amount without any visible leakage right?

[ryanman]

It's somewhat a common thing on earlier DSM's. It's better to spend $10 bucks and replace them then spend a couple hundred on a new ECU. Do it now before it's too late!!

[Kwando]

I'm sure i can do the job... i have a small tip iron for that kind of delicate work. If not i know that work in the hardware group of Echostar that do that for a living...

[yrretvr4]

It's somewhat a common thing on earlier DSM's. It's better to spend $10 bucks and replace them then spend a couple hundred on a new ECU. Do it now before it's too late!!
:werd: thats the plan. I know I can get these parts at radio shack for cheap, I just dont want to my 2nd attempt at soldering to be on something so expensive.

[yrretvr4]

I'm sure i can do the job... i have a small tip iron for that kind of delicate work. If not i know that work in the hardware group of Echostar that do that for a living...ok, cool. I'll let you know if A)The problem is even the ECU and B)When I get the parts etc. When's the soonest you could do this? I will probably be borrowing a friend's ECU tomorrow night so I'll see if the problem is fixed. But otherwise the soonest I would have everything ready would be around Thursday, maybe Wednesday

[yrretvr4]

ttt---could anyone possibly do this this afternoon??

[Bedlam]

ttt---could anyone possibly do this this afternoon??

How many parts are you talking about? Its pretty easy..I havent had to solder something like that for like a billion years..but hey. :p

Did you find bad capacitors on the board?

-Bedlam

[ryanman]

I think there is 2 of them, not totally sure on the 3kgt boards.

[SleeperZ]

DON'T use caps from Radio Shack. The temperature ratings are only 80C, and they suck for ESR (equivalent series resistance). They are the bottom of the barrel and probably worse than what's on the board already. Get new caps from www.digikey.com.

[yrretvr4]

Theres 3 of them. I really doubt my ECU will see temps above 80C. Lots of people have used radio shack caps and not have not had a problem. I'll probably upgrade later.

[Bedlam]

Theres 3 of them. I really doubt my ECU will see temps above 80C. Lots of people have used radio shack caps and not have not had a problem. I'll probably upgrade later.

Well..get some with a gold stripe on the side, from Rubicon. :) They will last forever, and you'll just be done with it.

Did you get it fixed up yet then?

-Bedlam

[yrretvr4]

No, still broken. I found a place that can do it though for $20. Id rather have someone from here do it though if anyone can, since they will know about cars...