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View Full Version : Take a look at my ECU...



unclejemima
05-03-2009, 04:55 AM
I had the rest of the car apart, so I figured I might as well take a look at the ECU as well and check out how the capacitors look like.
Well, to my surprise when I cracked the cover off, it looks BRAND NEW, and I mean BRAND NEW!!!:D (see pic1) http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn123/cornflakejoe/P3047403.jpg
I don't know if it was replaced, but the Capacitors look PERFECT. (see pic2) http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn123/cornflakejoe/P3047404.jpg
Can someone verify if I'm being over confident by the pics, but I think I'm going to leave my capacitors alone.
Thanks all for the advice,

Mylee
05-03-2009, 02:04 PM
Be cautious, they look new, but think about the environment they are in.
Was you expecting to see a dirty and dusty ecu, even though it's in a sealed box? Damage occurs from heat cycling. Although your car has only done 40k km, what about if it was just a few km's driven every day, the heat cycling effect would be much greater than a can that's driven a 100km once a week.

If the car's running fine, then great, just think long term. :)

unclejemima
05-03-2009, 04:58 PM
Be cautious, they look new, but think about the environment they are in.
Was you expecting to see a dirty and dusty ecu, even though it's in a sealed box?

Good point, I was kind of expecting it to be dusty after 18 year...even slightly dusty, but I guess it was fully sealed... :o
The heat cycles are a good point as well, I was just expecting the capacitors to show some signs of heat (bubbling or corrosion). I've never seen a bad capacitor before, does anyone have any pics.

Mylee, you were planning on replacing yours soon as well, right? Please take pictures of what your ECU and capacitors look like for interest sake:)
Take care,

marcair
05-03-2009, 07:33 PM
I located my 400w amp beneath the ECU, vertically, outside the carpet. Thus, alotta heat in a trapped area. So, 1st I inserted 4 separate 1" x 1/4" thk neoprene pads between the firewall and the ECU base and installed neoprene washers at the 3 attach points. This allowed a barrier from the engine heat and provided air passage between the ECU and the firewall. Finally, taped a glycol bag to the near side to extract heat from the box interior.

Now for the amp: no room for an air-flow solution. Had considered those liquid cooling PC hardrive systems, but after 2 years even in LA traffic or out in the desert, no problem. I just taped a few of the glycol bags to the heatsinks.

I learned the glycol thing from the local racers.