Exactly how sick is the ECU in these pictures?
Discussion
Seeing as I've had issues with fans not cutting in and also I've got an NCT coming up soon on the car I reckoned I'd better see what was involved in connecting a laptop to the ECU.
Instead of just opening the ECU and finding a 9-pin connection I found THIS .....
..... so how bad is that?
Is this something that can be repaired or is the ECU completely fu(ked?
Instead of just opening the ECU and finding a 9-pin connection I found THIS .....
..... so how bad is that?
Is this something that can be repaired or is the ECU completely fu(ked?
If someone can identify the IC it might be repairable with a bit of wire bodgery if the board is damaged - but the question to think about is that the cause of your problem or is that the symptom of something else wrong?
Can I assume that it relates to the 9 pin socket?
If so someone has probably plugged something very wrong in there.
Can I assume that it relates to the 9 pin socket?
If so someone has probably plugged something very wrong in there.
Edited by Barkychoc on Wednesday 4th August 19:33
I never even got as far as plugging anything into the ECU and in fact I never have.
I did open the ECU once before just to look inside it and everything was fine then.
So this was definitely caused by something else.
The eeprom is blown completely so I'm thinking something must have failed that took it out but that's what I need help identifying.
I'll upload another pic shortly that shows the location of the blown component better.
I did open the ECU once before just to look inside it and everything was fine then.
So this was definitely caused by something else.
The eeprom is blown completely so I'm thinking something must have failed that took it out but that's what I need help identifying.
I'll upload another pic shortly that shows the location of the blown component better.
Sorry I'm not an expert on the ECU I just had a past life in the electronics industry often having to fix the unfixable - working on the basis its fooked you have nothing to lose trying to fix it. If thats an earom the question is what data was in it?
Edited to add
http://www.mbesystems.com/
Worth an ask?
Edited to add
http://www.mbesystems.com/
Worth an ask?
Edited by Barkychoc on Wednesday 4th August 19:57
It looks more like a standard chip, the eeprom is the one with the window, ( I'd put a sticker over that while I was in there.)Might be worthwhile getting the info of it if you can,or maybe someone could read theirs, then try and figure out what caused it to overheat so badly. You may be lucky and the damage is localised to that one chip.
This confuses me. From what you have posted the problem is with the stepper driver chip. Its a bipolar driver so relatively high current used to drive a stepper motor.
They aren't used on the Cerb at all as far as I know, so thats not your problem.
The problem is the pins you have melted are the voltage feed to the chip and one stage of the motor drive to a stepper motor you don't have. So possibly they could be affecting the voltage to all you MBE.
The chip should be inactive in the Cerb. There is a diode under that chip on the other side of the board, and I wonder if that is the problem.
Pins 39, and 1 are the two pins on the connector which reflect the two ends of the bipolar phase which seems to be affected.
So not sure what to say. Its possible you have had a short across the power of that chip, but because the cerb doesn't use it I'm a bit confused. Is it possible it was originally on a car which did have steppers, and after sustaining some damage was transferred to use on a cerb?????
I would unplug it and check that there isn't an obvious short from power to earth on the board. Next I would power it up and check for a full 5v on the chips, and that the chip wasn't getting hot. If thats okay I would say strong argument that the thing was damaged in an earlier life, probably in a different car, although only a guess on my part.
If I'm right you aren't going to have ever opened that MBE before in your ownership of the car
.
They aren't used on the Cerb at all as far as I know, so thats not your problem.
The problem is the pins you have melted are the voltage feed to the chip and one stage of the motor drive to a stepper motor you don't have. So possibly they could be affecting the voltage to all you MBE.
The chip should be inactive in the Cerb. There is a diode under that chip on the other side of the board, and I wonder if that is the problem.
Pins 39, and 1 are the two pins on the connector which reflect the two ends of the bipolar phase which seems to be affected.
So not sure what to say. Its possible you have had a short across the power of that chip, but because the cerb doesn't use it I'm a bit confused. Is it possible it was originally on a car which did have steppers, and after sustaining some damage was transferred to use on a cerb?????
I would unplug it and check that there isn't an obvious short from power to earth on the board. Next I would power it up and check for a full 5v on the chips, and that the chip wasn't getting hot. If thats okay I would say strong argument that the thing was damaged in an earlier life, probably in a different car, although only a guess on my part.
If I'm right you aren't going to have ever opened that MBE before in your ownership of the car
.Ireland said:
Seeing as I've had issues with fans not cutting in and also I've got an NCT coming up soon on the car I reckoned I'd better see what was involved in connecting a laptop to the ECU.
Instead of just opening the ECU and finding a 9-pin connection I found THIS .....
..... so how bad is that?
seen this before caused by the 4 wires for the stepper motor that are tied up shorting out they are located on the loom tied to the bulkhead (roughly about the area behind the n/s cam cover) worth a check
Is this something that can be repaired or is the ECU completely fu(ked?
Instead of just opening the ECU and finding a 9-pin connection I found THIS .....
..... so how bad is that?
seen this before caused by the 4 wires for the stepper motor that are tied up shorting out they are located on the loom tied to the bulkhead (roughly about the area behind the n/s cam cover) worth a check
Is this something that can be repaired or is the ECU completely fu(ked?
It is most definately a multilayer board.
Andy is right in that if you short the wires together and the chip supplies a heavy current you would undoubtedly get that picture. My only problem was that the two wires were at opposite ends of the MBE connector so unlikely to be accidental. Tying the wires together on the bulkhead would answer that, but still doesn't answer the problem that on a standard MBE for a cerb the software actually switches that chip into a dormant stage almost the minute the software starts to run and doesn't touch it again.
Has someone messed with the chip software??
Although it is a multilayer board, I would still suggest you have a good chance of a functioning system if you simply remove the chip. But I would do the tests I suggested earlier to find out if you have affected the 5V supply.
Andy is right in that if you short the wires together and the chip supplies a heavy current you would undoubtedly get that picture. My only problem was that the two wires were at opposite ends of the MBE connector so unlikely to be accidental. Tying the wires together on the bulkhead would answer that, but still doesn't answer the problem that on a standard MBE for a cerb the software actually switches that chip into a dormant stage almost the minute the software starts to run and doesn't touch it again.
Has someone messed with the chip software??
Although it is a multilayer board, I would still suggest you have a good chance of a functioning system if you simply remove the chip. But I would do the tests I suggested earlier to find out if you have affected the 5V supply.
Ireland said:
I've had the car 4 years and the software has never been checked in that time, let alone messed with.
I doubt it was done before that either.
Oh, and the car still runs fine.
Well the answer is probably already there. You've burnt out a part of the board that isn't used by the Cerb so in answer to your thread.I doubt it was done before that either.
Oh, and the car still runs fine.
It shouldn't have been possible to happen.
It shouldn't affect the function of your car unless it progresses to affect a more vital part of the circuit board, such as the 5V rail running within the multilayer board.
If its finished burning your board you can ignore it with some degree of reassurance.
If it continues, it will undoubtedly affect the 5V supply soon, and the car will stop.
.
.
You just have to know the answer to the above questions.
If it was me, I couldn't leave it at that though. I'd have to know why a dormant chip could have blown up.
A bit of progress to report .....
I know why it blew.
Further up the thread it was suggested about the cable that runs in front of the bulkhead to the stepper motor could be to blame.
It is.
It touched off one of the exhaust headers and cooked.
That's definitely what caused the short.
The only thing is it was not connected to anything.
It was snipped off and covered in heat-shrink.
What's a stepper for / look like / where is it located?
I definitely dont have a stepper in my car.
Just for the sake of it I'll take a pic of the state of the cable later and post it.
I know why it blew.
Further up the thread it was suggested about the cable that runs in front of the bulkhead to the stepper motor could be to blame.
It is.
It touched off one of the exhaust headers and cooked.
That's definitely what caused the short.
The only thing is it was not connected to anything.
It was snipped off and covered in heat-shrink.
What's a stepper for / look like / where is it located?
I definitely dont have a stepper in my car.
Just for the sake of it I'll take a pic of the state of the cable later and post it.
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