E30 Zone

The removable chip had a cover over it and i missed it. So i tried to remove the soldered 28 pin chip next to it.



Is it game over? I can't solder that small. Can someone fix it? How much is another ECU? (Such a ****!)

If you've exposed the main chip to sunlight for too long, you'll be wanting another one of those too. They really don't like UV light.

But yes, that board could be repaired, or a replacement ECU bought (ending in either 172, 173, 380 or 381) for 20-30 quid. I have one right here...

It looks like a fairly straightforward repair - a bit of fine soldering would sort it out.

I could do it for you, for a small fee...

The EPROM chip has a label on, which will protect it from UV.

The 'main' chip?? Which one is that?

I did this this evening indoors before it got dark and just turned the light on for the photo.

Double fail.

If it can be repaired for less than a replacement then i'd give that a go i think. Or do i just give up and get one that hasn't been messed with?

Why 4 ecu versions for the same car?

As long as you still have some leg protruding from the chip, it can be repaired. Don't worry about the light - it shouldn't be an issue; an EPROM takes a good 15 minutes or so in a UV eraser box before it loses it's memory.

All the later six-pot ECUs (172/173/179/380/381) are all identical aside from the EPROM chip.

To repair that, I'd cut off about half of each damaged leg, solder a piece of thin bare wire (5A fuse wire size) through the hole in the board, then wrap the wire around the remains of the leg, before applying a blob of solder on the leg, and breaking/cutting the excess wire off.

One leg is seperated from the board/solder. The other has seperated from the chip.

If there's not enough left of the leg projecting from the chip to solder a fine wire onto, then the ECU is scrap, except in the unlikely event that this particular pin is unused.

You may be able to get lucky, and carefully chip off a small section of the plastic chip casing around the broken leg using a Dremel/wire cutters or similar to expose a bit of metal to solder onto - the actual chip is a small square of silicon right in the middle, so is well protected from such damage.

If i get it wrong, i won't know till I run the car?

Or swear a bit more at myself, pay £30 ad have an unmolested one to fit the chip to?

Where are you?

I've got a 173 you can have if you collect it.

Ben

I'm in somerset mate. But will be in orpington on sat/sunday...

PMed

Con2K wrote:If i get it wrong, i won't know till I run the car?

Or swear a bit more at myself, pay £30 ad have an unmolested one to fit the chip to?

Yes, essentially!