"HoustonRunner" (houstonrunner)
06/22/2019 at 12:05 • Filed to: None
5
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"HoustonRunner" (houstonrunner)
06/22/2019 at 12:05 • Filed to: None | 5
| 6 |
Following my post last week on the BMW, I figured I needed to take the ECU out and take a look at the solder joints to see if there was a loose connection somewhere.
Getting the ECU out of the glove box is pretty easy, but that’s where it stops being easy. These ECUs have metal tabs connecting the top and the bottom, in addition to some nylon connectors holding the boards in place. The metal tabs are bit of pain especially since there are a bunch of them.
Once I got those those I was able to take apart the two halves but this ECU is old enough of it has two boards sandwiched together. They are held to the bottom half of the ECU with a few screws and nylon pins that only the Germans could engineer. You can’t tell at all how to get them apart. You pull up on the pin and the collar stays in place that loosens as the pain gets narrower towards the bottom.
I finally got the boards apart, inspected them and added a tiny amount of solder to the three joints that are commonly referred to as failure points.
When I got it all put back together yesterday I hopped in the car and said a little prayer before starting it but that I didn’t completely bork the ECU. It fired up and acted test drives not showing any of the same symptoms . It isn’t randomly cutting out and dying on me.
Of course that doesn’t mean I’m done with things. After I fairly lengthy test drive and it got up to operating temperature it started stalling out when going back down to idle if I had the AC on. Turning the AC off solved the issue so that is something I’ll need to figure out there. Either a vacuum leak or some idle issue.
I’ve also done some more investigation on the fact that it is an automatic to manual conversion. T here are definitely some things that are mentioned in the Bentley manual for my here 535i that are different from an automatic and a manual. I’ll have to go through and see how thorough the conversion was. I know one thing I need to change is a shift boot. It doesn’t completely go all the way up to the shift knob, so hot air comes up that area while driving.
With the safety inspection done I’ll go and do title and registration this week so all of the paperwork is out of the way.
Now to start the real list...
M.T. Blake
> HoustonRunner
06/22/2019 at 12:14 |
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Is the yellowing on the board where it got hot?
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HoustonRunner
> M.T. Blake
06/22/2019 at 12:19 |
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No, just leftover flux. Not an issue, though I did clean it up a bit before reassembly.
diplodicus forgot his password
> HoustonRunner
06/22/2019 at 12:20 |
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Pick up a spare fuel pump relay. https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-2857-oem-bosch-fuel-pump-relay-e30-e36-e46-e28-e34-e39-e24-e23-e32-e38-e31-z3/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwo7foBRD8ARIsAHTy2wlFjoMCyYeYjyZiDAEQTmTB2ZtB3-RMRE8_IQCBfjSQX44YdQsJuJ0aAjlAEALw_wcB
Forgot on your first post that my failing relay gave me idle issues until it died completely. Might not be your issue but also not a bad idea to have one laying around.
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HoustonRunner
> diplodicus forgot his password
06/22/2019 at 12:38 |
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Thanks, definitely that and a main relay. Will get it ordered this weekend.
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> HoustonRunner
06/22/2019 at 13:47 |
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Good job. Fixing cracked solder joints and the like is definitely now a modern old car thing. I’ve had to do it on the main “relay” on my former Acura Legend c oupe, and on the BCM for my former GMT 400 Escalalde. I also had to send the climate control boxes and the Bose control module off on my former C4 vette to be repaired by the one guy out there who does that.
It is one of those things that bothers me slightly because it is a result of building a board to a price point. We’ve made boards over 40 years ago that have left the solar system and are still working, so we could make them last in a car if we wanted to. I’d pay a few dollars more for a new car if the life span on boards and the components on them like capacitors was “from now on.”
There’s definitely a business opportunity out there for some electrical engineer that want to support these kinds of components from certain enthusiast cars as they age, and that have an owner base that will spend some money to keep them going.
duurtlang
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
06/23/2019 at 05:39 |
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Luckily cars from the 80s had very little of these boards. Imagine what happens when 21st century cars become 30+ years old.