Not the outcome I hoped for

"Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's" (africantacoman)
06/25/2019 at 23:13 • Filed to: None

Opened up my LS400s ECU today, as I expected it had failing/leaking 21 years old Nichicon capacitors. For such a tank of a car, that is notoriously hard to kill, I deal with a lot of issues on mine. The ECU board shows no signs of leaked capacitors, and appears clean and untouched by American hands. I guess that’s good?

My next step is to buy a voltmeter capable of reading to I believe 3000mhz, I'll have to double check that. Electrical jargon and troubleshooting is not my forte, but I'll be testing what's called a ripple effect in the ground to the ecu, as well as taking a look at my spark plugs (I think they've got close to 100k on them, based on my service records) and testing the resistance of my coilpacks. Any OPPO recommendations of a cheap quality voltmeter? Also I'm well on my way to starting a new job at my local Lexus dealership. Submitted references and completed a bunch of online hiring surveys and tests, hopefully getting another interview this week. SO EXCITE

DISCUSSION (9)

Nibby > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/25/2019 at 23:40

3GHz MASTER RACE

Future Heap Owner > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/26/2019 at 00:22

I know a decent bit about digital circuits, but I don’t understand what it means for a voltmeter to read hertz. That sounds like oscilloscope territory to me. What exactly are you trying to measure?

Nick Has an Exocet > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/26/2019 at 00:22

Time for a Speeduino? If those even work on an LS400...

Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's > Future Heap Owner
06/26/2019 at 01:36

Like I said, electricity is voodoo to me. What I’ll be measuring is the AC voltage between the engine temperature sensor and the ground signal to the ECU. Heres a decent thread about it, it probably makes a lot more sense to you than me; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-1st-and-2nd-gen-1990-2000/715345-how-to-check-your-ecu-without-removing-it-from-car-by-yamae.html

So ill need a multimeter capable of reading down to 3 00khZ or more. My understanding is failing capacitors will cause greater resistance in the Ecu as it tries to communicate with the engine temp sensor, and all other electrical systems in the car.

jimz > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/26/2019 at 03:50

The ECU board shows no signs of leaked capacitors, and appears clean and untouched by American hands. I guess that’s good?

I’ve worked for a few (big name) Japanese consumer electronics companies. they are not the saints you seem to think they are.

Future Heap Owner > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/26/2019 at 04:02

Ah, I see. I haven’t messed much with AC myself, but this is a true RMS (more accurate AC voltage measuring) AC/DC multimeter that says it can do 60MHz sampling (a review says only 16MHz, but that’s still 16,000KHz so should be fine for your purposes): https://www.amazon.com/AstroAI-Multimeter-Resistance-Transistors-Temperature/dp/B071JL6LLL/ref=sxin_6_osp20-fa6e7d12_cov?ascsubtag=fa6e7d12-ebbf-4ede-b345-81e977a79fc5&creativeASIN=B071JL6LLL&crid=A2OI7G73W34X&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osp.fa6e7d12-ebbf-4ede-b345-81e977a79fc5&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_wn=osp-search&keywords=fluke+multimeter&linkCode=oas&pd_rd_i=B071JL6LLL&pd_rd_r=2b6e5eee-6968-46b2-a0b0-ff95fd0acfb5&pd_rd_w=RW8DH&pd_rd_wg=TmMHg&pf_rd_p=c501273b-119a-4fc9-ad78-eda5006b0be9&pf_rd_r=KDTAT5EY9R1WEVK0ZB06&qid=1561535802&s=gateway&sprefix=fluke+mul%2Cindustrial%2C210&tag=bestcont06-20

Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's > jimz
06/26/2019 at 11:29

In a business driven world, nobody is a saint. Corners are always cut. I get the feeling things were a bit different in the industry 20-30 years ago though, no?

jimz > Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
06/26/2019 at 12:23

honestly, the big reason the Japanese electronics companies “took over” the industry is that they got into it at the time the transistor became commercially viable. the western companies (RCA, Raytheon, Sylvania, etc.) were all still trying to milk vacuum tubes a bit longer. that’s what killed them. Japanese electronics were more reliable and durable mostly because the transistor is a much more robust and durable device than a fragile vacuum tube, and could run on lower voltage supplies than the hundreds of volts tubes often needed for plate voltage.

Inertia is what kills companies- the inability to adapt to changing conditions. It’s also why the Japanese companies have been having hard times of their own in recent years because they’re now in a world where China and Korea can make electronics as good as they do and for less money. Sanyo is dead (Panasonic bought the corpse,) Sony went through a rough period of losing money and has exited a lot of markets, Sharp has had to endure the indignity of being bought out by Foxconn (a Taiwanese firm) and so on.

Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's > jimz
06/27/2019 at 11:16

I appreciate your insight as to why japanese electronics companies were able to reign “supreme” for a short while, and I fully agree that inertia kills successful businesses. I used to work for walgreens and that place has gone way downhill. The refusal to invest in new technologies or equipment, refusal to intrigue new talent or pay them a comparable wage even comp ared with WalMart will kill a once very successful business. Change is inevitable, and those who take the leap first have the best chance of taking success from the competitors.