For those with Car ABS and ECU problems;!..

Yes. Every now and then my Vauxhall suffers from crazy dash, where all the indicators show bizarre changing patterns and the dials wander around randomly. The cure is to stop, then disconnect and reconnect the ABS unit electrical connector a few times, for some reason despite being well protected from the elements the wiping contacts inside it become intermittent and need a few wipes to make them work again.

I didn't say it was higher

I said that there were implications

another point I have just thought of is that it is one thing to fit a pattern part yourself, but I doubt you would find many fitters who would do it for you

For that reason alone, there is little chance of them being made in sufficient quantities to make them cheaply enough

Several have tried, and failed

I like that breakdown, it's about right. I'd add that a lot of the rare actual gubbins failures can be put down to the PSU throwing a wobbly or a spike/dip in the supply.

If stuff survives the first few days or weeks of regular use it will essentially last forever. Always assuming that it has been designed well, no components right up at the top of their power rating with inadequate methods of removing the heat resulting in scorched circuit boards and weakend joints after a year or three of use or simple component failure due to being under too much stress.

Lovely sweeping statements based on invalid assumptions there

Not at all.

In message , geoff writes

I'm very glad to find there are so many ECU experts present as I just happen to have a *dead* '97 Golf Gti obstructing one of my barns.

Progress so far has been limited to joining the VW forum.

I have some hay to cut but I will be back:-)

regards

Err, no. Not for nothing is it called "bathtub curve".

On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:34:12 +0100, "Dave Liquorice" wibbled:

Electrolytic capacitors a a weak point - they tend to be vulnerable to failure before other components IME. But even silicon doesn't survive forever.

In article , Rick... (The other Rick) scribeth thus

Well.. We got as far as prising off the spring clips then decided that we might damage it if we went further getting it open then we'd be in the replacement game rather then repair. So all in all the charge for repair wasn't that bad as we've spent sod all on parts for this particular car anyway and we needed it back on the road so ..

But under any other circumstances I'd have had a go but I can't see your average small time garage doing this sort of repair doubt they'd have a soldering iron that small for a start;!..

But further articles indicate that there is a growing market for electronic assembly replacements on cars which I suppose is simply market driven by the demand and the silly prices for new manufacturer replacements and the growing use of electronic assemblies. It seems for instance that the firm I referred to spend as much time repairing electronic dashboards as much else!...

In article , Tim Watts scribeth thus

Proof;?...

Snag comes in with multi layer PCBs. Makes many repairs near impossible.

I said "essentially". The bottom of the bathtub in my experiance is longer than the useful life of the kit. ie the kit is well superceeded before it fails.

In article , Dave Plowman (News) scribeth thus

I suppose.. It depends on what sort of faults there are?. Seems on the unit I had done these might be simple dry joints but I wonder if there are that many faults due to the multi layer PCB anyway?.

Thats prolly what should happen in this case, after all not that many would see a 15 Y/O Volvo as a "desirable" motah!. Though it seems this one has just made it into the high mileage owners club, the entry level of which is 150,000 miles some it seems have topped the Million mark;!...

not if you have the correct desoldering tools.

Pretty accurate actually.

MBQ

not IME.

more reliable than the cheaper alternatives of pop rivets through the boards and a dip in a solder bath.

Connectors Capacitors and Corrosion is the usual list of suspects.

Not if tye correct parts are specified at the design stage and assuming you buy from a reputable supplier so that you actually get those parts. The latter is one of the major differences between cheap as chips stuff and expensive automotive grade stuff.

Essentially, again if specc'ed correctly and sourced from a manufacturer who know what they are doing.

MBQ

Problems can occur if the two halves of the contact are not correctly specified and use dissimilar materials, e.g. one gold plates and one tim plated.

MBQ