i suck at chipping ecus
 

yesterday i tried to chip an ecu for the second time.. the first time i tried it was for my car, my ee teacher helped me burn up 2 traces when desoldering and i got a solid cel. I thought everything else was fine and thats why it didnt work. anyway, i told my buddy i'd chip his ecu for him, Not even close to a burnt trace for desoldering, and no cold solders? i was using a craftsman iorn that was pretty hot, could that be the problem or do i suck?

also, my p28 has a resistor in r52. His po6 and other p28's dont. Moates chipped mine, does anyone know what its for?

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

if that was the only thing ::)

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

huh?

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

you are putting a socket in right, not just soldering the chip straight to the board???

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

that doesnt matter alot of obd1 baords have chicps already there aka most jdm ecu's like the auto p30,p13


I have chipped 2 p28's that already had been chipped by the factory





You can ---- up in alot of places so the net isnt really goin help you. Go re do your joints




alsot he r52 is common some do some dont doesnt change a thing



This is why you should send ecu's into people

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

I sent mine out after i fucked it up, but i figured it was because i burnt up 2 traces. When i finished this last one, i was sure it would work. All the solder joints are good, they flow through to the other side of the board. No cold solders, i didnt miss any or anything. Even if i cant do it, i would like to know what i fucked up on.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

LMAO, a friend of mine seen how easy it looks to chip ecu's and tried it himself trying to save money last week. he did quite a number on it, last thing i heard about it was something along the lines of "shiit, i think this ecu is fucked", "what can i do if i pull the trace off the board?", "time to look for a new one." and "WTF solid CEL!?, WTF AM I DOING WRONG??".

lmao,all i could do was laugh and ask him if it was as easy as he thought.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

true, i was just asking because its so much easier to mess up when not using a socket.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

Alright, I live in HICKVILLE USA, nobody within 20 miles drives a honda so I have no help whatsoever, I chippeed my po6 by just going off the picture on the pgmfi.org website, and it works like a charm. I'm not saying i'm special, i'm saying you have to be a fucktard to screw it up. I cant say the same for my ebay datalogging cable which I cannot get to work.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

Well tons of people ahve messed it up especially obdo ecu's or jdm ecu's with the eprom on the baord

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

If your carefull about it and use the right equiptment, I dont see how it is possible to "burn up" or "rip out" traces.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

Chipping an ECU isnt rocket science. I did my ECU right the first time. Never soldered electronic boards before, EVER. I did it with a soldering iron that wasn't working correctly either. There are a few tricks to soldering an ECU to make it work on the first time. Desolder well. Don't use the suckers, as they suck. Spend the extra money and use braid. Braid works really well and the joint is VERY clean afterwards. Stick the parts in and make sure you don't have the solder just barely touching. Make sure most of the leg is sticking out, heat the board and the leg then push your solder into the iron tip. Last but not least, look over every joint and make sure the solder covers 360*. Also make sure none of the contacts are touching eachother at all. If they are, break out the desoldering braid and fix it. Having them touch will automatically cause a solid CEL.

One last thing is, make sure you have a good chip. I'd say more often than not, the chip itself is bad meaning the binary file or the burning process.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

The best thing you can do is get a temp controlled soldering station. Circuit specialists has one for $35. That makes a huge difference.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

i did everything you said and mine didnt work. and ive done it before. I'd like to consider myself somewhat experienced at these kinds of things (---- i can weld pretty good)... Maybe the iorn was too hot?

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

If you think the iron was too hot, you can easily over heat the HC373 IC.

Generally...I solder every other leg on one side...then go to something else on the board. Then every other leg on the other side, then to something else...

That way you arent heating the fragile IC for a long period of time which could overheat it...my $.02 FWIW.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

thanks! I'll remember that if i ever go for round 3. The iorn was super hot so i guess its possible.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

If you try again, just do what i do and socket the helper chip too. the socket is very easy to find locally. and only cost like $.30 that way you dont risk damaging the IC. Also take bunch of Q-tips and alcohol and clean the spots that you're going to de-solder before you actually desolder. Then after you de-solder, clean it again. that will give you a much cleaner solder joint.

also after you desolder one hole, clip the chunk off and use a fresh piece for the next hole. also if the solder doesnt come off the boad easily. Dont hold the soldering iron on there for a long ass time hoping it would come off. cause that will jus melt the board and ruin the board. instead solder some new solder on the spot. go to a diff spot then come back to that one.

try those things. I've chippped quite a few ECU. and they've all turned out really good. and if you clean up the joints before you desolder and before you solder. then after you solder. it'll look nice and clean like the ecu hasnt been touched!

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

poop.

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

lol i cant believe someone actually recomended desoldering braid in this thread. Desoldering station is where its at

Re: i suck at chipping ecus
 

The spring loaded vacumm solder sucker works just fine for me but I wouldn't mind a Hakko 808.