ECU Tuner Install Q

[FOMOCOTOSHO]

Hey guys and gals,

I have what may be a stupid question about installing EPROM-type tuner chips on my '95 ATX w/ the D4U1 ECU.

I have a Superchips chip (the type the just piggy backs into the Eprom on the front of the ECU) that came with the car when I bought it last year that I had taken out immediately when I bought the car because the car was running like crap & I was having the engine & everything completely rebuilt from the ground up. After that was done I installed the chip and immediately noticed the difference of how firmer the shifts were & my shift points changed allowing the engine to run up to around 7500RPM for a full 1-2 WOT shift. I was quite happy.

Earlier this past fall I ordered one of the used LPM's from SHO Source because I wanted even more customized options for tuning. We (me and guys from Sho Source) tried SEVERAL times to get this to work but never had any luck to ever get the car to recognize the tune or recognize that there was a tuner plugged in. I even bought a new ECU which didn't work. Anyway, long story short we finally gave up and I returned the LPM back to SHO Source for credit.

Since then I decided to just reinstall my Superchips chip and live with that. However now that doesn't seem to work either. I've tried both just disconnecting the ECU connector under the hood and/or disconnecting the battery & discharging for several hours many times over but no luck.

I guess my first q is I noticed on my new ECU the EPROM circuit board has what seems to be a thicker coating of some sort of adhesive/glue covering it. I did clean the surface with 3M scotch bright pad as instructed but I only did it lightly. Is that surface supposed to be scrubbed off completely to get to the bare circuit board and copper terminals or is some of that supposed to be left on like it is now?

I'm going crazy trying to figure out why none of the tuners work on my car. Can anyone help? I've already checked several times and there are no trouble codes in the computer except for the damn 332 EGR code (whole nother unrelated issue)

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[FOMOCOTOSHO]

BUMP for some help please!??!

 

[ycode90]

Sounds like bad connection clean the **** out of both male and female parts of the connection . I think the shit on there is like a non-conductive grease to keep the board from corroding right there.

 

[Sho Amo]

def. what he said. you can use computer cleaner or vinegar.

make sure it looks almost brand new and then put some kind of dielectric grease

 

[ycode90]

Yea dielectric is yo friend .

 

[AREA 91]

Co signed with the above.
When installing a "chip" they can be very finiky. Must be clean!

 

[FOMOCOTOSHO]

Thanks for all the info.

I cleaned the ECU and chip very well, and the new ECU was a completely untouched board. I will try and sand down the ECU's EPROM circuit board and also use some dielectric grease when reinstalling the chip and see what happens. Thanks for your ideas & I will let you know what happens

 

[FOMOCOTOSHO]

WOO HOO! It Works!
I took my old ECU and cleaned up both the electrical terminal pins on the main connector side as well as ground down the EPROM circuit board really good & cleaned them both up with MAF Cleaner. I also cleaned up the terminals pins for the main engine harness connector as well. Then I lubed up every connection with a generous amount of dielectric grease and put the old ECU (with the Superchips chip already inserted) back into the car & VOILA! All is well and it's working again.

I don't know exactly which one of the steps was the one that made it work but I'm very happy now.

If anyone from SHO Source reads this I think we may have figured it out? (not sure) so I may think about trying to order the custom-tuned used LPM again this summer some time. But at least for now I have some improvement and I'm happy again.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions & help!

 

[ycode90]

Good deal , glad you got it fixed.