Taking apart a DIS

[WTFvolvo]

I cant believe I didnt think of this before.

I have two DISs. One works but has a broken plug end, one doesn't work but has no cosmetic damages.

What is the best way about making the switch with out breaking them?

 

[luigisho]

look for people parting a car in the classifieds and get a known working one.

 

[93rev2sev]

I "took one apart" last night.

The circuit board is covered in about a quarter inch of gel and sealed to the backing plate. It cannot be transferred to a new case from what I could tell.

 

[hawkeye18]

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I've taken them apart before and was met by the same gel stuff. It certainly dissuades one from proceeding further, but if you have enough time and patience you can get the board out.

You have to get the gel out... I used compressed air and large volumes of alcohol (you'll want to get two big bottles to do this right!) after scoring it with a boxcutter to get it all out. Then, the board is sealed to the backing plate with heat paste, but if you soak it in alcohol for about 5 minutes, it will soften it enough that you can gently pull the board off... but not before you desolder and remove the six pins on each side of the board.

All in all, about a 7 or 8 out of 10 on the difficulty level, with a 10 being multi-layer flexprint repair (I'd rather do BGAs with an air gun....). So... basically, if you don't have a lot of experience with removing conformal coating and desoldering, I really wouldn't bother. Just go to a junkyard... or hacksaw the connector off the good one and JB-weld it onto the broken one! Although that's not guaranteed to hold, and if you align it wrong, you now have two bad DISs... oh wait, exactly like you had beforehand. W/e... your choice!

 

[93rev2sev]

Ship your bad DIS to me...I'll repair it for $50.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TAUR...arms=39:1|65:1|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...arms=39:1|65:1|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

 

[WTFvolvo]

Ship your bad DIS to me...I'll repair it for $50.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TAUR...arms=39:1|65:1|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...arms=39:1|65:1|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

Or i'll buy one that works for 25.

 

[luigisho]

Right!

 

[hawkeye18]

Or i'll buy one that works for 25.

 

[93rev2sev]

for the curious...

 

[WTFvolvo]

What normally makes a DIS "stop working?"

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

Damn that looks complicated.

 

[hawkeye18]

What makes it stop working? The IC in the middle overheats and burns a wire inside. Or, it gets too hot and has a reverse voltage avalanche and melts.

Either way, heat is most often the culprit. This is why it's important to use quality heat paste on your DIS. I use AS5 and it works like a champ.

And now you know why the front of the DIS never feels as hot as the intake; there is half an inch of insulating gel between the plastic cover and the circuitry. But please believe me, it gets %*#%ing hot in there - much hotter than the intake. That's why you use heat paste.

 

[WTFvolvo]

Where can I pick up this gel substance?

 

[itwonder]

Where can I pick up this gel substance?

Arctic Silver 5, Radio Shack catalog # 28-1099
or
Arctic Silver Ceramique, Radio Shack catalog #28-1098
or
Radio Shack brand Heat Sink Grease*, catalog #276-1372

Any of these will work just fine for the DIS, it's just your choice of how much you want to spend. The important thing is to clean and polish the mating surfaces, and then apply a thin even coat of the compound. This ensures best possible heat transfer.

* Note: they call it grease, but that's a confusing term. It's actually a heat sink compound, one designed to facilitate heat transfer.

 

[hawkeye18]

Arctic Silver 5, Radio Shack catalog # 28-1099
or
Arctic Silver Ceramique, Radio Shack catalog #28-1098
or
Radio Shack brand Heat Sink Grease*, catalog #276-1372

Any of these will work just fine for the DIS, it's just your choice of how much you want to spend. The important thing is to clean and polish the mating surfaces, and then apply a thin even coat of the compound. This ensures best possible heat transfer.

* Note: they call it grease, but that's a confusing term. It's actually a heat sink compound, one designed to facilitate heat transfer.

FWIW, more places sell this stuff than radio shack. I might detect a little bias with the RS placement... but www.newegg.com is usually the cheapest place to buy the stuff.

 

[WTFvolvo]

How much is it?

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

I paid about $15 bucks for the stuff I used. I got it at radio shack

 

[WTFvolvo]

Damn... wtf. There is some stuff already on there, cant I just reuse it?

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

I wouldn't

 

[WTFvolvo]

would a local shop have that stuff?