No, it wasn't a dumb question. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask, assuming you aren't overlooking something sitting right in front of your nose.


So to answer the question you edited out, within reason it doesn't matter how long the legs on the capacitor are. Although keeping the cans snug down near the board is easy to do. Just make sure you leave a little space between the bottom of the can and the board.

 

I assumed a the board would need to be soldered from both sides but i guess with proper technique it can be done from the back. I think I'll bust open a old VCR and practice up first.

 

Quality boards are thru-plated. If the hole the component is soldered into connects traces from different levels, or from front to back, the hole will have a coating of tin in it. When you solder from the back the solder will wick up the component leg and the tin within the hole to fill the hole completely. It's quite easy and really no different than single sided boards. The real problem comes when somebody cheaps out and doesn't tin the hole, but I can't image Ford doing that.

A junk VCR is great practice. Don't bother with any surface mounted components unless you're just curious. You'll need some solder wick or a solder sucker to get rid of the hot solder when removing components. Practice and have fun.

 

Old vcr for couple of practice runs first yes very good idea, I replaced the caps on a old computer board first run.

I used solder wick/tape for the stepper motors in the wifes cluster (unbelievable pain in the rear, couple legs on those caps are nothing by comparison). Based on what I've seen and read a solder vac does appear to be a much better option however after thinking on it next time I think I try shot of compressed air to blow it away (testing it first of course on something doesn't matter).
Corrected the no odometer readout on my buddies Navigator (common issue with em), reflow connections to cluster, add touch of solder as needed.

Anyway wanted to mention don't use a big ole solder gun most of us tend to have in the garage, to much gun one of them will be way to hot. Use a low wattage solder iron instead.

Cheap just about anywhere.





Use rosin core solder and then lightly clean area with damp rag, don't use any kinda acid core solder.

I looked it up first and went with 40/60 rosin core (40% tin 60% lead), very thin stuff 1/16" diameter. Nope and can't use that huge stuff we all tend have around use to sweat copper pipe with!
It worked great allows for minimum time with heat applied flow in to make nice joints actually requires no cleaning. What I mean is it won't tend to harm anything if don't, very little used if do it right so a non issue IMO, damp rag wipe it only takes a second or two regardless but if don't no biggie based on what I read.

Anyway yea worse part is getting the old piece off leaving the holes in the board clear of solder, once got it to that point soldering the new caps on goes easy/quick.

 

Yes, a solder vac is easier.

No, do NOT use compressed air to blow away the melted solder. First, and most important is a personal safety aspect. Using compressed air to blow away a molten metal is not really a very good idea. If you really must, use a full face shield, not just safety glasses. But better yet, just don't. The other reason is that you may accidentally blow bits of solder in to other areas or components of the board without noticing. They could then create solder bridges shorting components and further damaging the board.

 

Got my capacitors and solder sucker ordered today. I was marking the leads on the back of the board and noticed some grime on the front side. Turns out a resistor is partially burned.

Not sure how important that is? It is still intact. I'd go ahead and replace it but I can't read the colors. Can't tell orange from red, brown from gold. Every resistor seems to have different variations of each color. Oh well, if I foul it up I guess I still have a core.

 

If a resistor looks burnt it should be replaced, even if it measures within spec. You could try measuring it to get in the ballpark, the exact value might not be super critical. It might give enough clue if you can read some of the bands.

 

Yup, the resistor is important. If it's burned bad enough you can't tell the colors it's probably toast. But you never know. Since you've already ordered stuff you can try it and see. And as you pointed out, you still have it as a core.

 

Well the only band missing is the tolerance. All the other resistors have gold so I'm going with gold. After testing all the other resistors and doing the math it appears that their are no orange bands just lighter shades of red. Also what I thought was dark green is black. So what I'm left with is a red black red gold. Now I need a beer.

Thank you guys for the advice.

 

Way to go!

Now, here you go

 

Still waiting on parts. Just for the heck of it I got a computer out of a buddies f250 parts truck. Definitely different # ' s. Put it in and my truck started fine. Just idles at 2 grand and has very little power at take off.

Just wondering if it's safe to use this ecm to get my truck in and out of the shop till I get mine straightened out?

 

Got everything done. Replaced all the capacitors and the burnt resistor. Drove about 70 miles over the last couple days and checked the resistor still looks good. Truck runs great.

$3.00 in parts.
$18.00 for solder, iron, and sucker.

 

Being self sufficient... priceless

Congrats.

 

Congratulations on your repair!! That's so cool to see that you fixed it. Due to your question I looked up how to replace capacitors in case I need to do the same some day. Thank you for your question, it's given me the confidence to tackle the job if I ever face the same thing myself.