I have 2 cars with "leaking" ECUs. I know that here in the south they tend to loose thier potting compound over time. My question is Ive always heard this means they are going bad, is this true? Does anyone else have this trouble? IS there a good way to clean that stuff off the engine bay? I have a New never installed one that is leaking as well...WTF
Thanks
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

Ambient temperature (South vs. North) should not influence ECU potting. The stuff only melts if it is of very low quality, or if the ECU is running too hot — in which case yeah, it means the ECU's living on borrowed time. What brand of ECU are you seeing this melting in?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Bad potting. The ones I saw that drooled tend to do this. The ones that got overheated or burned up had charred or cracked potting.

I tried to heat the good, like epoxy-based high voltage, potting to try to melt it, did not get it to melt.

Rubber, absolutely, they MELT if the orginal mix was bad to begin with. YUCK.

Cheers, Wizard

Dan
1 is a Mopar Branded from 1974 the other is about 7 years old, unknown auto parts store brand. 3rd one is new never mounted Advance Auto unit.
All are "good working units" but ya just cant trust them
I used to work with potted PCBs some was easyer to get off than others. But ours ALWAYS burned a black spot if bad, not melted.
Is there a check to find out if its bad and just still running. Other than the obvious (car quits) what are the rammafactions of running a leaking unit??
Wizard I have heard of units that dont work right out of the box.
Thanks
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

I've had a couple of old OEM one's that sat on a shelf start to ooze... but that year the outside temp was 100+ in the summer, and they were on the top shelf in an enclosed shed...

Haven't seen a Standard unit do this yet...thankfully...

-D.idiot

It was REALLY hot this last summer here 105+ for several months. Couple that with direct sun on the cars. OUCH.
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

I have seen them run for years in a daily driver oozing. Both the factory Mopar and aftermarket, voltage regulators too. I have never found a way to clean it up without damaging the paint underneath. With any "ecu" I would carry a spare. My old Road Runner used to "eat" ecu's regularly and I always carried 2 spares, and a points distributor at all times. Just my experience.


TopHat

Thanks TopHat
I also carry a spare and a resistor, etc. I found out that you need to check your spares too.
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered