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Old 12-02-2001, 11:53 PM
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red 69 red 69 is offline
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Angry ECU meltdown?

I have an orange box on my 408 stroker. The engine starts popping and carrying on at around 4000 rpm under load. I pulled the ECU off of the firewall and the gooey stuff in the back had melted and started to run towards the bottom. Is this what happens to a bad ECU or is this caused by something else in the system?
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Old 12-03-2001, 01:12 PM
Mr. Trans Am Mr. Trans Am is offline
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Sounds like it overheated. Move the new box to a different spot. My Challenger has a bracket that holds it away from the firewall but it was on the car and I've never seen one b4, looks factory. I've had ECU boxes fail but never in the way you described. My only thoughts are moving it and also run a ground wire from the box straight to the battery. If the box loses ground it will cause all sorts of weird stuff. I had a "mystery problem" but have never had it again on any of my Mopars after grounding the box. Overkill yes, but I don't like walking.
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Old 12-03-2001, 01:32 PM
Jims451 Jims451 is offline
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How much engine heat was the box exposed to?
Or was this an electrical melt-down?
If it was electrical, make sure the charging system is not putting out too much voltage. I think it should be around 13.5 to 14.0 volts?
Also, is there a specific location the potting material melted from? I would suspect the internal current limiting resistor for the voltage regulator inside the box is what overheated? The power transistor and heat sink should be able to dissipate a good amount of heat from the coil/ballast resistor circuit, unless the box is mounted too close to engine heat?
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Old 12-03-2001, 02:00 PM
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red 69 red 69 is offline
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It's a 69 Barracuda and I had the box mounted directly onto the top passengerside corner of the firewall. It should have been free from engine heat. Good point about the alternator voltage. I will check that and also make a bracket to move the ECU away from the firewall so it can get some more air.
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Old 12-03-2001, 02:02 PM
Rug_Trucker Rug_Trucker is offline
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It is a common thing to see voltage regulators do this. Somrthing goes bad inside and you see the goo running down the firewall . New regulator and all is well. Probably the same for the ECU.
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