Car ECU Electrolytic Capacitors Leak/Burn/Dies
Posted on Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 at 3:55 pmThis is also a very important preventive maintenance, especially ECU (Electronic Computer Unit) over than 15 years, when the capacitor face a lifespan issue cause by temperatures and ripple currents, electrolyte leaked and will damage your beloved ECU, the most terrible disaster is, your car will stop automatically and your mood change dramatically.
I attached the bad capacitor on the Honda’s ECU that I collected from Mr. WWW, this will happen to your ECU too, it is only a matter of time, so, beware!
Scary enough? The solution is simple, replace all the electrolytic capacitor that available on your ECU board. But, make sure you buy the right and quality replacement, especially the capacitance value (µF), the voltage is not critical, as long is higher than spec, for example, if your spec is 10µF 10v, you also could use 10µF 35v or 50v, this also will give you advantage, cause usually, the higher voltage rate, the higher durability but also come with the big size dimension.
Today I will replace electrolytic capacitor on my Honda 37820-P30-901 ECU (not all P30 series Honda ECU have same capacitor number/location) , I did do original parts (Nichicon PR Series) and replacement parts comparison that I could get from Element14, I sort all the best to find the very best, this is the final list, which is stock available;
Note : N = Nichicon, R = Rubycon, P = Panasonic
| Model (Series) | N PR | R ZLJ | N PR | R ZLJ |
| capacitance value (µF) | 220 | 220 | 100 | 100 |
| Voltage Value | 35v | 50v | 35v | 35v |
| Case Size (DxL) | 10×12.5 | 10×16 | 8×11.5 | 6.3×11 |
| Impedance | 0.24 | 0.053 | 0.5 | 0.17 |
| Allowable Ripple | 325 | 1650 | 190 | 700 |
| Load Life (hours ) | 2000 | 10 000 | 1000 | 7000 |
| Location on Board | C27 | C27 | C94 | C94 |
| Order Code (Element14) | NA |
2102453 |
NA |
1831279 |
| Model (Series) | N PR | P FC Type A | N PR | N HE |
| capacitance value (µF) | 47 | 47 | 220 | 220 |
| Voltage Value | 10v | 10v | 10v | 10v |
| Case Size (DxL) | 5×11 | 4×11 | 6.3×11 | 6.3×11 |
| Impedance | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.58 | 0.22 |
| Allowable Ripple | 75 | 120 | 180 | 340 |
| Load Life (hours ) | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Location on Board | C36 | C36 | C31 | C31 |
| Order Code (Element14) | NA |
1848416 |
NA |
1823627 |
| Model (Series) | N PR | N HE S | N PR | N HE |
| capacitance value (µF) | 33 | 33 | 100 | 100 |
| Voltage Value | 35v | 35v | 10v | 10v |
| Case Size (DxL) | 5×11 | 5×11 | 5×11 | 5×11 |
| Impedance | 1.9 | 0.58 | 1.9 | 0.58 |
| Allowable Ripple | 85 | 210 | 100 | 210 |
| Load Life (hours ) | 1000 | 5000 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Location on Board | C32,C28 | C32,C28 | C34 | C34 |
| Order Code (Element14) | NA |
1823672 |
NA |
1823624 |
For references:
Good Capacitor Series
Listed from left to right, good to best:
- Rubycon: YXG, YXH, ZL, ZA (disc.), ZLH, ZLG, MBZ (disc.), MCZ
- Panasonic: FM, FK, HFQ (disc.), FC, FA
- Nichicon: HZ, HE, HD, HV, PW, PM, PL
- Sanyo OS-CON: WX, WG, SVP, SEP, SC, SL, SVPA, SVPC, SEPC, SPA, SP, SA
- Chemicon: KY, KZE, KLH, KZG, KZH, KZJ
- Unicon: KGM, KXM, KEM
OK, stop with the technical data, if you have skill to soldering, you will save some paper on your wallet, otherwise, you could borrow somebody skill, just DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE POLARITY.
The targets
The parts
The tools
Done!
This is the first time I wrote other than oil leakage, current leakage also could be dangerous, didn’t see, silent, until it appear, like a ghost! Will scare you until your wallet is leakage too…
