90's Ford ECM/ECU Capacitor Plague?

[ronclark]

I was watching Sarah-n-Tuned 94 ford ranger ECU problems. The Mega Squirt plug-in play swap is cool but really expensive, I am betting out of reach of a lot of members.
I have been on this forum for years and I don't remember reading anything about the 90's capacitor plague on Ford ECU/ECU. Did Ford really caught in the capacitor plague?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yup, every now and again come by ones that popped and the topic has come up before

 

[ronclark]

Yup, every now and again come by ones that popped and the topic has come up before

Ones and Two I have never seen it as a big problem just the way things go as they age. I have made several board repairs from that era mostly electrolytic capacitors that failed after a year or two of service.
Well something to check on my 94 mustang and my 4.0L 93 ECU swap that been having a strange underload misfire I not been able to solve

 

[JoshT]

I was watching Sarah-n-Tuned 94 ford ranger ECU problems. The Mega Squirt plug-in play swap is cool but really expensive, I am betting out of reach of a lot of members.
I have been on this forum for years and I don't remember reading anything about the 90's capacitor plague on Ford ECU/ECU. Did Ford really caught in the capacitor plague?

While I like what she did on the truck, you've got to remember that it is a YouTube channel. She makes her money off producing content. Doing an ECU swap to MEgasquirt is going to produce more content and garner more views than repairing/replacing a few capacitors on the factory ECU.

Honestly I can't blame her for doing the swap even if fixing the factory ecu was feasible. Given advancements in EFI technology the megasquirt is a lot more capable unit than factory. Megasquirt on it's own isn;t that expensive to get into, atleast not the older DIY kind. The unit she installed is made by a third party, stinger performance engineering, and modified to plug iun place of the early ford ECUs. To buy a new one now is around $900, but the one she installed looked to be a used older version to me, and they are much more affordable like that.

Add to this the fact that most people who would put that much effort into a vehicle that age are also interested in possibly tuning the engine. That makes Megasquirt based solution even more enticing. One of the biggest names in tuning those older Fords is Moates, they have pretty much been the go to for tuning hardware for them for quite a while since most others have moved onto newer platforms and left these old work horses behind. Well Moates closed their doors this month, apparently they haven't been able to sell much for a while due to supply chain issues (the whole chip shortage thing). Rather than creating an inferior product they decided that they had done enough and it was time to go out on a high note.

Given the cost of getting a ECU replaced or repaired for those that can't do it themselves ($$$) and the cost of a tuning solution ($$$), spending a little more on a used PnP MS unit makes sense. That said, if you're going to build a DIY MS (if they are even still available somewhere) you've got the skills to repair your ECU for a lot less.

 

[19Walt93]

ECU and ECM are GM speak, Ford called them processors in the EEC I-IV days and we replaced very very few of them. I'd look up the capacitor fix on this site and do that before replacing mine(if I had one), unless you want a different tune.
I worked on a 351 swapped 57 T Bird with aftermarket injection run by an EEC IV processor with a TwEECer unit cut into the side of it. I ran like a bear until he jump started it backwards.

 

[ronclark]

While I like what she did on the truck, you've got to remember that it is a YouTube channel. She makes her money off producing content. Doing an ECU swap to MEgasquirt is going to produce more content and garner more views than repairing/replacing a few capacitors on the factory ECU.

Honestly I can't blame her for doing the swap even if fixing the factory ecu was feasible. Given advancements in EFI technology the megasquirt is a lot more capable unit than factory. Megasquirt on it's own isn;t that expensive to get into, atleast not the older DIY kind. The unit she installed is made by a third party, stinger performance engineering, and modified to plug iun place of the early ford ECUs. To buy a new one now is around $900, but the one she installed looked to be a used older version to me, and they are much more affordable like that.

Add to this the fact that most people who would put that much effort into a vehicle that age are also interested in possibly tuning the engine. That makes Megasquirt based solution even more enticing. One of the biggest names in tuning those older Fords is Moates, they have pretty much been the go to for tuning hardware for them for quite a while since most others have moved onto newer platforms and left these old work horses behind. Well Moates closed their doors this month, apparently they haven't been able to sell much for a while due to supply chain issues (the whole chip shortage thing). Rather than creating an inferior product they decided that they had done enough and it was time to go out on a high note.

Given the cost of getting a ECU replaced or repaired for those that can't do it themselves ($$$) and the cost of a tuning solution ($$$), spending a little more on a used PnP MS unit makes sense. That said, if you're going to build a DIY MS (if they are even still available somewhere) you've got the skills to repair your ECU for a lot less.

Oh, I completely understand where she is coming from; I imagine is much easier to tune an MS than old Ford systems and get way more views.
That's sad big names in tuning are closing their doors, but I guess with everything over the last few years it is hard to keep businesses running.

My question was more is there a real problem, it sounds more like age is getting to these old systems, and is somewhat easy to fix up.
one day when I have more money I would love to tune my truck, I recently got some tuned chips for my 92 Volvo 740T I'll say that sure woke up that car big time

 

[JoshT]

I wouldn't say that it has been a big problem yet, but as they age it will become more and more common. That is going to happen to any electronics with electrolytic capacitors as they age, and that includes most 80s and 90s EFI electronics. Unfortunately that is a fact of life.

Another problem is how these parts are remanufactured. You might be able to go purchase a remanufactured ECU/ECM/EEC/Processor (any more I missed?) at the local parts store, but that isn't going to mean it's good. The remanufacturer is going to inspect the unit, replace any obviously defective components (aka bulged/leaking capacitors), slap a label on it and send it back out. There may be bad capacitors that weren't visually defective, or more may have gone bad between then and when you purchase it.

 

[superj]

i say get the megasquirt!!

when i did one, probably 15 years ago because ms2 had just come out, it was awesome to build. its adult sized legos because you get a box with all these bags of little electronic parts in them and you have to follow the directions to solder it all together. it took me about a week of doing two hours each day after work. but, i was forging a new path around here and wasn't computer knowledgeable enough to actually get the car to run so i had to undo all the stuff i did to my bmw to run it and a supercharger. the guy i sold it to plugged it into his volvo wagon and it started right up because he knew about computers and changed some settings.

now they self tune which eliminates the problem i had but i no longer have the bmw or the supercharger stuff so....

 

[Danny74]

Sorry to ask this question two and a half years later, but I was just looking for things to do to a 4.0. What exactly did Sarah do to the 4.0 engine where it required a tune, I'm sure she did headers and intake but what else is there that you can do to the OHV 4.0? Did she do a cam, bigger injectors ... anything else I missed?

 

[JoshT]

Sorry to ask this question two and a half years later, but I was just looking for things to do to a 4.0. What exactly did Sarah do to the 4.0 engine where it required a tune, I'm sure she did headers and intake but what else is there that you can do to the OHV 4.0? Did she do a cam, bigger injectors ... anything else I missed?

Main thing that she did was replace the factory ECU with a Megasquirt ECU. The Megasquirt is universal and requires tuning to accommodate the engine.

IIRC other than the ECU it was a pretty stock rebuild/restoration, i think her goal was OE+, but it has been a couple of years now since I watched those. Her main reason for replacing the ECU was a perceived issue with capacitors or something on stock one. Personally I think the bigger reason is that she likes fiddling with that kind of stuff and was looking for any excuse to do it. If you watch, almost all of the older stuff she builds gets some sort of ECU swap.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

From my research if you like to fiddle, MS is perfect for you.

 

[SenorNoob]

I wanna do one with a junkyard turbo. But I know I'd overdo it somehow and break things...

 

[ummduh]

EFI Source also sells a microsquirt with an eec-iv adapter cable pre-wired.

The micro is more than capable of running most beginners toys, and it less expensive than the stinger while being just a little more work. I was running my 5.0l turbo with one and it did great, I just ran out of I/o really. You can also pair it to another micro for auto transmission control depending on which transmission you have.

MicroSquirt® for 1986-93 Ford 5.0 Mustang – EFI Source

EFI Source supplies Goldbox, MegaSquirt, MicroSquirt, LS, Hemi, Harness, and other programmable EFI systems and products o the performance minded automotive community.

www.efisource.com

There's nothing stopping you from repinning their adapter to work for basically any eec-iv Ford.

I had a pimpXShift (ms3x + micro module for trans control) for a while and it was a great piece of hardware, but it is definitely a bit pricey.

 

[superj]

Nice /\

 

[97RangerXLT]

if you know which capacitors are bad and can work a soldering iron, you can order new caps from Mouser Electronics for few dollars (maybe even cents depending on the cap) and pay 8 bucks to ship them to you lol. replace them yourself and have a working factory ecu. I have had pretty good luck reviving dead electronics this way.

AJ