So in the process of installing my Rtek I either over-heated the board, or touched something I shouldn't have. Lesson learned .
However, didn't realize this till after I tried to use the ECU with the Rtek chip installed. Since the Rtek chip was not in the socket during installation, will it still be ok even though I tried to use it in the bad ECU? It didn't smoke, or overheat or anything, just all the solenoids in the engine went crazy and it wouldn't start.

I've tried calling digital tuning this morning a few times with no answer.

My main concern is I fubar'd the chip as well, and I'm not sure if putting a possibly bad Rtek chip in the new ECU I just got will cause problems.

My gut says I'll be ok, but over the last few days, my gut has gotten me in loads of trouble with this car. So maybe some good Karma is coming my way??

 

so you had the 2.0 and they sent you the 2.1 chip? what do you mean the rtek chip was not in teh socket during installation? You did pull the ecu out of teh car before you swapped chips, correct?

 

Sorry, forgot to clarify. It's an Rtek 1.7. You solder the socket into the board first. It's during this process I believe I did something wrong to the ECM. After the "damage" was done, then I plugged the chip in and tried to use the ECU (I was unaware at the time the ECU was toast).

I'm hoping the chip itself is still good....

 

I did the self install on the 1.5 and didn't have any problems. You do have to be careful when playing with circuit boards and circuitry. When removing the 'chip' did you pull up any traces? Or did some solder get on the traces causing a 'short'? Did you swap the Jumper?

I used a 'good' soldering iron, nice and hot, and gotta work as fast as possible to not transfer too much heat, and use a solder sucker to remove the solder from the pins. Gently push on the pins to see if they are free and go 1 by one till it falls out.

Good luck!

 

If he removed a solder pad or a trace, that can be easily fixed with a jumper wire. Since this is 1980's technology, I doubt it caused permanent damage, they tend to be pretty resilient to screw ups like that, unless something gets shorted out.

Hell, one time, I put the wrong bios CMOS into an old K2 AMD motherboard, and it fried the CPU instantly. I bought a new CPU and put in the correct CMOS and wammo, it worked flawlessly until it died a few years later. Hell, I have Dual processor PII mobo and scsi array used as a file server still chugging along here in my home office and the drives and associated parts are from circa 1997.

 

i also did my 1.5 install. Maybe your chip holder isnt securely soldered in? Id go over it a few times.

Tell us what makes you think you messed it up? did you bridge any solder points? Have you tried popping in the original chip to see if it works?

 

Well, when I turned the key on, the CEL went crazy, flashing on and off really erratically, and a few of the solenoids in the engine made some HORRIBLE noise. And the car didn't want to start.
I did find one solder path I mistakenly grazed with the iron, but I fixed it with a small jumper. Other than than, I'm not sure what else I did. Checked for cold joints, bridges, etc.
I even plugged the old stock chip back in, and it behaved the same. Hence why I assumed the ECU got mucked up.
The only thing I can think of, is perhaps I over-heated the board (although I thought I did a pretty good job of not doing that), or the solder sucker accidentally poo'd out some of the dried solder over the board and I didn't notice. Causing a short.

My main concern at this point is the Rtek chip itself. I already have a working ECU, and it has a knightsport chip in it already, so all I have to do is remove that chip, and plug the new Rtek in. No soldering needed. So I wanted to make sure that the Rtek chip wouldn't cause problems if it was damaged by being powered up in the bad ECU.

 

probably alright. do it.. though you could probably slang that knightsports ecu on ebay, but even a stock ecu goes for about the same amount. lol

Sell the knightsports chip on ebay lol

 

Whats the chip worth??

 

I'll just plug the chip in, see what happens. I have a feeling I'll be ok.