colbywan Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Okay, well I decide to take the family on a little up in the mountains excursion using with our little pup (pop up trailer). I did everything I thought I could do to prepare for an mild off road trip. I changed the oil, put better tires up front, had the alignment fixed (again!!), got the truck inspected and passed emissions blah blah blah, checked all fluids, changed the air filter, filler her up with PREMIUM, and I even washed the ol girl. So I thought everything was golden. I decided since it was my first trip with the pup I had better take a bunch of tools for whatever I could foresee ya know. Everything is going great, the truck is towing better than normal. We get to the cabin camp for a night drop the trailer and decide to run to town for some baby stuff. On our way back about half way up the dirt road to the cabin while driving over a real bad washboard the truck just dies. Great no phone service here either. I start trying to eliminate the possible issues. First I check all fuses. They're all great. Then I check for spark, seems like there isn't any at all. I decided to check for fuel pressure too just for the heck of it and that definitely wasn't the problem. So I started thinking, hmm what could cause a lack of spark. The coil gone bad or what? Then I realized this fowl smell emanating from the cabin coming from directly under the passenger front seat. Uh oh that doesn't smell good, it smells just like burnt electronics and if any of you have ever smelled this it is VERY distinct and unmistakable. And we all know what resides under the front passenger seat, the ECU. So by now my wife and 11 month old baby have just been picked up by some very nice folks to be take back to camp (no phone service) and to get help from the fam. I decided since I'm stuck might as well take the seat out and see if I can see anything obviously wrong with the computer. Nope I can't see a thing except that I am now 100% positive that that is where the smell is coming from. By now a couple uncles show up and tow me back up the hill to camp, there I decide to delve deeper into the heart of the ECU and this is what I found. A fried resistor!! Oh shi#!! You'll never in a million years guess why there is a fried resistor either. Well I'll tell ya, a long long long time ago I noticed that the little toggle switch used to check and clear codes half of it kind of fell off or for some reason went missing. I had no idea it fell inside. It must've had the perfect storm of bounces from the washboardy road sending it flying right into the perfect spot to short out the ECU. I think it landed on one half of that load resistor and the other half of a diode that has a + connector right by it. Anyways that is what happened causing the ECU to stop functioning all together. So now I'm thinking I am really screwed. The truck is dead, I'm up here a couple hundred miles away with the family and a pup trailer. I mean talk about weird luck, the ECU basically fried itself I mean that piece had been in there forever ya know. So I'm thinking about how to get a new ECU and how to get one fast so I didn't miss work on Monday and I'm coming up blank. So I thought well maybe there's a possibility I can fix it? So I rip it out of the truck and start tinkering. I thought hmm I wonder if I could just jump a wire over the burnt part and at least get it running I mean what's the worst that could happen, fry the ECU worse?? So I cut a piece of wire from the trailer and splice it in the bypass the burnt part put the ECU back under the seat and get in then VIOLA! It FREAKING WORKED! No way, I can't believe that I actually got it running lol. Isn't that crazy?? That it actually was okay with bypassing the part it fried I mean I could've been so much more effed. So I ended up driving it all the way back and for 3 days til I got a new one lol! In fact I can't tell any difference what so ever, although i'm sure this isn't a permanent fix. I would imagine it would eventually fail due to the over voltage from the lack of load resistor. Here's a couple pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Did you get a whole new ECU, or actually replace just the resistor in your old one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbywan Posted July 29, 2010 Author Share Posted July 29, 2010 Did you get a whole new ECU, or actually replace just the resistor in your old one? I had contemplated getting only a new resistor but the circuit board looks pretty burnt and the resistor is far to burned to read what ohm and watt it was. I figured I'd get a new ECU and keep this one as a back up. -Colby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jj big shoe Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 You've definately earned the MacGyver Attaboy Award of the week. Good job, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmoore4512 Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Yes I agree with JJ, you da man award coming your way!! Good to know... Very intuitive.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 Well done, love the ingenuity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lint Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 BRILLIANT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmoore4512 Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 I am going to have to put my butane soldering iron/flux/solder back in my portable tool kit... Again...WOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 time to tune the ECU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 I had contemplated getting only a new resistor but the circuit board looks pretty burnt and the resistor is far to burned to read what ohm and watt it was. I figured I'd get a new ECU and keep this one as a back up. -Colby Cool, open the new one and read the resistor in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbywan Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 Thanks for all the support fellas! I'd like to think that anyone of us in that same scenario would've done the same thing. Tungsten - Great idea, I had thought of that as a possibility as well. GG - I will do just that as soon as I get back from Alaska. I'm leaving tomorrow @ 3 for a week long fishing excursion. I'm so excited I can't even tell ya. -Colby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olddirtyrake Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 My ECU fried exactly the same way. Tab broke off and fried the whole deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbywan Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 My ECU fried exactly the same way. Tab broke off and fried the whole deal. Are you serious?? The round aluminum dial used to adjust the computer broke just like mine, wow what a coincedence! I would've thought it was a one in a million thing there but I guess more like a 2 in a million haha. How did you fix it, just replace ECU? -Colby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashjt Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebrick Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Is this something that happens all the time on pathfinders or is it somthing that happens in 1 of every 10 pathfinders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Never heard of it before, so don't worry. I just read this and good job zombie killer!!! (I now have a mental image of you as Woodie Harrelson in Zombieland) B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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