this is no trade secret. it's not widespread because it's not a permanent fix. the cpu usually starts throwing the same problems again after a few months
We are working on it but are currently experiencing a high volume of repair requests. My team is slightly behind on some of the repairs, but we are doing everything we can to catch up and get everyone's parts fixed asap. The moment we have an update for you we will reach out!
We do a flat rate repair for these because we always perform all repairs for all common faults to ensure we both fix your immediate issue but also resolve any potential faults that could occur in the future before it occurs. Due to the high demand for repairs at this time and since we only have 1 Saab 9-3 vehicle for testing we are pushing the 5 business days turnaround time. For more info, you can check out our website listing below: nickselectronics.com/products/55352688
@NeezyWest Again sorry for some of the delays, we only have 1 vehicle for the live testing. We are working on ways to optimize our testing so it can go faster without taking as long. But we should have your unit fixed very soon. Once the testing is done and faults are confirmed it goes faster from there.
I just sent mine in today! You guys should be receiving it hopefully Saturday 8/3/24! Cant wait for you guys to perform your magic on it! Thank you guys again for all that you do
No problem! Just a quick heads up, we have been getting a surge in repairs recently. We are doing our best to get through all repairs as fast as possible, but given the volume we of parts we have received it seems we may have some small delays with repairs. Updates are however provided as they become available to keep you in the loop as to where we are in the repair process of your unit. Keep an eye out for those.
@Smallenginetech56 Have you received your repaired ECM yet? If so did it solve your issue(s)? Today is 9/10/24 and they received mine on 8/29/24 but I haven't heard anything since. I sent it in for one of my customers cars and he's not happy with me due to the repair time.
@chasruss212r please reach out to us via phone at (520)838-9359 or send us an email directly at info@nickselectronics.com You should have received several emails from us with updates. We always reach out when we first receive the item to confirm we have gotten it, then again after we test it to confirm the error, and again after we complete the repairs. If you have not received any communication from us it is possible that the emails have gone to your spam folder or could have been filtered to the socials tab or even under the promotions tab. If you have not received updates in several days, please reach out to us with your ticket number or order number so we can give you an update on the status of the unit. -Nicholas Arnaud
We have not had to fix those before and are not really set up for them so I would have to say probably not unless you already have some information that could help us diagnose and figure out what this issue is. Knowing what to fix is 90% of the fight. Once we know what we need to do the last 10% is the actual component replacement. After that in terms of testing, we won't be able to do to much since our Saab we use for testing is a 2.0L not 2.8.
I can't give you recommendations for temps and times for reflows, that will vary and depend on your equipment and environment. As for flux, I can recommend Kingbo, or Amtech. Rework station tips, don't buy something cheap for $500, it's worth it to spend the extra $$$ and get something that will actually be consistent and work properly the same way everytime. Consistency is key here.
Actually there is no circuit board. It's film glued to the metal. Yeah I know kind of crazy and only unit I have ever worked on that is designed that way. It presents it's own difficulties.
@@NicksElectronicRepair Very strange. I've seen that type of film used for button circuits in DSLR cameras where it needs to conform to the shape of the camera casing but never on such a complicated circuit like an ECM
I'd like to see you tackle a Chrysler TIPM module. @pinehollowautomotive did one on a few years back (FETs with multiple circuits on the drains). A real weird device.
Yeah I just looked into the Chrysler TIPM modules and it does look like there is a descent amount of demand for those repairs. We haven't yet had a customer bring one in but I am sure it is only a matter of time before we start seeing them.
This is the title of the listing I purchased essentially Car ECU Cover Open Tool Aluminum Alloy Iron ECU Cover Opening Extractor Removal Tool I bought them from Amazon, here is the link: amzn.to/4c9XO0O
Do not attempt this repair at home, we are professionals with almost 30,000 repairs under our belt. We have a lot of experience and while we make it look easy, there is a lot more going on than what you see on screen. Temps are not a one-size-fits-all-all. It would be a bad idea for you to use the same temps we do. Either the temps will be too low and nothing will flow for you or worse the temps might be too high and you will break the device you are trying to fix. You have to fine-tune your own machine and find the sweet spot. Use broken circuit boards that are low value or trash that you don't care about to fine-tune the temp settings. You should not be experimenting and learning how to properly rework a flip chip using this ECM. Once you are confident in your temperatures and can get good results repeatedly on a bad board, then you can start working on a good board you are trying to fix. Again I would recommend you become proficient on low-cost boards, not this ECM.
So it's not a home job but you need specific equipment, good to know before making wrong attempts. One question, changing those chips I think you lose the programming of the control unit, is there no way to download it and then recharge it?
So we are not replacing the processors, we are either reflowing or reballing them. We have found that the processors don't typically fail but instead, it's the solder balls connecting the board to the chips that fail. Now 1 of the chips does have very unique software so you can't really change it, or at least I don't know how to change it with a brand new unprogrammed one. If we ever do have to change it for some reason, then we have to grab one from a donor ECU which we have plenty of. The other processor does not have unique software on it, that one can be replaced with no problem. As for programming both chips can be programmed but that's more of a cloning situation I have a video I will be making regarding that here in the near future.
@@NicksElectronicRepair So it is confirmed that the strong heat in the engine compartment ruins the welding of the control units. In the 4 cylinder it was placed above the engine, in the 6 where less air passes, above the engine and exhaust. Economies of scale, it would have been enough to put them inside the passenger compartment to avoid the problem. Great job, thanks.
Yeah the cracked joints occur from thermal cycles, and of course the more extreme the thermal cycles the more damage will occur. So if it wasn't on the engine these ECU's would probably never fail. Or at least have a way way way lower chance of failure.
@@NicksElectronicRepair I have the 93 V6, for now I have put some spacers to keep it a little detached from the engine, now air passes where it was previously placed on the engine, I also eliminated the catalytic converter in the engine compartment greatly reducing the temperature, the ideal would be to move the control unit inside, but without the diagram of the individual connections I don't want to risk it. Interesting the way you unsolder and solder the pins of the chips, I was convinced that it was done individually for each pin, certain jobs are better left to a professional like you
I am glad you asked. We started fixing these a bit over a year ago, and at first, were only doing the driver IC chip replacement. While that did have some success, it wasn't as good a success rate as we wanted, and we would have some customers with units that would work at first but then after a week or two or after about 100 miles, it would fail again. We found out that the issue wasn't always only the driver IC chip but the processors that we reflow in the video also causing the fault. After reflowing those processors the fault would not reoccur. So now we do both repairs every time and that guarantees repair success every time for long-term results.
@@Cutycats9 So the answer I think you were looking for is no I don't have this vehicle to live test. I have some bench testing tools but the problem with either of those is that we need to run the unit for hours and hundreds of miles to really know for sure if it's fixed. Like I mentioned in my last reply some customers when we would only replace that driver IC chip would report the units working for 100 miles or more and then it would fail. So for us to full test we would have to drive around for hours with each ECM. This would require me to hire a dedicate person that would just drive around all day with each ECM and I would have to increase the repair cost significantly to accommodate for all the additional costs associated with doing that. We only charge $189 for this repair, there is a company that does more testing and repairs these, but their repair price is $600. You could call us the budget repair. We in this instance count on our customers to do that extended testing and we work with them closely if there are any issues. We provide a 1 Year warranty on this repair and do everything to try and resolve everyone's issues as best we can. However as I mentioned now that we have started performing both repairs we have not had any issues reported by any of our customers. With that said, we are always learning. If we find out new information, we will make a new updated video.
@@anttikorhonen1988 So that's a really good question, and the answer is no, we aren't. The reason for this is that we realized that even though we do replace the one we do, it's actually very rarely the actual cause of the failure as we had first believed it was from our prior video before this one. The bad solder connections on the processors are actually the main failure and most common reason for these units to fail. However sometimes the processors can fail, and when that is the case they will need to be replaced. We will be making a follow-up video on this process in the near future actually.
He left out the part that these repairs are almost surgical. Parts are much smaller than this video. Will need magnifying glass or microscope. Pins need to be perfectly lined up & soldered perfectly. Not for amateurs. I took it to several specialists & nobody wanted anything to do with attempting this repair. Oh, & i ended up destroying mine trying this procedure & i have above average mechanical skills & soldering experience.
This means you didn't watch the entire video. We state that that chip actually doesn't fix the unit most of the time. What we do later in the video is what more commonly fixes these units but because that chip can and does fail we still replace it anyways. You should watch the entire video to see what we do to fix these.
Wow first video I've seen showing the 'trade secret' by reflowing the processors. THANK YOU for making this!! will save a lot of Saabs :)
I hope so
this is no trade secret. it's not widespread because it's not a permanent fix. the cpu usually starts throwing the same problems again after a few months
@@nunezmartin7441 why?
I sent mine in and got a email yesterday saying the diagnostic is being done I can’t wait! 🎉
We are working on it but are currently experiencing a high volume of repair requests. My team is slightly behind on some of the repairs, but we are doing everything we can to catch up and get everyone's parts fixed asap.
The moment we have an update for you we will reach out!
@@NicksElectronicRepair How much do you charge and, how long is the estimated repair time?
We do a flat rate repair for these because we always perform all repairs for all common faults to ensure we both fix your immediate issue but also resolve any potential faults that could occur in the future before it occurs. Due to the high demand for repairs at this time and since we only have 1 Saab 9-3 vehicle for testing we are pushing the 5 business days turnaround time.
For more info, you can check out our website listing below:
nickselectronics.com/products/55352688
@@fannie5262 just got a email today that the ECU has been live tested and is in queue to be repaired💓
@NeezyWest
Again sorry for some of the delays, we only have 1 vehicle for the live testing. We are working on ways to optimize our testing so it can go faster without taking as long. But we should have your unit fixed very soon. Once the testing is done and faults are confirmed it goes faster from there.
I just sent mine in today! You guys should be receiving it hopefully Saturday 8/3/24! Cant wait for you guys to perform your magic on it! Thank you guys again for all that you do
No problem!
Just a quick heads up, we have been getting a surge in repairs recently. We are doing our best to get through all repairs as fast as possible, but given the volume we of parts we have received it seems we may have some small delays with repairs.
Updates are however provided as they become available to keep you in the loop as to where we are in the repair process of your unit.
Keep an eye out for those.
@Smallenginetech56
Have you received your repaired ECM yet? If so did it solve your issue(s)? Today is 9/10/24 and they received mine on 8/29/24 but I haven't heard anything since. I sent it in for one of my customers cars and he's not happy with me due to the repair time.
@chasruss212r please reach out to us via phone at (520)838-9359 or send us an email directly at info@nickselectronics.com
You should have received several emails from us with updates. We always reach out when we first receive the item to confirm we have gotten it, then again after we test it to confirm the error, and again after we complete the repairs. If you have not received any communication from us it is possible that the emails have gone to your spam folder or could have been filtered to the socials tab or even under the promotions tab.
If you have not received updates in several days, please reach out to us with your ticket number or order number so we can give you an update on the status of the unit.
-Nicholas Arnaud
Can u repair saab 9-3 2.8t ECUs?
We have not had to fix those before and are not really set up for them so I would have to say probably not unless you already have some information that could help us diagnose and figure out what this issue is. Knowing what to fix is 90% of the fight. Once we know what we need to do the last 10% is the actual component replacement. After that in terms of testing, we won't be able to do to much since our Saab we use for testing is a 2.0L not 2.8.
Added you in favorites, thanks for the video very informative
Awesome! Thank you!
amazing video keep posting!!
Thank you, I will
Also, where do you purchase those "screwdrivers" with the non threaded end that are used to open up the ECU?
Just search for ECU opening tool and it will pop up.
Here is a link to the ones we bought recently:
amzn.to/3Yb5nzG
i have learned good soldering technics.
Glad to hear it!
How long and at what temp do you bake your board before bga reflow? Do you have recommendations on flux, rework station tips?
I can't give you recommendations for temps and times for reflows, that will vary and depend on your equipment and environment.
As for flux, I can recommend Kingbo, or Amtech. Rework station tips, don't buy something cheap for $500, it's worth it to spend the extra $$$ and get something that will actually be consistent and work properly the same way everytime. Consistency is key here.
one question and you have the equipment to program a used computer from a 2008 saab 7-3 2.0 turbo
If the equipment is the same for cloning and programing a 9-3 and 7-3 then yes. Otherwise no.
Interesting that the PCB appears to be flexible rather than a typical solid board, do you think this is for vibration mitigation?
Actually there is no circuit board. It's film glued to the metal. Yeah I know kind of crazy and only unit I have ever worked on that is designed that way. It presents it's own difficulties.
@@NicksElectronicRepair Very strange. I've seen that type of film used for button circuits in DSLR cameras where it needs to conform to the shape of the camera casing but never on such a complicated circuit like an ECM
Yeah it's the first and only one I know that uses it.
I'd like to see you tackle a Chrysler TIPM module. @pinehollowautomotive did one on a few years back (FETs with multiple circuits on the drains). A real weird device.
Yeah I just looked into the Chrysler TIPM modules and it does look like there is a descent amount of demand for those repairs. We haven't yet had a customer bring one in but I am sure it is only a matter of time before we start seeing them.
Thank you. What is the name of the tool you use to open that device? is that kind of punch
This is the title of the listing I purchased essentially
Car ECU Cover Open Tool Aluminum Alloy Iron ECU Cover Opening Extractor Removal Tool
I bought them from Amazon, here is the link:
amzn.to/4c9XO0O
@@NicksElectronicRepair thank you.
no problem
Hello! Thank you for sharing! What kind of flux and temps do you use to reflow the microprocessor?
Do not attempt this repair at home, we are professionals with almost 30,000 repairs under our belt. We have a lot of experience and while we make it look easy, there is a lot more going on than what you see on screen.
Temps are not a one-size-fits-all-all. It would be a bad idea for you to use the same temps we do. Either the temps will be too low and nothing will flow for you or worse the temps might be too high and you will break the device you are trying to fix.
You have to fine-tune your own machine and find the sweet spot. Use broken circuit boards that are low value or trash that you don't care about to fine-tune the temp settings. You should not be experimenting and learning how to properly rework a flip chip using this ECM.
Once you are confident in your temperatures and can get good results repeatedly on a bad board, then you can start working on a good board you are trying to fix. Again I would recommend you become proficient on low-cost boards, not this ECM.
So it's not a home job but you need specific equipment, good to know before making wrong attempts. One question, changing those chips I think you lose the programming of the control unit, is there no way to download it and then recharge it?
So we are not replacing the processors, we are either reflowing or reballing them. We have found that the processors don't typically fail but instead, it's the solder balls connecting the board to the chips that fail.
Now 1 of the chips does have very unique software so you can't really change it, or at least I don't know how to change it with a brand new unprogrammed one. If we ever do have to change it for some reason, then we have to grab one from a donor ECU which we have plenty of.
The other processor does not have unique software on it, that one can be replaced with no problem. As for programming both chips can be programmed but that's more of a cloning situation I have a video I will be making regarding that here in the near future.
@@NicksElectronicRepair So it is confirmed that the strong heat in the engine compartment ruins the welding of the control units. In the 4 cylinder it was placed above the engine, in the 6 where less air passes, above the engine and exhaust. Economies of scale, it would have been enough to put them inside the passenger compartment to avoid the problem. Great job, thanks.
Yeah the cracked joints occur from thermal cycles, and of course the more extreme the thermal cycles the more damage will occur. So if it wasn't on the engine these ECU's would probably never fail. Or at least have a way way way lower chance of failure.
@@NicksElectronicRepair I have the 93 V6, for now I have put some spacers to keep it a little detached from the engine, now air passes where it was previously placed on the engine, I also eliminated the catalytic converter in the engine compartment greatly reducing the temperature, the ideal would be to move the control unit inside, but without the diagram of the individual connections I don't want to risk it. Interesting the way you unsolder and solder the pins of the chips, I was convinced that it was done individually for each pin, certain jobs are better left to a professional like you
:)
how do you know its working ?
I am glad you asked.
We started fixing these a bit over a year ago, and at first, were only doing the driver IC chip replacement. While that did have some success, it wasn't as good a success rate as we wanted, and we would have some customers with units that would work at first but then after a week or two or after about 100 miles, it would fail again. We found out that the issue wasn't always only the driver IC chip but the processors that we reflow in the video also causing the fault. After reflowing those processors the fault would not reoccur. So now we do both repairs every time and that guarantees repair success every time for long-term results.
@@NicksElectronicRepair thanks for the info and keep up you doing a great job i like your videos
@@Cutycats9 So the answer I think you were looking for is no I don't have this vehicle to live test. I have some bench testing tools but the problem with either of those is that we need to run the unit for hours and hundreds of miles to really know for sure if it's fixed. Like I mentioned in my last reply some customers when we would only replace that driver IC chip would report the units working for 100 miles or more and then it would fail. So for us to full test we would have to drive around for hours with each ECM. This would require me to hire a dedicate person that would just drive around all day with each ECM and I would have to increase the repair cost significantly to accommodate for all the additional costs associated with doing that. We only charge $189 for this repair, there is a company that does more testing and repairs these, but their repair price is $600. You could call us the budget repair.
We in this instance count on our customers to do that extended testing and we work with them closely if there are any issues. We provide a 1 Year warranty on this repair and do everything to try and resolve everyone's issues as best we can. However as I mentioned now that we have started performing both repairs we have not had any issues reported by any of our customers.
With that said, we are always learning. If we find out new information, we will make a new updated video.
@@NicksElectronicRepair Aren't you replacing both TPIC -chips at once?
@@anttikorhonen1988 So that's a really good question, and the answer is no, we aren't. The reason for this is that we realized that even though we do replace the one we do, it's actually very rarely the actual cause of the failure as we had first believed it was from our prior video before this one. The bad solder connections on the processors are actually the main failure and most common reason for these units to fail. However sometimes the processors can fail, and when that is the case they will need to be replaced. We will be making a follow-up video on this process in the near future actually.
How much do you charge for this repair?
The listing is linked in the video description
He left out the part that these repairs are almost surgical. Parts are much smaller than this video. Will need magnifying glass or microscope. Pins need to be perfectly lined up & soldered perfectly. Not for amateurs. I took it to several specialists & nobody wanted anything to do with attempting this repair. Oh, & i ended up destroying mine trying this procedure & i have above average mechanical skills & soldering experience.
Yes we don't recommend you try this yourself, this is definitely a very advanced repair, the video is for informational/educational purposes.
Almost $400 just to solder a new chip in that cost about $1 dollar. Thats crazy 😅
This means you didn't watch the entire video. We state that that chip actually doesn't fix the unit most of the time. What we do later in the video is what more commonly fixes these units but because that chip can and does fail we still replace it anyways. You should watch the entire video to see what we do to fix these.