Hi everyone. Can anyone recommend a repair service for my ECM please? Preferably in the UK. Its the old chestnut with the LJA 1410 AK module. Changed everything but still have the same problem. Also, if anyone has one of these modules and want's to sell it, I'm interested.
Thanks

 

I see this post was created in 2015 and no doubt you have resolved the issue by now. I am actually looking to get my ECM tested and repaired in the U.K. and it's the same Part no. as yours. Can you tell me where you got yours done and your overall impression please
Cheers

 

Hi. I actually fixed the problem myself in the end. I did quite a lot of research and found that the main problem with the ECMs with the part number starting LJA was the radial capacitors on the board had a tendency to leak electrolyte onto the board which eats the tracts on the board. I was lucky. The board was ok, even though four out of the six caps were leaking and it did look a bit of a mess. I just took all the values off the side of the caps and ordered them, then replaced them myself. After all, I had nothing to lose as the price of a second hand replacement these days is getting on for £1000 and you're just buying an ECM that's just as old as the one you have!
The symptoms I had was that the engine would run fine from cold, then after ten mins it would try to almost stall. It then ticked over on just four cylinders. I can't remember the exact code that the OBD reader came up with but it related to an ignition failure on bank 2. I swapped a couple of coil packs and replaced both the coils on the bulkhead behind the throttle body but got the same fault, so I went on to the ECM.
I contacted several companies to see if I could get the ECM checked out but none of the four companies would touch it saying they had had them in the past but were unable to do anything with them. If you need any more info or pictures just let me know. Good luck with it. Steve

 

Fantastic and glad to hear you fixed it yourself. Your problem is identical to mine, car runs fine when started for a few minutes then poor performance light comes on and it drops power to one bank on the engine. I have a few other ECU repair shops to contact today and I'll see how that goes and get some quotes but if this is an issue I can repair myself I may have a go providing you could help guide me in the right direction. I just built my own home pc but I didn't have to install new capacitors on the motherboard so that's all a bit new to me.
I did have the ECM open and looked into the motherboard with a magnifying light but I was looking for burnt out areas.
If you have any old pictures from your repair work it would be a big help.
Thanks in advance and thanks for getting back to me.
Regards
Stephen Paul

 

You'd need to be good at soldering (and unsoldering) - don't learn on your PCM!

The main suspects are the electrolytic (capacitors) - pics available on the net but as I say don't learn on your vital module.

 

I had an in depth conversation with one of the module repair companies located in the states and he detailed that for the ECM in these first and second year XK8's all he would do is to replace the capacitors.

I believe it is within the skillset of someone who can follow a youtube tutorial.

 

Mmmm. Not unless, as JagV8 says, that someone is competent with a soldering iron. The pcbs are high quality but not indestructible. Perhaps an established radio/electronics service tech?

For reference, here are the replacement Nichicon part #s and potential sources:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...6/#post1806456

I imagine that the repair companies don't have access to the proprietary module schemas so will be somewhat limited in what they can address.

 

I am really **** with a soldering iron but i wouldn't be bashful to do this job.

Be careful, go slow, it will be fine.


If you are really and truly afraid of the job, take it in to any electronics repair company, even a mom and pop should be able to just replace bad capacitors.



EDIT: You really think these PCB's are high quality? I have thought them to be the worst that I have ever come across.

 

I replaced all the caps in my ECU a couple of months ago and I bought them from four different places in the UK. Took a couple of weeks to track them all down but I got there. A couple of the originals looked ok and were not leaking but I replaced them anyway. The board was in a bad way and looked quite messy. The electrolyte had got under the clear coating on the board and I was very careful in cleaning it all off before fitting the new caps. If left, this can cause corrosion on the board, then you would need a specialist to recover the tracks I would think.

Of course, this sort of work is not everyone's cup of tea and some people get TV repair shops to change them but its probably the only way to get a fix for a problem that will creep up on some of the early cars. The price of these ECMs is getting quite high. I saw one go for £500 on ebay last week (buy it now) and there are others on there for over £1000 most on a non return basis and they are the same age as the one you have that doesn't work, so be careful?

 

IMO indeed:- multi-layer fibreglass, plated-through holes..

Apologies for straying OT: curious - what are you comparing them with?

 

Pass me the scalpel.



I prefer the Dirty Harry philosophy:




Graham

 

Thank you everybody for your help and encouragement. I have opened it up this evening and found the culprit. One leaking capacitor, I removed the capacitor and have just order isopropyl alcohol to try and clean it up. Looks and kinda feels like it's burn on . Unsure if that is normal or not but I'm going to have a go at this myself.

 

That was a great help michealh thanks.

 

You might try a water-moistened cloth or Q-tip to remove the residue as the vomited electrolyte may well be water-based/soluble. It doesn't appear to have progressed too far, but the lacquer coating will likely come off in the affected area. Just go gently.

Getting the old ones out is the hardest part, as you need enough heat to melt the solder all the way through the hole without causing damage to the board. One of these solder suckers:

will make the job much easier as you need to clear the holes ready to receive the new leads. (I prefer this type over the 'tube & piston' mechanical things or the terminally useless braid). Work on one lead at a time and try to 'rock' the component out. Again, go easy and work quickly or you risk lifting the track. Do replace all seven, as the others will surely follow the leaking one, and they're just - well - old.

Be aware that they are polarity-conscious so note the orientation of the ones you remove. They make quite good miniature grenades if you don't.

If you haven't done this before, please practise on an old piece of electronic junk first. These early X100 ECMs are getting pretty rare and there's no crossover donors from the X308 as there is for later ones. They're not making any more either unless Heritage steps in and even my imagination would be stretched by what they might cost.

Apologies if this seems like teaching Grandma to suck eggs, but what you have looks eminently salvageable.

Good luck & please report back.

 

Again, Michael H., brilliant help and encouragment, thank you.

 

The two areas which will complicate long term survival of the XK8/XKR are trim and electronic modules. With trim, Jaguar set replacement parts at ridiculous unit cost from the outset and dropped almost everything from inventory in ten years or less. With electronic modules, unless aftermarket repair specialists can develop and sustain their businesses, even high levels of skill and ingenuity of enthusiast owners won't be able to recover from module failures.

You look to have got off about as lightly as possible with the damage to your ECM and I wish you the best of luck with the repair.

Graham

 

Update
As I have never cleaned one of these I am leary of over clening and wearing aware the track or trace. I have been using a combination of Isopropyl Alcohol and cotton Qtips and interdental micro pipecleaners. As you can see from the picture I have removed most of the electrolite mess. So... is this clean enough or does every bit of the black electrolite need to be removed? Also what about the delaminated area what happens with that? Again,many many thanks to all who have helped me thus far. Great thread Steve4ltr

 

The lacquer has come off as expected with the effects of the electrolyte and the isopropyl. Good news is the tracks don't appear to have been eaten away so you've caught it in time.

Give the highlighted areas a little more attention, particularly where the exposed tracks run parallel. You will be just fine using moistened paper tissues and the residue may be more responsive to the water rather than alcohol as a solvent. The object is to remove as much of this goo as possible. It is both corrosive and conductive.




Don't be afraid of getting a small area damp - you can use a hair dryer (low heat) to ensure it is properly dry, or leave it in the airing cupboard for a day or so afterwards.

By 'delaminated area' I'm guessing that you mean where the lacquer has lifted and the copper of the tracks is exposed. I'd be tempted to leave it as-is unless you can find a lacquer that you are *certain* is, like the original, non-conductive. I'm probably being over-cautious here but I wouldn't want to guide you into introducing a new problem.

 

Don't you think that someone will just create their own custom computers as a drop in replacement at that point?

 

When I used to repair water damaged electronics, we would take a tooth brush and soak it in isopropyl and then gently scrub the board clean of corrosion. That was with nano pcb components, I think you can be more aggressive here, although the pcb traces are almost certainly more fragile than the soldered components.