CONFIRMED, my Charger is an ECU eater

[Nacho-RT74]

My story about ECUs has been kinda depressing. Before began on a nice resto job on my car and just working on it to keep it driveable I never got a problem with any module. I was using a blue unit Cobra brand ( never have seen that one being sold again ).

Then began on get interested on a nice resto job an some performance. My first step was get a chrome MP what a friend of mine had in hands and sold me. Was mounted on firewall but never started up. It was one of the old units with the oddly printed PN on it and vacuum sealed blister. This unit began to get a hard start up after 6 or 8 months but still working nice once engine running.

I took this hard starting problem like an advertise of a prox failure so decided to get another Chromed MP unit what got throught Moparts in $40 suposelly barelly used and just changed because the electrician told to seller the orange unit was enogh for his setup.

Once arrived decided to mount it... It took maybe 4 or 5 months to ger broken. Was in another city so run to buy a generic aftermarket and cheap replacement to save the situation.

After these 2 Chromed unit experience decided to go with the FBO unit. WOOOOOW what a difference with the replacement part I had to fit and just slightly better than the Chromed MP... But, once again got in troubles with it. It last longed mounted on car allmost 2 years but since my car got dissasembled the engine by a year and a half, I can say just worked by 5 months being effective started up.

On those days I was watching the units Rick Eherenbergs sells, blue boxes with a silver dec what says HIREV 7500. It works nice but it doesn't convice me completelly. Beside that and honestly really looks to me like a regular Standard LX101 Box with a decal. The transistors looks to be exactly the same. So tried to give another chance to MP being FBO is not available anymore.

Got my new USA shippment with loooooot of goodies, 2 MP ECU units between them, one chromed and one orange to give the chance the first time to the badly rated orange units. Yesterday mounted the chromed box what it was sold like a JUST MOUNTED BUT NEVER STARTED unit ( by the exterior look it looks to be true )... Greeeeeeeeat start up and running!!!!! It was a really noticeable change.

The bad new! JUST GOT ONE DAY WORKING! Exactly 24 hours after mount it said Bye bye! Now testing the orange box what it was on original box, so totally brand new item

WHY ALL THIS BAD LUCK WITH PERFORMANCE BOXES? I still have my ooooooold Cobra box saved for spare and the Rick Ehrembergs one.

[moparstuart]

 do you maybe have a short somewhere in the car that frying these ?  

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

....or a bad ground.    The box itself not being properly grounded will kill these things real quick

[moparstuart]

....or a bad ground.    The box itself not being properly grounded will kill these things real quick

yeah make sure the paint is scrapped off the fire wall really good  and even use one of the biter or teethed washers between the box and the fire wall.

[Nacho-RT74]

Ok some of the considerations you have mentioned have been already considered by me.

Ground uses to be a big problem. Being that a BIG TRUE, I already make an special job. My firewall bolt holes were striped down long time ago making fit loose the ECU. I fixed that making a small slot on firewall to fit J nuts and still use the stock bolt locations and even original selftreath bolts. That makes still to keep original look with unnoticeable fixing job and fit tight. If J nut gets striped or damaged somehow is an easy to replace piece for a new one and still keep the ECU on original location.

Beside this I added a small wire with eyelwt terminals to add some ground from the firewall to block ground strip to the ECU bolt, and yes, I'm using teethed washers.

Soooo definitelly IS NOT a ground problem.

Short somewhere? I have serious doubts about that. If a short Why with performance modules And not with regular units then ?

My alt charge status is around 90% of the time centered on gauge so I have a real nice and stable power source. The rest of the time actually barelly get a moving needle, and that's when I'm running A/C. You know I have very care with that.

I have got ECU failures with regular 4 prongs resistors and with performance .8 ohms single resistors without make difference.

Coils have been MSD and FBO... without difference

[404NOTFOUND]

Why not leave that box there for decoration and go with a hidden MSD box. That's what I did. I thrilled with the performance of my MSD.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Black Betty just ate a 10 year old chrome box last weekend.    I had a 10 year old parts store spare in a box with a receipt I finally found that I put on.
Meanwhile... you can't find a spare at autozone or advance auto (unless you order it).  I need to get another spare now.

I'm not really sure there's a big difference with any of these boxes to tell ya the truth.

I did order some bracket to mound the ecu on the back of the motor over the valley pan off ebay.

[Charger_Dart]

Not sure if this helps or not, but I had something very similar on my Charger. I could not get my engine to run on anything but the el cheapo blue box from AutoZone. I tried Don's, Eherenberg's, and a chrome one - even bought a MSD system and it would not even start! Each one was hard starting or rough running or both except for the cheapie blue box. After a lot of head scratching and frustration I pulled the distributor cap on my Don FBO adjusted distributor and saw the problem..... He had set the reluctor gap way to big. When I closed the gap to the proper spec, the boxes I had all worked and worked correctly. Much easier starts and smoother running engine. I now have a MSD box on there and it starts / runs fine.     

[b5blue]

  Nacho I had a similar problem and it drove me nuts! Random hard/no start events started happening and I kept checking and changing components, I bought and returned cheap and better ones here and there. Finally I ordered a new engine harness and when it came in bench checked it with my OHM meter before installing it, it read good. Upon installing it I did a "pull check" on every single connection/wire one by one to insure a strong tight crimp had been done. It FAILED! My brand new harness had the blue ignition feed wire slide right out of the crimp! I fixed this but had I not found it it would have been a disaster sooner or later.
  Upon cutting up my old harness and removing the black wrapping I found a crappy repair where smaller wire had been spliced in on the ignition circuit. It had continuity but the smaller wire acted as a resister, had I found this prior to ordering a new harness it could have been an easy repair.
  I think you may have something like this going on in your harness. Starved for AMPS under draw you would loose VOLTAGE through a tired connection somewhere. At start-up you know the system is entirely depending on volts AND amps from just the battery so there may be a clue. Weak continuity anywhere from the + battery post through the engine bay to the bulkhead on to the inside harness for the dash, through the plug connector to and through the ignition switch, back down the column and back through the plug, dash harness, bulkhead and engine harness to your coil, dist, ecu and resistor could be the problem. That's about 25 ft. of wire and 30 possible connections or contact points.
  I cleaned all connectors male and female brass fittings with salt and vinegar per my topic and coated every one with Caig Labs D-100 DeOxIt after flushing with water from a clean spray bottle and soaking/swishing with 91% alcohol to accelerate drying and final clean. I also thoroughly checked my dist. wire and reluctor pickup, checked the upper bushing for any side play, (I have found some dist. with enough slop to greatly effect pulse signal strength!) and the action and adjustment of mechanical and vacuum advance for smoothness and accuracy.  I have found that my mostly stock (With FBO adjusted dist. and A688 components.) engine really likes vacuum advance for starting, the difference of getting that 12* under cranking is remarkable! It fires up just tapping the key when warmed up and very easy, like one crank if it's not sit for more than a week. I even replaced my ignition switch to insure full power from the contacts inside. I'm telling you all this to get you thinking as you are good with electrics and if you consider all the pathways that could fail there are many! If your using Don's FBO coil remember the regular ECU is only to be used temporarily. (Per his information sheet.)     

[Nacho-RT74]

The generic aftermarket ECU I got when my first Chromed box fried was 5 pins ( only one available around. Luck for me I had at that moment the 4 prongs resistor on car )

The hard starting Chromed box ( the first one I mounted ) also matched with the 4 prongs resistor

The Blue Cobra Box ( which I think is this same one under a diff brand: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Filko-CH500-Ignition-Control-Module-Vintage-Mopar-NEW-/220715841465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3363b077b9 ) also matched with stock 4 prongs resistor. That's my actual "spare" one. The black silicone on back began to melt and is at this moment kinda "gummy", dunno why.

rest have been used with single .8 ohms resistor ( FBO and third chromed box )

The "Eherenberg's" unit ( which REALLY I'm allmost convinced is the same then the Standard Blue piece ) was took appart just to test the Orange box, However dunno why didn't convince me. The Engine never was really "smooth" sometimes was "happier" sometimes more smooth

The Orange box makes to sounds the engine GREEEEAT... I like how it sounds, but makes me feel the Car like it was dragging. Will keep it on car for sometime untill get time to check the timing with the ignition lamp.

At this moment I can assure the FBO and Chromed are the best ( if they get to last long!!!! ) in that order.

Neal... I'm just waiting for you... you know what I'm talking about LOL!!!

I don't rememeber anything on any Don's instruction sheet about regular ECUs being used just temporally with his coil. In fact I DON'T REMEMBER any instruction sheet with Don's kit LOL. Just the carburetor book ( maybe is stated there ? dunno )

I didn't posted this thread on electric section just because wasn't really searching for some tech opinion or help ( althought they are great to be posted and allways helpfull ) more because I was posting to share some of my experiences about my ECU eater monster LOL.

Engine Harness. I made it so I know how is made, although I can check the plugs and terminals condition on bulkhead end.

Pick up gap... Is close to perfect. I allways take ONE FULL DAY to check it, on rest and advanced position ( it changes due the diff circunference ratio it draws with center of dist ) to get the best gap as posible, bending the coil bracket here and there, and then setting the adjusting screw. If you find your reluctor bitten by the pick up coil, now you know why. I made to get a .009 in rest and .007 in advanced position. Then every reluctor point is milled to be sure about allways get the same gap to all sparkplugs.


Need to note, I never have got a semifailed Module, beside JUST my first chromed box. rest worked or not, but when working, they worked GREAT

[myk]

Why not leave that box there for decoration and go with a hidden MSD box. That's what I did. I thrilled with the performance of my MSD.

Agreed!

[Nacho-RT74]

eeehm, no. Although I already got an old fashion MSD-6C module ( with Mopar ECU plug ) which makes the wiring mods allmost unoticeable and even easily reversable, is not my style, at least at this moment

[Nacho-RT74]

The Blue Cobra Box ( which I think is this same one under a diff brand: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Filko-CH500-Ignition-Control-Module-Vintage-Mopar-NEW-/220715841465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3363b077b9 ) also matched with stock 4 prongs resistor. That's my actual "spare" one. The black silicone on back began to melt and is at this moment kinda "gummy", dunno why.

yeap, confirmed what I thought, the Filko Unit is the same Cobra I have by what it says this auction from same vendor:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Precision-Remanufactured-Ignition-Control-Module-MOPAR-/220748338605?hash=item3365a055ad&item=220748338605&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

[ACUDANUT]

So the one you showed on E-bay Junk ?

[Nacho-RT74]

no, thats my spare piece, Not a performance one but slightly better than a stock unit. thats the one what has never failed in 10 years ( although last 5 years never have been running in my car, but borrowed to a friend for couple of months untill he mounted an MSD )