trying to get out the solder in the spaces where i need to add components to my ecu, having a hard time though even though i have a vacuuming desolder iron. any tips?

 

desoldering braid.

 

soemtimes it helps adding a bit of sodder to assist in completly removing the rest.

 

By a solder vacuum pen. I have never had any problems with mine. Top right in the pic below.


I de-soldered this complete ecu without lifting a trace or browning/yellowing the board with the use of a vacuum pen.

I've never had any of those two in one solder vacuum irons work well for me or the braid. All I do with the vacuum pen is carefully clamp the ECU board in a vice or between two books. Heat up one side with my iron and suck out the solder from the other side with the pen. Using this method you could have your component locations completely de-soldered in minutes. I have found this method also reduces the amount of heat transferred to the board. The iron is in contact with the board for shorter periods of time.

 

i tried the pen but had worse luck with that, didnt think of using it on the otherside of the board though i'll give that a try. thx

 

LMAO no ****? it took me a while but i just noticed all the components on the styrafoam piece! kind of over kill dont you think?? but hey it sure does prove your point!

 

Yeah it was a wee bit overboard. I will admit that. But I got the ECU for free so I figured why not. Doing this gave me a lot of practice de-soldering. As well I have actually used half of the components from this board to fix other ECU's. So it's a Win Win!

 

thats awesome! ive got to try this when i get home but you think a rubber bulb shaped one would work as well as that plactic pen?

 

I use a rubber bulb style one. It works great as long as you keep the tip free from obstruction (poke it with a piece of .035" welding rod). I use it the same way ghostaccord uses his pen and i agree that it lets you use a minimal ammount of heat. I have only chipped a dozen or so ECUs so I think the $2 bulb is a good tool for the low volume of work I do.

 

i use an electric de-solder its awesome 169.99 it kinda of a hefty price but not when u average 4 ecu's per week ecu's are chipped and program with in 25 minutes 1 of course

 

 

just incase anyone else runs into this problem and ends up doing a search:

i found a good way to desolder as a soldering noob:
i put 1 or 2 drops of solder on each socket that i was desoldering and let them cool off
then i got one of the desoldering irons from radioshack (it looks like a normal soldering iron only it has a bulb attached to it), put it perpendicular over the socket, counted to ten, then released the bulb. worked every time.

 

Rub some RubyFluid flux on it

 

Just wondering if you removed the clear enamel/coating from the area of the board that you are trying to de-solder? When you heat it up it turns into a brownish/clear goo. If you still have this coating on it will make removing the original filler almost impossible, without adding more solder. (melting the coating)

If you don't want to have to add more solder (takes twice the amount of time) spray a small amount of carb / throttle body cleaner on the area of the ECU main board that you are going to be working on. Lightly scrub it with a soft bristle tooth brush and wipe clean. Repeat this until all of the coating has been removed from the working area.

That will also aid in the de-solderign process

 

yeah the area turned kinda brownish, i just figured that that was cause i did kinda a shitty job lol

 

If the board itself turns brown or yellow that is bad. That means that you have burnt/overheated it. If it is just the goo/ coating stuff that turns brown your OK.

 

i used some nail polish remover and a tooth brush to remove the film from the board, it worked better then brake parts cleaner and smelled better lol, just dont wipe the board down with any type of tissue or paper towel as the fibers will stick to the board and make it look like crap

 

a solder vacuum pen is the way to go. i used solder vaccum iron before and the ecus did not look as clean as they do now using he the solder vaccum pen.

 

it really helps to clean the board before working on it. when i chipped my ecu i cleaned it and desoldering was very easy. when i modified something else on the board i had a REALLY hard time getting all the solder out of a couple holes and i just realized now that i forgot to clean it and that was probably why.
also, i like the soldering braid personally.

 

you can bring it to me or anyone else close to you that does them all the time. I only charge $40 if you have your own parts. I charge $60-$80 to chip an obd1 ecu including parts