Dancing is Forbidden

This is my P05 ECU that came with my car when I bought it. It was in the hatch where the spare tire is. I tried hooking it up but found that it didnt work (I have a P09 ECU currently). So today I was cleaning my garage and found this and decided to take it apart. I found what I expected. Here is what I found

In the middle is a huge solder spot and it appears to be burned, on the other side is this:

Now I dont know a lot about electronics but i would say that that is a capacitor.
Now my question for you. What would cause this? Could I simply place a new capacitor in there and the ECU be fine? Thanks for the help.

eg6ajk

its a common occurance for those caps to blow up. usually you can simply replace it with another. longest the board hasn't been burned through with the pads.

its strange that the ecu doesn't work as most will work just fine that cap blown

ERA

It's not going to work fine with that cap blown.. look how many foil leads were affected by the short. And just replacing it with another component is more difficult than it may sound especially if you do not have micro-miniature repair experience. Those acrylic board need to be repaired, re-glazed with new pads and properly soldered. Not to mention replacing the foil leads that got fried. Whenever an ECU lets go of its "factory installed smoke", find someone knowledgable on repair and go to them, otherwise, replacing a component on your own might result in even more damage.

Double_Dk

Looking at the back side of the board... it looks like many lines might have got shorted together. Even if you were to replace the cap, you would have to un short those line. Providing those shorted line didn't mess anything else up. Best solution. Get a new ECU!!!