I�m no expert, but I know that the shoebox electronics installation
requires messing with your ECU; if they gave you one of them, then perhaps
they tried to install it and perhaps the person who did that didn�t put it
back together properly/solder all the wires exactly.

I looked at the process of adding the shoebox thing and backed off when I
saw that I had to get in there and mess with the ECU itself. It would be
so nice if there were some sort of �reader� that you could put inline
(some sort of passthrough connector) without messing with the ECU itself.
But that�s probably asking way too much.

For those of you wondering what we�re talking about, here�s a link to the
product (van-caf� resells them): http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_874
(link is for the pre-86 models, which I have).

They also sell at kit that includes the ECU (meant for mechanics/shop
owners) but at almost $1000 its a pricey thing for a home user just to
monitor their engine.

�r

On 2015-07-12, 10:11 AM, "Vanagon Mailing List on behalf of Neil N"
<vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com on behalf of musomuso@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>x2 on making sure contacts are clean. And....
>Ensure ECU plug is seated properly. Like it "clicks" into place.
>check condition of wires at ECU plug.
>On ECU's-harneses I've seen, the wire
>cases looked fine. But. I've read that if moving the wires at that point
>affects engine performance, this may indicate a flaw at wire near
>connector.
>In my limited experience, that's unlikely; they're well protected.
>More likely is a failure at a solder joint inside ECU.
>Were it me, I'd open the ECU and insect the PCB for flawed solder
>joints and/or heat damaged parts, water damage (unlikely)
>I may be wrong, but isn't the Shoe Box limited to only reading inputs?
>i.e. it may not be able to determine if the ECU itself is at fault?
>(per se. As with Bentley, if all else is ruled out as OK, the ECU
>is the last part of trouble shooting?)
>
>On 7/12/15, John Goubeaux <john@ucsb.edu> wrote:
>
>> So, ECU swap and start-up went fine. Idling was too high and car ran
>> rich after the swap ....SO  while not a "brick" the ecu is NOT "good to
>> go", but maybe good for a spare OR a core on a rebuilt one.
>>
>> I did get a "shoebox electronics" ECU monitor
>
>
>
>
>--
>Neil n
>
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