Hi all,
Has anyone had to work on one of these? If so, is it possible to probe through the transparent conformal coating of the PCB to measure voltages on traces without (more than minutely) damaging the coating? Also, has anyone had any luck injecting voltages in the same way in order to mimic signals the chips inside "expect" to see (for example to defeat the ignition coding/immobiliser system?
thanks.
At the same time, you are not going to be able to repair/modify at the component level without damaging the coating. So, you might just have-at then repair the coating after the fact.
Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA
Heck no! This is way out of my area of interest. I'd just like to temporarily hack the security on this thing to find out if it actually runs at all without wasting a penny more than I have to on it.
Thank you, Peter. I shall bear that in mind, but what I have in mind is nothing more at this stage than probing for existing voltages in some places and injecting same at others.
The risk you take is, in the words of a friend, turning your CPU/EMU into a brick. They are more-or-less designed not to be overly friendly to hacks, and in some cases, even breathing funny on it can brick it. That is why a p rogrammer with the correct software is infinitely safer than probing more-o r-less randomly.
Best of luck with it - and, if you have "auto recycling yards" in your neck of the woods, you might try getting an experimental unit there. It will be cheap.
Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA
This is an issue I personally have with modern cars. If you pick up a replacement unit from a junk yard and try to swap it out, it won't work even if it's in perfect condition 'cos the EMU is coded to the injectors (and god knows what else) so you need one of those fancy communication tools (for big bucks) to re-set the codes so they match. It's a serious PITA. Then you find the next time you need to do the same thing with a different model or make, 99 times out of a 100 you need a different comms tool for that. It's a costly nightmare.
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