Sunday Update:
Happy Sunday All,
In my previous update U told you guys I was trying a repair method that I did not have much confidence in but I tried it anyway. It didnt work, but that was no surprise to me. If you are interested, I bought one of those Silver conductive trace repair pens. I think it pretty cool. It didnt work for this repair but Im sure it would work for other simple stuff.
Warning, before reading any further........its still broken :cry2:
My original plan with this stuff was to put down a layer of scotch tape and cut away the tape over each of the damaged traces trying to cut the same width of the traces. Then apply the silver over a large area and let half way dry. Then pull the tape away like a stencil. The advantage to this method is I would have been left with super thin traces that almost perfectly matched the originals. However the traces proved to be to close together and I could not accurately cut over one trace with out affected its neighbor.
Here is where I tested on some plastic. Those lines are thinner than mechanical pencil lead.
My next try was to forget about make tiny traces and just connect the important parts. I put a new layer of tape down and only cut open small holes over the beginning and end of the affected traces and "formed" a line of silver on top of the tape. I thought that was brilliantly simple. Still didnt work.
I posted on several Circuit Board enthusiast type forums and found one that was willing to give me some advice without too much BS. Originally before all of this I wanted to bypass the trace or repair them with small copper pieces. What discouraged me from that route was my poor excuse for soldering skills. My biggest problem was that I could even get started properly like getting solder to stick to the iron. The circuit forum guys gave me some tips that worked out fantastic. I was soldering within minutes after reading their replies. I was really feeling good at this point. :boxing:
One item I did not have was some copper wire. They suggested taking a wire made up of lots of smaller gauge wire and pulling one of the strands out and using that to do repairs. This is really only useful for laying directly over the traces. I already learned how close together the traces are and that I would not be able to do that with just me and magnifying glass. I chose instead to bypass the traces completely from point to point on the board. I remembered I have an entire roll of Cat6 cable in the closet, (how could I forget?). I think twisted pairs are roughly 26AWG. I was able to use this wire to solder directly to point that were the same diameter as the wire or smaller. The different colors from the insulation are nice touch as well. Here are some pics:
I know they are rough. Its the best a novice like me can do at this stage. Im really proud of those joints. some of them may not be shiny, but they are holding quite strong.
I threw in the board this morning after the last soldering and the engine wont even start up now. Its turning over no problem but no ignition. I have order a replacement ECU but I have noe idea when it will arrive #TimeToRant,
[So I found a good price on Ebay for a 96' ECU for $140. A friend of mine flew back to the states fro the weekend since we are in the middle of mid semester break. The Ebay post shows the item is in Delaware and my friend lives in New Jersey so I paid for the ECU on Tuesday. The seller refused to do any kind of expedited shipping. I checked the tracking number the seller sent me and the ECU is coming from freaking California! It wont even be delivered until Wednesday. My friend is leaving Tuesday. I feel as though the universe does not want me to fix this vehicle.]
Seperate possibility for no crank. Last week one of the island gas stations "accidentally" put a bunch of water into its fuel supply causing a dozen or so vehicles to stop running as soon as they left the station. The gas station shut down their pump and paid for damages but seriously WTF??!!:wtf: Then I was informed by some upper semesters that many of the gas station "water" down their fuel with alcohol or whatever and to avoid certain stations. It would have been nice to know that a year ago when I arrived. The point of this is that my 4runner has been sitting un moved since August. I have a horrible feeling that if i have water in my gas that it separated a long time ago and is pumping water into my piston chamber instead of gas :fear:. Can I check for spark by laying a spark plug with boot from the driver side on top of the intake plenum and cranking?
I think Im just not going to mess with it until I get the replacement ECU :sad:, Its causing me too much heartache to have every repair thrown back in my face.
*Deep Breath* I feel a little better after today's T4R.org therapy session
Thanks, -Z
