CCU Computer board Service - Part 1/3

[PeterW]

I prefer the board to come to me unmolested, and I see some really bad repair attempts too. Most are able to be saved but it just makes more work.

This must be the famous BrianK, electronics whiz of NSX Prime. Welcome to NSXCB!
Peter

[chl935]

The Condition – VERY IMPORTANT

• As stated above and based on the above procedure, cost, time and etc, it is not possible to tell whether this service will fix all of the climate control issues or not. In　fact, as the worst case scenario, this service may highlight other issues that were not noticed by the member previously. Therfore, once the CCU computer board has been shipped out for this service, there will be no refund of the stated cost unless it is agreed with both parties.
• The temperature of the soldering and vacuum de-soldering station is controlled automatically. I’ll be wearing appropriate equipment to discharge the static electricity. I have been trained to carry out this kind of service (my background in later section).
• I don’t know the history of delivered CCU computer board and it would be the same for the member if it was not owned as a new car. Therefore, unless the board was damaged on purposely or cracked accidentally by myself, it will be the member’s responsibility once the board is tested and shipped out for delivery or handed directly to the member. If not happy with this, please do not use this service. I’ll appreciate your understanding on this as a friend within NSXCB.
• If I accidentally drop the CCU computer board and crack the components or the board itself, I’ll either replace it with mine (capacitors already replaced) or place an order to Japan for refurbished one. Depending on the stock in Japan, the process will take some time and I’ll appreciate your patience for this case.
• If the CCU computer board was damaged on the way or lost before arriving at my address, the member to take care of the compensation process through their selected delivery company.
• If the CCU computer board was damaged or lost after shipped out from my address using Royal mail special delivery with upto GBP2,500 compensation, I’ll chase Royal mail to find the package or request them for the compensation. At this stage, I don’t have spare computer board so I’ll not be able to provide the member with the replacement until it arrives through the compensation from Royal mail. This will take time.
• As we are within the NSXCB community, I would like to respect you and also would like to be respected from you. If you have any questions or if you are not happy with my service, I would like to and expecting to deal with it in a friendly manner.
• The conditions may change without prior notice.

My Background
Although I owned my NSX from 1994 and moved to UK in the late ‘90s, I only joined NSXCB in 2008. I was not comfortable on some of the way the people wrote down their own view in similar forum outside of NSXCB. Also, I prefer talking to people face to face simultaneously and not like the one way communication over the forum or email. I kept close eye on NSXCB for a long time and once I felt more comfortable, I decided to join it but only showed very little background.
Having said this, if I’m going to offer this service to the friends/members of NSXCB, I thought I need to tell a little more about myself as I’m going to handle someone’s GBP1,000.00 component on a private/friend basis.
So, here it is;

• BSc Electronics/Electric Engineering and Controls
• Being in Automotive industry for more than 20years
• Worked on many hardware/software including ECU (thus, soldering/de-soldering of capacitor is easy for me) but also trained on car assembly and driving.

If this is still not enough, then I’ll provide you with one more thing which is already on NSXCB.
If you can look at my avatar on NSXCB, it will show the special parts from a certain engine that I was involved, the autograph from my colleague and the year he wrote it for me (1990).
I believe above background would be enough to justify that I’m capable of dealing with the circuit board and being very close to NSX.

Thank you for reading this long post and your time.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Regards,
Kaz

Climate control module repair or replacement needed.

After completing all fault tests I have concluded that the only thing left to replace is the dash climate control unit .
Is anyone able to supply one from a 1992 model?
Without the control of the air conditioning and fan motor it is almost impossible to drive any distance without either discomfort or windows misting up. Please help.

Hi, I live in Wisborough Green W Sussex and have a beautiful formula red/black roof with stunning chromed 17 inch rims.
I have actually owned this car for 14 years now and don't think I will ever sell it as i still feel as excited when i drive as i did when i first got it! Amazing.
Just to let you know when i removed the module today i did inspect the circuit boards for any burns or dry joints but everything seemed perfect. Obviuosly it could be eprom related or sealed switch problems, what do you suggest.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, chl935.
This is the same message in your another thread........


Thank you for showing your interest to my service.


I’ll appreciate if you can contact me through the email as I already disabled the PM feature long time ago.

I tried to send an email to you but it seems that you haven’t registered your latest email address or you haven’t enabled the ‘receive email’ feature.

Therefore, once you have registered your email address to your account or enabled the feature, please log into NSXCB and left click on my user ID to select the ‘Send email’ option.

Please note that this option will only show up AFTER you have logged into the NSXCB site.

Looking forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Regards,
Kaz

[chl935]

Hi Kaz, About 2 months ago my dash control refused to light up when turned on so last sunday i removed it and carried out diagnostic checks as per worksop manual instructions. My conclusion is faulty dash control module as it had a permanant live an ignition live and both earth feeds were good. I then proceeded to carefully open module and inspected the board for any dry joints or burn damage to componants. The board and the componants looked as good as new, certainly belieing it's 20 year old age. If i sent it over to you would you first please be able to plug it into another car, maybe your own and confirm my suspicions on it's faultyness. I look forward to hearing back from you soon. PS Just so that you know I think I spoke with you at japfest this year, I was the AA sales guy on your club stand with my red NSX under theAA canopy. Kind regards Clive or should I say chl935

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, Clive.

Hope you have received my email regarding the detail of my CCU board service.


From what you wrote, it is one of the typical phenomenons of the CCU board failure and as you have already lost the power to the display module, I’m afraid the damage is already at the severe level.

The power for the display module is generated through the CCU board so it’s very likely that it is not the display module but instead, the CCU board failure.

You can find several cases of exactly the same failure mode (no power to the display, nothing shows on the display, etc) within my CCU computer board service thread.
In some cases, there was nothing shown on the display but still, the fan was operationg. For others, the CCU was just completely dead and nothing happened even pressing/moving the buttons/dials/etc.



The issue is not caused by the dry soldering joints or the burnt components.
It is the acid leaking from the electrolytic aluminium capacitors dissolving the circuit pads and tracks.


The Self diagnosis and the Function/Operation check won’t be able to spot the issues because they are designed to check for the reaction against the command from the CPU.
I ask the owner to use these procedures to just confirm the connection of the external sensors/actuators in case there are other issues outside of CCU.


If the board was already damaged by the capacitor leakage, the controller won’t be able to generate the correct command based on which buttons on the display module were pressed.

In fact, it is very likely to generate just a single command regardless of the buttons being pressed.
So, from the diagnosis point of view, the CCU is operating fine because even if you are in the specific diagnosis mode, CPU is just sending the same command and the VENT/FAN/etc are just following it.


On the CCU board, what you need to look for is the dark/black residue at/around the base of each cylinder like components sticking out from the board.
If you have the board out of the car, you can take a look at around the area of the capacitors C11, C14, C15, C22, C24, C32, C44.


If you see any darker colour compared to other area of the circuit board, you have leaky capacitors.

The leakage is mainly caused by the heat and any standard electrolytic aluminium capacitors will leak and that’s why there is a life cycle spec in the data sheet.
When Honda designed the CCU board in ‘80s, they selected the capacitor that meets their design spec within the targeted cost and unfortunately, over the years, it started to fail.

If your NSX is 1992 model, I’m afraid I have never seen even a single CCU board without any leakages despite the owners were claiming that they didn’t see any issues…..

It’s a classic car so preventative service is always required and results in saving the maintenance cost.
You probably already heard about the stories regarding the Bose AMP, Main Relay, IG switch, Crank pulley, coolant header tank, etc.

Kaz

[Rubymurrie]

Hi I have a control unit that has stopped working, could you help me please 🙏

[NSXGB]

Hi I have a control unit that has stopped working, could you help me please 

Best to contact Kaz through the email option...

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

^^ Thank you for the suggestion, NSXGB. ^^


Hi, Rubymurrie.
Welcome to the club. It’s a small community and friendly owners with lots of helping hands.
As NSXGB mentioned, please send me an email at kaznsxcb-001 at yahoo dot co dot jp
As you know, the email address is one continuous word so please replace the wording 'at' and 'dot' accordingly.

99.9% of the time, I can’t access my user control panel including the PM feature so I don’t use it.
Also, as I receive so many requests/questions on NSX every day, email is much easier to manage each communication than PM.

You can find my contact detail by visiting the Blog section and opening any of the blog posts there.


In the email, it will help if you can provide me with the following points.
1. Part of the VIN.
Please let me know the first 7digits of your VIN after the [JHMNA] if your NSX is UK/European spec.
It’s the ' x ' marked number/character of the example VIN such as JHMNAxxxxxxx*****.
There is no need to tell me the full VIN. This will help me in understanding your NSX true year model and estimate the level of damages.

2. Issue you are experiencing
Please provide me with brief explanation on the issue you have.
For example, the fan speed control only operates at max setting, nothing shows up on the display, no power, nothing happens, just simply dead, etc.


Once I have received your email, I’ll reply back to you with T&C of the services including the cost info but most of them were already in the #1 post of this thread.

Thank you.

Regards,
Kaz

[Rubymurrie]

Thanks NSXGB and Kaz for your prompt reply, I really appreciate it.
Kaz I will email you and the faults you stated in your last message 2. Where exactly what happened but I'll put it all in the email. Thanks again guys
Nick

[briank]

Kaz, great job on the repairs, as I well know some can be really messed and/or pre-molested. After doing the ccu for over 10 years I am having better then a 99% success rate. Keep up the good work, I can tell you that the nsx community really appreciates what we do.