Nice job Kaz, another round for the lad from Japan.
I will get back this weekend on the foglight situation. No further progress since p/m attempt.
Cheers
nigel
Nice job Kaz, another round for the lad from Japan.
I will get back this weekend on the foglight situation. No further progress since p/m attempt.
Cheers
nigel
Okay, stupid question time and maybe Kaz has covered it.......
What are the likely signs of the CCU failing.....poor performance of the air con and heating...or failure?
I know engine ECU's on many Japanese cars built around 1991-1995 have the identical problem, giving missfires, rich running etc....
Is this a job we should plan in as a preventative maintenance issue rather than a repair?
Thanks
Mark
Absolutely fantasic work & breathtaking write-up Kaz!
This forum is very fortunate to benefit from your knowledgable contibutions.
2001 3.2 Circuit Blue Coupe with pop-ups!
"If you want to argue that The Best Car in the World is a supercar, go ahead. But there is only one that makes the grade. Only one that's built properly.
Gordon Murray knows.
Rowan Atkinson knows.
It's the Honda NSX."
(J. Clarkson)
Hi, Mark.
I strongly recommend replacing all capacitors BEFORE experiencing any issues as a preventative measure. By the time you noticed any issues on fan speed/temperature control and etc, the damage to the board could be very serious and could be beyond repair from the point of reliability. There were many different issues/signs reported. For example, no control over fan speed (just always max, only works at a certain temperature setup, no fan at all, etc), no control on temperature setup (always cold, hot, etc regardless of setting), completely dead (no lights, no fan, nothing) and etc.
It’s all depends on the environment that the CCU went through but sooner or later, the capacitors used on this board will start to leak. This is the same for the NSX being used as a 2nd, 3rd, etc or spare car. I even saw a board with 1 capacitor leakage at just below 3 years old. The owner didn’t notice any issues at that time so he was surprised about the leakage as it was mainly kept inside the garage for occasional weekend driving.
Also, if you are not the 1st original owner of your NSX, you don’t know the full history of the car. Who knows what was done to the CCU board like I found on the board that I just worked on for the member here. Please refer to the post #7.
By the way, as you know, the similar capacitor leakage happens on the Bose speaker amp as well as the indicator (turn signal) cancel unit.
The production of NSX was ended in Dec/05 for the US and Japan models. For European model, it ended in Sep/05. So any NSX in the world are at least more than 3 years old. I can do only a limited thing but I hope I can save as many NSX and the owners as possible.
Regards,
Kaz
Kaz it would be a wonderful thing if you oppen up an NSX tuning shop.
One of the many problems is finding reliable tuners or independents.
Cheers,
Ary
I have to say, Kaz, this must be one of the most informative and detailed write - ups ever seen on any forum, any time, any place
Fantastic contribution to the NSX cause !
Chris
Hi, all.
Thank you for the nice and friendly comments.
As Ary suggested, one day, I hope I can expand my service to other areas as I already have good contacts in Japan for Honda OEM and other aftermarket parts.
My knowledge is nowhere near to my Master in Japan...
Hope the exchange rate will improve...
Regards,
Kaz
Hi, all.
Over the weekend, I was working on another CCU computer board and the member was kindly enough to allow me to post some of the photos.
The member was not sure about the temperature control of the CCU but other than that, he felt it was fine.
If you are not sure about the temperature control, please check your water valve position. It’s inside the front compartment under the bonnet above the car battery. Please refer to the photo below. It controls the amount of hot water going into the heater core inside the cabin and controls the air temperature. It is best to perform the ‘Function and Operation check’ as in the workshop manual for the accurate test but you can do a quick check by setting the temperature at 32 or 18degC. The water valve position between 19 – 31degC will depend on many sensor inputs so it may not move from 32 or 18degC position.
Back to the original discussion and this board was a very good example of big damage behind the scene. The member was quite surprised that his CCU was still working as he only noticed minor issue despite the big damage to the hidden board. He was lucky but eventually, it will end up with no climate control at all.
Two of the capacitors were like exploded and splashed the corrosive acid on the circuit board.
As the damage was quite deep into the board, it was decided to scrape off the damaged area with protective coating to prevent further damage.
In fact, 5 out of 13 capacitors showed big/medium leakage and as the damage to the pad and the track were quite serious that 2 jumpers were used to rebuild the connection.
After the final inspection, both side of the board was coated and then connected back on my car for final ‘Self diagnosis’ and ‘Function/Operation’ check and then packed with removed capacitors included for the delivery.
Another member saved.
By the way, I noticed that there is a misunderstanding between A/C and Cooler. From time to time, I hear that people don’t use A/C during the winter or cold/cool period. A/C is not a cooler and as it says, it is a ‘conditioner’ that can remove the humidity from both hot and cold air. In fact, it is best to circulate the A/C gas and oil regularly through the system to protect your expensive a/c parts. For the last 14 years, I just used ‘Full Auto’ or ‘Re-circ’ mode throughout the year (my NSX is the daily car with more than 190,000km or 118,000miles) and let the CCU to control the on/off of A/C. Still, no issues with my compressor, pipes or receiver.
Regards,
Kaz
I'd just like to say a big thanks to Kaz for his work on my CCU, and that we're lucky to have him here in the UK! His knowledge of our car is mind boggling, and he went well out of his way to get my board sorted before a trip to Austria, even dropping it at the garage in London so it could be reinstalled. Epic stuff, if he were to expand into other areas of service I wouldn't think of going anywhere else!
I'd echo his points, my climate control display and controls were working fine, it was only quirky temperature output that gave any sign of something wrong. Behind the scenes there was some damage that would have been much worse to fix if it had been left longer. Get it done!
Cheers again Kaz
'91 Red/Black Manual Coupe
'93 MX5 for the track. Red. With a roof that's, er, black...