Seriously. The ECU in my partner's truck decided that it was done with magic smoke and Marie Kondo'd that shit out, leaving her stranded. Her truck is an old 2002 Dodge Dakota that we've been nursing along while the used car market cools down (we want to get her something small and fuel efficient, but cars cost too damn much). Back in 2000 or 2001, some bean counter at Dodge decided that the company really had to cheap the fuck out with their ECUs for the 2002 model year. Because of this, any 2002 Dodge truck has either had its ECU replaced or is a ticking fucking time bomb.

What's even better is that nobody makes these shit-ass ECUs anymore. The only replacements you can get are remanufactured units, and it's highly likely that you'll get at least one dud before you can find anything decent. We've been a tiiiiiiny bit less lucky than that, meaning we're on our 13th ECU. Our mechanic has gone through everything else to make sure there's not something external that's exploding the ECUs, and he hasn't found anything. Over the course of like 9 weeks, we've completely deleted the stock of these stupid things in Utah and all of the surrounding states. We're now ordering one from Florida that's been remanufactured by a different company which hopefully won't grenade itself.

Fuck American car companies, and apologies to anyone who's currently having a hard time sourcing an ECU for a 2002 Dodge Dakota. We screened all the bad ones out for you. The only good part about all of this for us is that our mechanic isn't charging us for anything more than one ECU replacement. The damn truck has been in the shop for 9 weeks, and we're only going to pay like $1000.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Are the ECUs actually remanufactered, or did they just pull them out of a dead truck, wipe them off, and call it a day?

I know the Ranger from that era has the classic leaky caps that kills it's ECUs. You can easily buy a $20 soldering iron from harbor freight and $5 worth of caps and fix yours if it's the same problem.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

This right here, there's not a whole lot on a PCB that can "explode" on their own, and caps is at the top of that short list. And early 2000s, 90s caps are notorious for this issue

Next ECU you get @Badabinski@kbin.social, check the caps or just replace them anyways. Even high quality ones are not very expensive

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 2 points 3 weeks ago

I've got a mechanic doing the sourcing and work for me, but I might buy one and replace the caps on it, then ask him to try it. Thanks to both of you for the suggestion!

[–] anivia@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

Is replacing the caps even an option? All the cars I ever owned had the entire ECU potted for waterproofing

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

Unless it’s tin whiskers from the early lead free solder…

I fear that shit way more than I was ever worried about y2k bugs.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

at this point your only reasonable choice is a programmable ecu.

you could maybe get a cheap one and a usable tune for that price? idk.

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I need the truck to pass emissions, unfortunately :( Are there programmable ECUs that can pass emissions via OBDII tests? I was under the impression that there aren't, although I'd love to find out I was misinformed.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

they can pass emissions if properly configured. they can perform exactly like the original ECU if tuned well, if a tiny bit better.

they don't do OBD2 tests in my country though, only the pipe emissions test, so im not sure about that. saving a working original just for these tests is an option.

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hopefully we'll be able to find a working one soon :( our emissions here are exclusively OBD2 based for anything 1996 or newer. I'll probably do what some other folks have recommended and try to "remanufacture" one myself.

EDIT: no idea why my client decided to post my comment twice.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

i hope you find it. if its a common problem like "hey its a specific component or set of components that always blows out on these" you are probably in luck.

[–] nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz 1 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe a junkyard?