Just to let you know I got that connection issue ironed out finally.
The contacts were squeaky clean but I was still having problems
I ended up re-tinning the contacts on the ecu with a thin coat of solder. After that the "service engine soon" light went off and the truck runs strong; it runs very well as a matter of fact. That "slug" range going up hills is GONE and it shifts MUCH nicer now too.
This chip was a pain to get in and working correctly but I'm pretty happy with the results! I would put one in any other vehicle I get ( I assume the second time is easier...)

Thanks,
Randy

 

Well, that didn't last long. It started dying and I had to pull the chip on the way to work. I really like the performance gain so I hope I'll be able to get it working reliably soon.
Next step is to get a hold of a big magnifying glass to see what's going on there....I know it's a contact issue but darn if it's not a pain to get right it seems...Maybe there is a hunk of crap inside the connector part of the chip?

RB

 

Hi RB,

Yes, you definitely have a connection problem there from your description here and of course our discussions over the phone. While that can be frustrating, it's not hard to solve. Worst case, if you go too far on the contacts when cleaning the connector, then you just build them back up with some solder until you have a nice fit & you're all set. You know that by virtue of whether or not you have coppper exposed, and if so, how much, etc., and further by doing a continuity test with a voltmeter on each of the contacts, etc., it's easy to identify this kind of problem.

When we last spoke on the phone, you had just attempted to clean out the slot on the Superchip from conformal coating transferring over due to installing it before all the conformal coating was removed, and at that point it started right up. It would not start at all before that, and then after cleaning out the slot on the Superchip it started up fine on each program, indicating that there is of course no problem with the Superchip itself, as we discussed.

So yes, I'd say you have a definite connection problem there, since you're having those kinds of problems & symptoms. I'm sorry you're going thriu this, believe it or not it sure isn't normal, it's extremely rare for anyone to have these continued problems. By the sound of it, you just might have a PCB (printed circuit board) that is significantly thinner than spec in the area of the edge connector, and that would be a cause of a connection problem that is intermittant like that. If so, you can easily tell that by how tightly the Superchip "grips" the connector when you push it on. If it doesn't have a snug fit (and it won't be as tight as like when you put a modem or video card into a PC, just "snug" is all it will be), if the "grip" on the connector is loose, then you'll know you have an abnormally thin connector there, and that's an easy fix, just build up your contacts with more solder until you have a nice snug fit. There are a few ECU's we've seen that had a thinner than spec connector, and the Superchip module weas actually redesigned just for that not long ago, after a decade of no such issues. So we have seen a very few of these computers having a too-thin edge connector, very rare, but there have been a few. That's easy to spot however, it's just a matter of how much of a grip the Superchip has on that connector. If it's loose enough to allow the connection to be intermittent, then build up the contacts more.

Please don't hesitate to call us on this again, we want you up and running as bad as you do, so we'll be happy to work with you on this until this is resolved.

 

Hey Mike,

I think that we're on the right track.
I built up the contacts and went 85 miles without incident but today it died again. I built up the contacts some more and took some measurements. I was wondering if you have any measurements to compare to.
The board thickness (in between the contacts, free of conformal coating) is .035". My thickest solder build up was .075" (measuring to the outside surface of both contacts) total thickness so I tried to get them all to that level. The chip plugged in nice and tight and it started right up and I drove a couple of miles to test it without any problem. I'll keep you posted?

Thanks,
Randy

 

Hi Randy!

Actually no, though that is done by the manufracturer, I don't have those specs handy at the moment, so I can't give you the tolerance specs for that.

What we go by here in our installations is literally how it physically fits, so we can tell instantly if a vehicle has a board that is out of spec, and that is extremely rare by the way, but this has happened on occasion. I literally couldn't tell you the last time we needed to build up the contacts like that it's been so long, but we used to see this primarily on a tiny number of 1999 model year vehicles, and it was almost always a 1999 Lightning specifically. For some reason a few of the '99 Lightnings had thinner-than-spec connectors, and so a few of then needed to be built up on the contacts. Superchips actually made a change specifically for that, even though this was only for an extremely tiny number of vehicles, just in case Ford had more of those in the future.

This is extremely rare, and the cure for it is simple, what you are doing is exactly what needs to be done, simply building up those contacts until you have a nice snug fit, and then you have no connection-problem. That should take care of this permanently, and of course, don't forget to tape the Superchip to the back of the ECU as well once you are done, as we mention in our documentation, so that the Superchip cannot work loose over a long period of time from going over rough railroad tracks, or if someone hits a curb or a bad pothole, etc. We do that simply as a precautionary measure anytime we install the Superchip in a pickup truck, SUV or anything with 4WD, as they tend to see rougher use, etc.

Let us know if you have any more problems once you've got a good connection there!