Well what a nightmare of an evening I've had! I was almost, very very almost, reduced to tears on my driveway whilst kneeling into the passenger footwell.......

As my coop has been in the automotive dentist recently getting a spanking clutch fitted I thought i would treat it to a small increase in power, in the form of a "dink" chip! Even though I haven't yet fitted the colder plugs, and have not booked a rolling road session, I just could not help myself and decided to fit the chip anyway to see what difference it would make (only for a quick blast of course! ).
So I had a fiddle in the passenger footwell and finally managed to remove the ECU. After first removing the back face of the ECU like an idiot, I exposed my coupe's delicate little brain chip. So i carefully pinched the chip and slowly tried to manoeuvre it out of the socket.
Slowly does it....... marathon not a sprint....... tortoise and the hare....... when POP, SPLAT, NOOOOOOO!!!

In my excitement i had pulled a little too hard, and the chip's release caught me by surprise, resulting my stupid fat fingers flattening every single one of the chips legs! After cupping the chip in my hands for what seemed like hours, with tears welling in my eyes, i finally thought "What...the....fccuk....have....I....done!!"

I then spent the next 1.5 hours with a pair of snipe-nosed pliers trying to make the legs somewhat normal again, followed by 30 minutes trying to get it back in the sodding socket!!


Anyone else had a fun evening?!

(needless to say i haven't tried dinks chip yet!)

Haha for future reference, a small flat screwdriver levered under the center of the chip all the way along allows for perfect removal of the chip with no bent legs.

I'm amazed it only took you 3 minutes to get all the legs back in properly, usually for me, with unbent legs, it takes a good 10-15 mins of anxious manouverings and gentle pressure.

yes
finally got my dump valve to whoosh after weeks of wondering why it didnt,hooray!
then decided to try and refurb my fuel filler cap with some wire wool and metal polish.
three hours and two sore arms later its just about done.
glad iv done it now but wasnt thinking that after two hours of it!

Sounds like there might be a market for fresh standard chips!

You used to be able to get IC removal tools, but I can't find any for DIP at the moment. For putting the chip back: http://uk.farnell.com/877505/mechanical-office-workplace/product.us0?sku=terminal-tw2100-24-6

This is for 20v ICs: http://uk.farnell.com/3125361/mechanical-office-workplace/product.us0?sku=duratool-608-611

Neil

Maplin sells a pin straightner for like 9 and one half threpence or something equally as cheap. Well worth having!


Phill

nick, sounds like an exact replica of when i did it. i went in to it with out doing my ground work first. and then sliped and bent every single one of the original pins, worce still....when i bent them back, they snapped.
much like you i had a fair few moments of...shall i say silent contomplation...oh no..my car is bin materail!

hope it worked out well

Hmmm - serious proposal for 16v and 16vt types - if someone can lend me the chip you pull out (i.e. the original Fiat chip) I can grab an image and if necessary blow a copy in case of disaster. Note that the 16v and 16vt are different code.

There are images on the net but I'd rather reassure myself with an original chip.

Note - I don't have the chip holders for 20v chips, so they're a headache I'm afraid - but there's less chance of bashing the legs on those.

Neil

Neil,

there are 194.03 .04 .05 chips for the 16vt. I have stock images for all of them.
.05 is the Immobiliser one.
It's easy enough to burn them on a new chip. If you wish I can send you the images at some point.

cheers

V.

That would probably be worth doing, Vas. I have a .04 and comparison might be useful. But I'd like the 16v NA image(s) too, if possible, folks.

Neil, any chance you've got the images for 20VT as well?

I remember a thread about a year ago mentioning that the chips were pretty much at the limit of their supposed reliable lives (10 years or so)......

IIRC there was a joke about mass failures on start up

Got a spare 16v ecu in the garage

That would be useful, Alexis, please: Stanford hall, perhaps?

Graeme, I don't have any 20v images, and I don't have a programmer that can read the chips (without me playing silly beggars and grafting a new socket on).

Well i'm glad my stupidity has ended in such a useful conversation!

Ok, thanks Neil - think I will drop GrahamL a PM - I'm sure he must have some images -be good to get a copy just in case we might need them in the future....

I'll have to check, can't remember if it's the tipo or the coupe one, but i'll bring it up if it is a coupe one