Having just finished the second part of a two-part job to fix the dreaded TC/ABS/Speedo fault (the first part being to get the broken ECU off - took me 5 hours, yesterday taking me just 2 to refit the fixed one), I felt I just had to get back here and say a huge thank you to all of you who have contributed in any way to the various threads on this topic. Without this I would not even have attempted the job.
The second part of this missive is to feed my experiences back in to the site for the benefit of others - so here goes. (I have some pics but I'm afraid I don't know how to upload them!)
The first thing I would say is that by using longer screws and spacers made the job so much easier. For the record I used 56mm screws and 35mm spacers for the middle pair, and 60mm screws and 37mm spacers for the bottom pair (and before anyone picks up on this no, you can't buy 56mm screws - you need a hacksaw!! Ditto the spacers).
So. On with the job. Start syphoning coolant out of the header tank while removing the radiator shroud (two half-turn fasteners release the two little side sections, two hex-headed self tappers release the centre section). By now the header tank is empty so release the top end of the top hose and syphon as much as you can out of the block. While that is going on it is off with the battery. (Slacken the earth connector, walk round the car to the drivers door, reach in and turn the ignition on then off, walk back round to the front and lift the battery earth terminal - within 15 seconds. This prevents the power sounder going off apparently!!) Now disconnect the positive terminal, slide the battery jacket off, and remove the battery (a socket on a long extension bar will release the clamp). By now the coolant will be as low as it will go so release the lower end of the top hose (if, as I did, you replaced the spring clip with a decent Jubilee clip when you removed the ECU last week then this will take seconds, if not then you've got a fiddle on your hands!).
Time now to pull the harness out of the way. There's a (relatively) small cable running from the battery +ve terminal into the relay box on the n/s inner wing. Release it from the battery terminal clamp. Now; when you undid the +ve battery terminal, you had to unclip a fuseholder off the top of the battery, yes? Open it and you will see a 30A fuse on a green fuseholder. Remove the fuse and slide the green holder out of it's mounting (it slides towards where the fuse was and is latched in place by a tiny barb at the back).
Now the relay box. Open and remove the lid - it has lift-off hinges. The wiring harness that comes into the relay box from the engine compartment only goes to three things: The ECU (simply slide it upwards on it's mounting plate), two pink relays (release the catch attaching them to the wall of the relay box and the entire pink relay assembly slides up and away), and a singly multi-pin connector (unplug it). Lift the entire harness up and out of the way. Nearly there!!
Behind the battery are three quick-release connectors. Turning the locking rings about 1/8 turn anti-clockwise will release them. Between the two largest ones is a screw holding the connector mounting plate to the battery mount. Remove it to free the the connectors mount. You can now swing all the electrics out of the way.
It sounds a lot but it actually takes about as long to do it as I just took to type it all in!
Lastly, the power steering fluid reservoir. A single screw releases the clamp and one electrical connector frees it for removal.
Thus exposing, in all it's glory, the ABS unit all bagged up (you did bag it all up when you took it all apart last week, didn't you!!) and ready for the repaired ECU.
Nice long screws, a screwdriver bit taped to the screw head to give better purchase, all six screws in place in minutes! (Learning point here. I used slotted head screws. You would be better to use Pozi/ Allen/ Torx headed screws as they would be easier to tighten then slotted heads. I found it quite a fiddle to get a decent purchase when finally tightening up.)
Connect the two plugs and there you are - job jobbed!! Refitting, as they say, is the reverse of removal!
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Topic: ABS ECU change. A big THANK YOU to all!! (Read 1116 times)