That is something you will never find. All computer modules from all car manufacturers are proprietary, and service manuals are not released.
Way back in 1999, I was invited to visit one of the three authorized radio repair centers for two and a half days. I rifled through their file cabinets of all kinds of service manuals for stuff I didn't even know were available. Came home with a two-foot-high stack for $1300.00. Even found one for the late '70s digital clock, and some for dealer-issued test equipment. I was really after Chrysler radio manuals for my hobby shop.
I was treated like royalty, and was allowed to take pictures, ... Until I was introduced to a fellow repairing Chrysler digital dashes. There was a huge schematic, about three feet wide, pinned up in front of the workbench. That's where they drew the line. Said they would get in trouble with Chrysler if I took a photo of that. Darn the bad luck.
Traveler Computers is another set of manuals I'd like to get my hands on, but even if I had them, there's nowhere to buy parts.
A few years ago, we had a '95 Intrepid donated to my community college after it was used up for training purposes. I had been building in a few dozen "bugs" into a number of cars for my students to diagnose. One of them was going to be a failed voltage regulator circuit in the PCM. To run a wire to a switch that could switch the defect in and out, I drilled a hole through the PCM's circuit board in a "clear" area. Thought I was pretty smug until I realized now it had a # 6 misfire. This is where I learned, instead of a two-sided circuit board, which is real common, these had a four-layer board with two layers sandwiched in between. I had drilled through the number 6 injector circuit. OOPS! Spent a lot of hours grinding fiberglass away to get two copper tabs big enough to solder a jumper wire to, but I did get it working again.
The point of this sad story is even if you can find replacement parts, you may not be able to get the old ones out without damaging the board. Some component legs go all the way through the board, but only get soldered to one of the inner layers. Pulling one of those legs out usually leaves the hole stretched out, then you can't guarantee a good solder job on the replacement part.
I can assume you know what the transformers look like, but the next problem is the boards are sealed in that miserable jelly. I've repaired a number of Infinity amplified speakers with that same sealant. It takes longer to dig that stuff out than it takes to do the actual repair. I'd love to know how that is addressed when you send a computer to professional repair site. I'm guessing they have a solvent to remove some of the sealant. Here again, if you dig at it, you're always left with "eraser crumbs" that didn't quite get all removed. Those get in the way of good solder jobs too.
What kind of problem are you referring to with the PCMs? Are there any fixes you're aware of?
Sunday, February 23rd, 2025 AT 7:27 PM