cdchris12 Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 I've got a JZX90 G4X PnP, and I'm swapping in a 2JZ for the 1JZ this car came with. With that, there's enough work involved in repinning the harness that it just makes sense for me to build my own harness. Ideally, I'd love to just add wires to the unused pin slots in the main ECU harness for basically every expansion port connection instead of having them run out the side of the ECU outer case. I'm worried though about potentially putting +12V or +5V somewhere that is labelled as "nc", but is really connected to some sensitive component. My question is, are the pins labelled "nc" in the manual actually not connected to anything internally in the PnP ECU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guilty Garage Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 I wanted to add to this question is, would it completely void any warranty to solder to the pins of the add on board (not the G4X board) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdchris12 Posted January 22 Author Report Share Posted January 22 3 minutes ago, Guilty Garage said: I wanted to add to this question is, would it completely void any warranty to solder to the pins of the add on board (not the G4X board) That's a really good question as well. I hadn't even considered this could possibly void the warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughan Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 The nc pins in the G4X pinout diagram should be empty pins with no electrical connection. 1 hour ago, Guilty Garage said: I wanted to add to this question is, would it completely void any warranty to solder to the pins of the add on board (not the G4X board) Yes soldering to the bottom board or top board will typically void your warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdchris12 Posted January 22 Author Report Share Posted January 22 3 minutes ago, Vaughan said: The nc pins in the G4X pinout diagram should be empty pins with no electrical connection. Yes soldering to the bottom board or top board will typically void your warranty. You specifically mention that soldering to the _board_ will void the warranty; does the same apply if I solder to the pins themselves? Seeing as my only onus for using these pins in the first place was for a clean install, It's probably worth my time to just run them out the side and keep my warranty intact. I'm not wanting to buy another $1.5k ECU for this car ever again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughan Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 5 minutes ago, cdchris12 said: You specifically mention that soldering to the _board_ will void the warranty; does the same apply if I solder to the pins themselves? yes soldering to any part of the ECU would typically void the warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koracing Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 Keep in mind - if you do modify the board or solder to pins - Link will still repair an issue with the ecu assuming it's unrelated to the soldering you have done - but it will no longer be a "free" repair. Most times it's a $150 charge minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdchris12 Posted January 22 Author Report Share Posted January 22 10 minutes ago, koracing said: Keep in mind - if you do modify the board or solder to pins - Link will still repair an issue with the ecu assuming it's unrelated to the soldering you have done - but it will no longer be a "free" repair. Most times it's a $150 charge minimum. Now that's an interesting take on things... If the modifications I performed (soldering to pins which the manufacturer has now confirmed are not connected to the mainboard of the G4X) were determined not to be the cause of whatever fault occurred, would I not maintain my warranty coverage pursuant to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and thus be eligible for a free repair or replacement under Link's Limited Lifetime Warranty? This is the same argument as maintaining a new car warranty despite installing a new exhaust system or fitting new rims and tires, as far as I can tell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koracing Posted January 22 Report Share Posted January 22 I would guess that given Link's warranty is a "Limited Lifetime Warranty", theres verbiage to cover this type of thing - perhaps the "not properly installed or properly used" statement could be interpreted as "without modification by end user". Also putting rims and tires on a car (these are arguably wear items) is not in the same vein as applying sufficient temperature to a circuit board to flow solder in my mind. One could touch the wrong pin with a soldering iron, overheat a component, drops their soldering iron on the control board, solder in a non ESD safe environment, etc. etc. There are lots of way that could introduce damage to the board inadvertently as a part of the modificaiton process that are wholely outside of Link's control and would not, I feel, be fair to expect Link to repair at no cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdchris12 Posted January 23 Author Report Share Posted January 23 2 hours ago, koracing said: I would guess that given Link's warranty is a "Limited Lifetime Warranty", theres verbiage to cover this type of thing - perhaps the "not properly installed or properly used" statement could be interpreted as "without modification by end user". Also putting rims and tires on a car (these are arguably wear items) is not in the same vein as applying sufficient temperature to a circuit board to flow solder in my mind. One could touch the wrong pin with a soldering iron, overheat a component, drops their soldering iron on the control board, solder in a non ESD safe environment, etc. etc. There are lots of way that could introduce damage to the board inadvertently as a part of the modificaiton process that are wholely outside of Link's control and would not, I feel, be fair to expect Link to repair at no cost. I totally agree with you that not all issues would still qualify for warranty service. However, your previous statement specified that Link would `Link will still repair an issue with the ecu assuming it's unrelated to the soldering you have done... [for] $150 minimum charge`... If the issue is indeed unrelated to my modifications, then Magnuson-Moss would very clearly apply here, and that repair should be done at no cost to me under the terms of their limited lifetime warranty. That's why I used the two examples I did, as neither of those would be related to something like a window motor failing or the engine losing oil pressure causing one of its pistons to eject itself from the block, for example. That said, You're very correct that ESD procedures need to be followed; good thing Link provides us with a ground strap included with the ECU. It's interesting to me that they do that, as the entire board is covered in conformal coating anyway, but I suppose the ECU's pins are not. For my specific situation, soldering wires directly to the pins shouldn't cause any issues. Because of the aforementioned conformal coating, it would be painful (and unnecessary) to solder to the board directly anyway. I have ~18 years of miniature and microminiature soldering experience under my belt, so I'm pretty confident I could solder wires directly to pins and cover them with solder mask, conformal coating, or something similar to prevent them from coming into contact with any other pins. I'm also reasonably confident that wouldn't void my warranty unless Link could specifically prove that my modifications caused the issue at hand. Despite that, it's almost certainly worth my time to never make this more than an armchair exercise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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