S4 engine computer question

[tomiki]

I heard from owners that the S4 computers tend to die with age and that there is supposedly some hybrid (?) component inside that breaks or dies and makes it useless. Does anyone know what this is supposed to mean? Is it like a time bomb? If it breaks, how can it be fixed? Thanks.

[Mrmerlin]

you would send the computers out to have new chips installed then put the puters back into your car

[Danglerb]

87+ brains do have some issues, and one of those is with the hybrid circuit. A hybrid circuit is "like" a big IC, except its an actual circuit board with a number of discrete components soldered onto it, but still plugs in like a big chip.

John Speake at Porsche Electronics Specialist - JDSPorsche has lots of information, and tests and rebuilds the brains.

[tomiki]

Thanks, Danglerb! I check out that website. Otherwise is it something that you could DIY? Like soldering replacements instead of the broken parts?

[Danglerb]

Originally Posted by tomiki

Thanks, Danglerb! I check out that website. Otherwise is it something that you could DIY? Like soldering replacements instead of the broken parts?

I would say no on the DIY, its the sort of thing where fixing the first one would take a good technician 20 times as long as the fixing the second one. Places with lots of experience charge around $500 (around that), and there are a couple that compete, so if they could make a profit and charge less one of them would be.

You need experience in soldering surface mount parts, and the proper equipment for removing and replacing surface mount parts.

The circuit is unpublished so you would need to trace it out.

Many parts will only have internal numbers, not a generic part number, so identification and location of replacements can be close to impossible.

Failed components can make the last two items much harder, so it might be necessary to buy a new brain with known good components to do the tracing and identification.

[MPDano]

Yup, I would find and buy a good used one. Then operate on your old one for practice. You never know, you might be able to crack the circuit code for us

[tomiki]

Thanks a lot, guys, for the information and explanation!

[Mrmerlin]

if you buy a used set of computer make sure they have been repaired with the new IC chip sets otherwise just send your set out for repair