1990 Smokin IPC

[Foop]

Several months ago I was driving along and smoke started coming out around the left vent. I shut the car off right away and said a little prayer.I waited about 10 mins.and turned the key. Wow it started and ran normal except there are no gauges. I finaly got brave enough yesterday to pull the IPC out.

The problem was easy to spot,two burnt whogies and some melted solder.

So the question is who can fix this for me?

Any help will be much appreciated.........

You can contact me through this site or at

emwolb8@hotmail.com

Thanx Foop

Edited October 20, 2010 by Foop
Contact info (see edit history)

[Guest jcc3inc]

Sir,

Is the top view of the two transistors where the trouble is? Many of us can repair electronic items but we all lack the schematics showing how the circuits operate so repair is much more difficult. Possibly some other component was defective causing the transistor to give out.

An additional burden on the would-be repairer is that the components do not have the standard designation that a transistor might have. Instead they are stamped with a meaningless number known only to the manufacturer so we ordiinary guys have a much harder time deciphering the circuit.

If we had a schematic it would be easier. I have seen "rebuilt" units go for $150.

Regards,

Jack C.

[Rawja]

United Radio - Quality Electronics Service Since 1923 fixes 'em. I haven't used them but others here have.

[Jim]

I have some non working IPCs boards. I just checked and on the boards I have, those two transistors are good. If you want to try and replace them with mine send me an email. The only thing is we do not know what caused them to burn out and maybe something else is wrong causing them to burn out.

I would send you the whole board and you can use any component off of it you want.

There are three boards in the '90 IPCs. The front two have the ribbon cables permanently attached to the two boards. The rear board from my experience is the one that goes bad in most cases.

Jim

[KDirk]

I will interject here that if attempting to repair this oneself, ALL of the electrolytic capacitors need to be replaced, whether they look/test good or not. They are now 20+ years old, and electrolytics do dry out causing failure. These are the likely cause of the transistors burning up in the first place. Just replacing the transistors will probably blow out the replacement parts as soon as the IPC is powered up.

Don't waste your time with a partial repair, make sure to test other surrounding components as well (resistors, diodes in particular) to be sure they are still "on value" and if not replace them too.

The 90/91 IPC repair is something I am working on, but the results of my efforts will not be ready for some time to come yet (probably 2nd quarter of next year). In the meantime, I would suggest having a repair shop do this, so that it is done right, unless you have the tools and knowledge to do component level electronic repair, and know how to troubleshoot without schematics.

KDirk

[Foop]

Thanx for the input guys.I am in no way qualified to repair this unit.

Im contacting 2 specialty shops for more options. If thats too expensive,

who will give me the best price on a replacement?

Thanx Foop

[wws944]

Do you have a Pick N Pull yard nearby? The local ones here want about $40/each for them, and have a 30 day warranty if they don't work. Note that the exact same part is used in the '90-'93 Rivieras. So don't restrict your search to Reattas.

[DAVES89]

Best price? Good luck finding one, they are getting scarce. Too often they don't work in scrap yards, and last used in '93 on the Rivs. Getting to be made of unobtainium. You might want to try Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market Look at both Reatta and Riviera.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

I have 5 tested 90-91 IPC units and should get more in tomorrow.

[Jim]

Since you had taken the IPC apart I assumed you had the expertise to repair one.

wws944 is right, the best place to find one at a reasonable price is a U Pull It if you have one in your area. They are normally between $ 25 and $ 40 and you will get a 30 day guarantee. You can also call around to your regular junk yards and ask for an IPC for a '90-93 Riviera.

You should not have to pay more than $ 100 for a used one as there are several places that rebuild them for under $ 150 and you then get a longer guarantee.

[bwarren]

Caution, flexing those ribbon cables too many times will cause the wires to brake where they connect to the board.

<O:p</O:p

As mentioned in a pivious post. A suitable replacement for C23 is a (Metal-Foil capacitor 630V .047mf). Q6 + Q7 cross to (MJE 182). Need to verify if CR1 is shorted. We do not yet have a reliable cross to CR1.<O:p</O:p