[T3] ECU mounting problems

[Jim Adney]

On 3 May 2014 at 11:15, Jessica Chase wrote:

> My husband and I had to reseat the ECU in our '69 Squareback because we
> were getting a water leak.

By far, the most common cause of a leak here is that the little clips 
on the underside of the ECU mount plate have not been hooked behind 
the body panel. Once these clips are properly in place, the 2 screws 
on top don't have to be very tight.

> When unscrewing the ECU from the body of the car, the screws loosened
> pretty easily. When re-tightening the screws after reseating, they would
> only tighten to a certain point before "clicking" and spinning. Looks like
> the holes in the body of the car are stripped (no threads left!) so we can
> only tighten the ECU down so much.

It's common for these holes to be stripped, largely because people 
try to overtighten them for one reason or another. The only good way 
to cure this is to do something that will push metal back in toward 
the center of those holes. I usually do this with a heavy flat piece 
of steel held behind the panel while I tap on the front, but Bob's 
suggestion to squeeze with vise grips sounds like it might work, too.

Then, don't get carried away when tightening those screws.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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