05-06 42RLE Hard 1-2 Shift Fixed

[JeffreyyyD]

Hello, I recently bought an 06 Jeep TJ with 71K original miles, that had barely been driven the last couple of years. There were of course a couple of things that needed work, but the main issue I was experiencing was a hard shift from 1-2 when the Jeep was first started, that would go away after maybe 5 minutes of driving. If I unplugged the battery for 5ish minutes and plugged it back in, it would go away for maybe a week. Then the period it would work after unplugging started decreasing, until it was eventually down to maybe a few hours when it would start doing it again.

If you are decently adept with a soldering iron (THT soldering at a very basic level) this is a completely doable fix. I do have a degree in Electrical as well as Computer Engineering, but I probably could've done this fix with my limited soldering experience as a 13 year old realistically. I would only recommend this if you can't afford or need to put off buying a replacement PCM, as once you've "broken the seal" of your 05-06 PCM it's probably just a matter of time (I would guess a few years) before corrosion takes out the PCM. I attempted to reseal, so I plan to update in the future how it lasts.

To me, the unplugging temporarily fixing the issue was indicative of an electrolytic capacitor leak, something that any of you that have worked on old electronics might be familiar with. I bought a pack of 35V 220uF capacitors, rated up to 105C. I recommend ordering from a reputable online distributor (not sure if I can list names) but basically not from Amazon. I'm sure the Amazon caps would work, they likely just won't last nearly as many hours.

Anyways, my Jeep has been shifting perfectly since this repair so I wanted to post this in case it helps anyone else. If anyone is really interested, I could post some pictures with a little bit of a 'How to'.

 

[Apparition]

If anyone is really interested, I could post some pictures with a little bit of a 'How to'.

Thread needs this

 

[mrblaine]

Hello, I recently bought an 06 Jeep TJ with 71K original miles, that had barely been driven the last couple of years. There were of course a couple of things that needed work, but the main issue I was experiencing was a hard shift from 1-2 when the Jeep was first started, that would go away after maybe 5 minutes of driving. If I unplugged the battery for 5ish minutes and plugged it back in, it would go away for maybe a week. Then the period it would work after unplugging started decreasing, until it was eventually down to maybe a few hours when it would start doing it again.

If you are decently adept with a soldering iron (THT soldering at a very basic level) this is a completely doable fix. I do have a degree in Electrical as well as Computer Engineering, but I probably could've done this fix with my limited soldering experience as a 13 year old realistically. I would only recommend this if you can't afford or need to put off buying a replacement PCM, as once you've "broken the seal" of your 05-06 PCM it's probably just a matter of time (I would guess a few years) before corrosion takes out the PCM. I attempted to reseal, so I plan to update in the future how it lasts.

To me, the unplugging temporarily fixing the issue was indicative of an electrolytic capacitor leak, something that any of you that have worked on old electronics might be familiar with. I bought a pack of 35V 220uF capacitors, rated up to 105C. I recommend ordering from a reputable online distributor (not sure if I can list names) but basically not from Amazon. I'm sure the Amazon caps would work, they likely just won't last nearly as many hours.

Anyways, my Jeep has been shifting perfectly since this repair so I wanted to post this in case it helps anyone else. If anyone is really interested, I could post some pictures with a little bit of a 'How to'.

I wonder if the capacitors in question are part of that massive batch built with the stolen formula that everyone bought?

 

[JeffreyyyD]

Thread needs this

Wasn't sure how much interest there would be, I'll get some pictures and post by this weekend.

I wonder if the capacitors in question are part of that massive batch built with the stolen formula that everyone bought?

That's an interesting theory I hadn't thought about... the OEM capacitors are ELNA which is a Japanese brand, but it's definitely still possible it's related to the Capacitor Plague. Especially since most of the electronics effected by the poor capacitor quality was consumer electronics that would've generally failed or been replaced far before the capacitors became a real issue. From my understanding the first occurrences of the PCM shift issue were around 2011-2012, so that would line up with the expected initial failures.

 

[Obi-Wan]

I wonder if the capacitors in question are part of that massive batch built with the stolen formula that everyone bought?

The reason behind this happening is truly fascinating for those wondering........

Source

 

[mrblaine]

The reason behind this happening is truly fascinating for those wondering........

View attachment 646445
Source

I have at times found that to be very sad, absolutely hilarious, and astonishing that no one caught it before billions of faulty capacitors were put into electronics.

 

[Tronner]

The reason behind this happening is truly fascinating for those wondering........

View attachment 646445
Source

I had no Idea this was a thing. Good read and crazy situation

 

[mrblaine]

I had no Idea this was a thing. Good read and crazy situation

My neighbor is Mr. VCR. He scours all the estate sales, fetches up VCRs, goes through them, replaces all belts, does whatever other magic he knows, and repairs the circuit boards. He was telling me that 99% of the time, it was bad capacitors. I explained the above to him and he had no idea why, just that it was a very common problem.

 

[JeffreyyyD]

Alright, went out and took pictures this afternoon so I could do the write up. Since I already had it done, I wasn't able to take pictures of the actual soldering process, but it's very straightforward and you can watch a soldering tutorial on YouTube that will be 100x better than what I could write and show in pictures.

You will need:

1. Soldering Iron
2. 60/40 solder (I like leaded for older electronics, but if you use leaded MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION)
3. Flux
4. Desolder wick (recommended but technically optional)
5. 4x 35v 220uF capacitors rated for 105C. At least 5000 hours. I used 10000 hours at 105C. Something like this should work. These aren't exactly the ones I used but they have identical specs. I already had the right caps lying around. Maybe get a few extras.
6. Needlenose pliers
7. Small wire clippers like this are ideal. You can really use any wire clippers, but the process is a little easier with small ones.
8. Plastic pry tools
9. Toothpicks

First, open your hood and disconnect the battery. Disconnect the negative (GND) at least, you can disconnect both if you want.

Next, you are going to want to disconnect your PCM connectors. I broke two of mine previously because they were old and crusty, but two survived. This video has a pretty good description.

I would recommend using a bungee cord or similar to hold them up, it can be annoying if they fall in behind the battery.

Next remove the three screws shown in the video and highlighted above. They are a Torx T25. With the screws removed the PCM should just come out, it's not held on to anything so be careful. Now, we need to use Torx T20 screws to remove the metal cover from the PCM. There are 7 of these screws total. After removing these screws, you will want to VERY carefully pry off the cover, There is low risk to damage of the internal components as foam and a potting gel compound are used. You will want to very slowly and careful use pry tools to go around the edges corner by corner and lift up the cover from the connector side. It is NOT connected to the connectors themselves, they will remain on the heatsink half.

Once that is off, you will see the 4 electrolytic capacitors in question. Here are some zoomed in images. Note the capacitor with the gel messed up around it. That was where I was messing around with the potting compound before I realized I should probably take pictures for a before in case I screwed up.

Now here's the difficult(ish) part. Using a toothpick, you want to carefully remove the gel around the capacitor (primarily at the contacts). The contacts are near the + and - indicators. To remove the capacitor, I recommend you use one of the following ways:

1. [RECOMMENDED] Desolder the leads from the pads individually using the soldering iron and some soldering wick and pull the capacitor up using the pliers.
2. Clip the leads very close to the body of the electrolytic capacitor. Then use pliers to pull up the capacitor. Finally, use the soldering wick to remove the remaining old solder and old leads.

I did option 1 (the correct way) which took about 2 minutes of careful soldering before switching to option 2 for the remaining capacitors which could be done in about 30 seconds. I remembered to take one image with the capacitor removed. NOTE: The capacitor has 4 faux pads holding it to the board, you will need to wiggle it back and forth carefully to break these connections. They are not grounds or anything, so no need to worry about them in the future, you just don't want to damage any traces.

To solder the new capacitors on, you want to bend the leads in an L shape against the body of the capacitor, with a bit of lead protruding past like this:

Note the 'burn' marks around the pads. That is burned flux, which you can remove with isopropyl alcohol if you care enough to. I did not.

Cut off the leads so there is about 5mm sticking out from each lead parallel to the capacitor. this will be plenty to solder to the pad. Next, apply flux to the pads and tin them using the 60/40 solder and the soldering iron. This should basically be a short tap with the solder for this size of pad. You then want to set the capacitor down and hold it with your index and thumb to keep the pads aligned while you solder the leads to the pads. It should only take a couple of seconds total. You want to hold with your fingers, because it SHOULD NOT feel too hot on the capacitor. If it does, you likely have overheated it and shortened the life quite a bit. I would recommend being safe and using another one.

Now just do that 3 more times. You will then want to reapply the old potting compound. I haven't yet tested new potting compound, but when I do I will update. I'm sure it is very simple to apply. I did clean the area with 99% isopropyl alcohol to get rid of any finger oils around each capacitor.

Reassemble the PCM, reinstall, reconnect the PCM connectors, and plug the battery back in. Go for a quick test drive to make sure everything is working. It will probably take a few days to be able to tell if yours is truly fixed, but maybe that's the cynic in me.

Hope this helps someone else. If you have any questions let me know.

 

[JeffreyyyD]

Alright, went out and took pictures this afternoon so I could do the write up. Since I already had it done, I wasn't able to take pictures of the actual soldering process, but it's very straightforward and you can watch a soldering tutorial on YouTube that will be 100x better than what I could write and show in pictures.

You will need:

1. Soldering Iron
2. 60/40 solder (I like leaded for older electronics, but if you use leaded MAKE SURE YOU HAVE GOOD VENTILATION)
3. Flux
4. Desolder wick (recommended but technically optional)
5. 4x 35v 220uF capacitors rated for 105C. At least 5000 hours. I used 10000 hours at 105C. Something like this should work. These aren't exactly the ones I used but they have identical specs. I already had the right caps lying around. Maybe get a few extras.
6. Needlenose pliers
7. Small wire clippers like this are ideal. You can really use any wire clippers, but the process is a little easier with small ones.
8. Plastic pry tools
9. Toothpicks

First, open your hood and disconnect the battery. Disconnect the negative (GND) at least, you can disconnect both if you want.
View attachment 646486View attachment 646487
Next, you are going to want to disconnect your PCM connectors. I broke two of mine previously because they were old and crusty, but two survived. This video has a pretty good description.
View attachment 646488
I would recommend using a bungee cord or similar to hold them up, it can be annoying if they fall in behind the battery.
View attachment 646490
Next remove the three screws shown in the video and highlighted above. They are a Torx T25. With the screws removed the PCM should just come out, it's not held on to anything so be careful. Now, we need to use Torx T20 screws to remove the metal cover from the PCM. There are 7 of these screws total. After removing these screws, you will want to VERY carefully pry off the cover, There is low risk to damage of the internal components as foam and a potting gel compound are used. You will want to very slowly and careful use pry tools to go around the edges corner by corner and lift up the cover from the connector side. It is NOT connected to the connectors themselves, they will remain on the heatsink half.
View attachment 646491
Once that is off, you will see the 4 electrolytic capacitors in question. Here are some zoomed in images. Note the capacitor with the gel messed up around it. That was where I was messing around with the potting compound before I realized I should probably take pictures for a before in case I screwed up.
View attachment 646492View attachment 646493

Now here's the difficult(ish) part. Using a toothpick, you want to carefully remove the gel around the capacitor (primarily at the contacts). The contacts are near the + and - indicators. To remove the capacitor, I recommend you use one of the following ways:

1. [RECOMMENDED] Desolder the leads from the pads individually using the soldering iron and some soldering wick and pull the capacitor up using the pliers.
2. Clip the leads very close to the body of the electrolytic capacitor. Then use pliers to pull up the capacitor. Finally, use the soldering wick to remove the remaining old solder and old leads.

I did option 1 (the correct way) which took about 2 minutes of careful soldering before switching to option 2 for the remaining capacitors which could be done in about 30 seconds. I remembered to take one image with the capacitor removed. NOTE: The capacitor has 4 faux pads holding it to the board, you will need to wiggle it back and forth carefully to break these connections. They are not grounds or anything, so no need to worry about them in the future, you just don't want to damage any traces.
View attachment 646499

To solder the new capacitors on, you want to bend the leads in an L shape against the body of the capacitor, with a bit of lead protruding past like this:

View attachment 646505

Note the 'burn' marks around the pads. That is burned flux, which you can remove with isopropyl alcohol if you care enough to. I did not.

Cut off the leads so there is about 5mm sticking out from each lead parallel to the capacitor. this will be plenty to solder to the pad. Next, apply flux to the pads and tin them using the 60/40 solder and the soldering iron. This should basically be a short tap with the solder for this size of pad. You then want to set the capacitor down and hold it with your index and thumb to keep the pads aligned while you solder the leads to the pads. It should only take a couple of seconds total. You want to hold with your fingers, because it SHOULD NOT feel too hot on the capacitor. If it does, you likely have overheated it and shortened the life quite a bit. I would recommend being safe and using another one.

View attachment 646503

Now just do that 3 more times. You will then want to reapply the old potting compound. I haven't yet tested new potting compound, but when I do I will update. I'm sure it is very simple to apply. I did clean the area with 99% isopropyl alcohol to get rid of any finger oils around each capacitor.
View attachment 646507
Reassemble the PCM, reinstall, reconnect the PCM connectors, and plug the battery back in. Go for a quick test drive to make sure everything is working. It will probably take a few days to be able to tell if yours is truly fixed, but maybe that's the cynic in me.

Hope this helps someone else. If you have any questions let me know.

 

[JeffreyyyD]

Sorry, accidentally double posted. If a mod could remove the second post, I'd appreciate it. Also the last two giant pictures were an accident but I can't edit.

 

[hear]

Should probably just re-copy all this into a thread in the how to section.

 

[Tronner]

My neighbor is Mr. VCR. He scours all the estate sales, fetches up VCRs, goes through them, replaces all belts, does whatever other magic he knows, and repairs the circuit boards. He was telling me that 99% of the time, it was bad capacitors. I explained the above to him and he had no idea why, just that it was a very common problem.

I love my VCR and the TV I have it hooked up to! Does he have a YouTube channel or a website? I’m always on the lookout for spare parts and bits to keep this going for a while longer.

The TV is a Hitachi 12inch from 1984 and the VCR is a Sony from the early 2000s. The TV needs some love and a good cleaning, the Tube will start to fade after is has heated up and will loose color picture after a while. Usually a smack to the side will bring it back.

 

[mrblaine]

I love my VCR and the TV I have it hooked up to! Does he have a YouTube channel or a website? I’m always on the lookout for spare parts and bits to keep this going for a while longer.

The TV is a Hitachi 12inch from 1984 and the VCR is a Sony from the early 2000s. The TV needs some love and a good cleaning, the Tube will start to fade after is has heated up and will loose color picture after a while. Usually a smack to the side will bring it back.
View attachment 646511

He does not. He does Offer Up and word of mouth. He probably has 50-60 in stock at any one time. He finally divested himself of his VHS tape collection, all 15,000 of them.

 

[dbbd1]

Thanks for the cool and interesting write-up.

 

[hardtailpan]

Nice write up, but I have a question: Doesn't one also need to pay attention of the polarity of the capacitors removed and replace them in the same orientation? Not sure if the polarity is also marked on the board, but since electrolytic caps are polarized, this should be a very important step to add.

 

[JeffreyyyD]

Nice write up, but I have a question: Doesn't one also need to pay attention of the polarity of the capacitors removed and replace them in the same orientation? Not sure if the polarity is also marked on the board, but since electrolytic caps are polarized, this should be a very important step to add.

Yes, very true these are certainly polar caps. Unfortunately sometimes I don't realize that the things that are obvious to me because of my experience need to be listed for others that are learning (especially in a how to guide!). When I clean it up and put it in the how to guides section I will make sure to include that.

For anyone that reads this part: make sure you track which lead is positive and negative using my pictures, it will be labeled on the new capacitors.