Phoenix Gold Phorum

Hey guys, just discovered this forum last night so figured I'd hop on.

Me: Andrew
about to be 32 (jesus how did that happen?)
Long time hobbiest in home theater/car audio/perfomance car/nightclub dj (was a full time jock for a few years as well)

I'm pretty broke these days and my driving record is pretty bad so I sold my projects and am driving my dd 4th gen max until the wheels fall off hopefully along with a bunch of the points on my license. I still have some random odds and ends laying around and the paper junk in my max is making me crazy so figured I'd try to throw something in there while spending as little as possible.

SO...I've got a zx350 I bought from my good friend back in 98. Still have the OG box, packaging, bill of sale and other paperwork too. It has been packed away since I let my little brother borrow my car for a first date while I was away at college and he rolled it over a few times in like 2000. (needless to say it didn't go anywhere with that chick hahaha). At this point I'm just trying to decide if its safe to put power to it to make sure its still functioning. I'm pretty familiar with leaking caps from working on 1st gen DSM's, very common problem on their early ECU units. I can't see any indication on the pcbs of leaking, but I'm nervous of whats lurking under the caps. Also worth mentioning, this particular unit was sent in for warranty work twice before I bought it. The first invoice from PG says "Replaced pwr conn. + upgraded unit to V.2." The second one says "Left channel is out, replaced PCB." So I guess my actual question is, would there by any chance I have less to worry about with the caps because of this stuff having been done? I can see flux around the solder points for the ribbon cable so that top board (the xover and aux channel pcb I'm guessing it is?) has obviously been out, so is there a replacement main board in here do you think? There's no part number on the 2nd invoice, but it says the materials to do that work were $203.76.

Sorry for being long winded, thanks for the space and any advice. Look forward to some reading time on here.

ajaye wrote: I'm pretty broke these days and my driving record is pretty bad so I sold my projects and am driving my dd 4th gen max until the wheels fall off hopefully along with a bunch of the points on my license.

^^^As in a Maxima??

Welcome to the forum! There's definitely some very knowledgeable guys here to help you with that. Also, do a search of the forum. There's some good info already posted.

You will need to have the power supply caps changed. All the original PS caps in ZX amps are potentially leaky.
But don't worry, the are not expensive and its an easy quick job as long as you know what you are doing.

Putting power to it risks burning the circuit board. You can check if there's fluid under the caps (the big ones you can see through the plexi) by slipping a piece of paper under them. Nevertheless the caps need to be changed.

Agreed... ZX are of the age where you'd need to replace the caps soon, if not now. You might as well order them and install them with the rest of your equipment.

AVICJR wrote: ^^^As in a Maxima??

yeszir. i guess you could say i like maximas...this is the 6th one ive owned. I almost go through cars like a lot of people go through sneakers though.

Mr. Wild wrote:You can check if there's fluid under the caps (the big ones you can see through the plexi) by slipping a piece of paper under them. Nevertheless the caps need to be changed.

thanks for that, so simple but i never would have though of it.

well my multi meter and soldering iron and some other stuff needs to get dug out of storage, so i kind of wanted to save myself the hassle if any of the audio stuff i have is toast or needs more than a simple tlc like the caps replacement so figured fuck it and wired up the amp and 2 random 6x9s and just plugged my ipod straight into the amp input for a quick test. all systems go, so im gonna go ahead with ordering and replacing the caps. lol i don't even know if I have a functioning head unit, i think im gonna make an rca to female 1/8" stereo jack line to go into the amp and just mount the 1/8" jack in the center console for ipod listening. i dont even care about radio and the difference b/w cd quality to mp3 quality would be negated by my old haggard speakers I intend to use anyway. so.....off to HD for mdf and then hunting through my storage unit tomorrow.

ps sorry for may shitty grammar and punctuation tonight, i managed to slice through like 1/2 my left middle finger tip earlier and its making teh internetz difficult for me right now.

ive had this sony t7 digi camera for like 7 years and its lack of a manual focus option has driven me nuts since day 1 so i decided last night maybe i should rtfm and low and behold there is a macro setting that works surprisingly well. lol oh well now I know, snapped tons of pics last night while it was opened up after my camera discovery. If anyone spots anything else that may need attention I'd appreciate it, besides the obvious need for a good cleaning. is this corrosion on the right side edge under the fan ducting cause for concern?

sure it corrosion or that cream they put on heat sinks to help transfer the heat from the componant to the heat sink?

ttocs wrote:sure it corrosion or that cream they put on heat sinks to help transfer the heat from the componant to the heat sink?

like thermal paste? not sure, im talking about that bit of green almost dead center in this pic and the nick in the board

I thought you meant the cloudy area under the heatsink. That little bit of green should not be an issue, you might be able to take it off with some alcahol/nail polish remover or some light sanding.