This is an interesting thread & one i'd like to add little knowledge to.
Firstly, our new website is up & running after our old one compleatly disappeared.
Right, to understand how problems unfold inside a becm is to understand how they work & what every single component does when it's hot.
The most common failure within the becm is age related components,& keeping in mind the becm is always hot even when the ignition is off. The most important components only have a shelf life of ten years. The other passive components life span depends on many other factors like power spikes from jump leads etc which can break down the reliabilty in the long run. Leaky components account for a high percentage of repairs & if left, over time, will render the boards useless through corrosion.
Then you have data & signaling failure which can only be tested with the becm under load. It's goes on & on & on.
The components inside these becm's are now obsolete & have been for a number of years. We know this as we have to source our components from every corner of the globe, & unfortunately, components that fit one becm will not fit another if it was made before or after such a date.
Repairing & unlocking are compleatly different. Unlocking a becm only lets it get reprogrammed. It wont rectify any faults. The same faults will still be there.
When buying a used secondhand becm that fully works is like flipping a coin. You have to take into account why it's been taken off the vehicle in the first place.
90% of becm's that our customers purchase from fleabay & such for us to reprogram for them get returned back to them after they fail testing, & then the same becm will appear on ebay a week later, again.
By the time a used becm has been purchased, sent off to be reprogrammed & returned cost's sometimes more than purchasing a rebuilt unit, especially if it need's some sort of repair as well.
It's always easier & cheaper to get the original becm repaired in the first place than it is to buy another, get it reprogrammed, etc etc.
Most of the companies in the past that repaired becm's have now stopped due to the increasing complexity of these modules, & others are just incapable but will still take your money & keep your becm for weeks at a time.
One of these guy's who call's himself Mtech, is the worst i've ever heard of. One of his customers who subsequently used us in the end, got charged £360 each time his engine ecu lost sync with the becm, stating he had to solder a 160 pin chip each time. This occured 3 times.
After many complaints & a visit from Trading standards he now states that he's in Australia. BBA Reman, great company, Know's there stuff about ecu's, can repair failed components but can not repair corrupt data, therefor achieving about 30% of what we can with these becm's & we have had quite a few of the trade switch to us, especially as we can achieve success 100% & only charge half the price.
However, i'm going off track here although i can make those statements with full confidence.
So, these becm's are a complex piece of kit, near on impossible to fix yourself without the specialist knowledge, let along the thousands of pounds worth of equipement, & we're here to offer any amount of free advice on any becm issue, as long as you email through our website & not PM's.
Opps! forgive me for dribbling on guy's but to go into true depth regarding these modules would take weeks.
