ICU removal guide- rear defroster, some lighting, and windshield wiper issues.

INFORMATION Articles / Teg Tips
1

Issues - So my issues we some basic dash lights didn’t work and rear defrost came on at random. I didn’t check the windshield wipers but they worked at full speed so I didn’t really care. Since I have a parts car now, I decided to take out the OK one I had and remove the bad one.
This is what I found in the pics.
Imgur
The OK one I am sure I need to fix ASAP but I am not really sure. I figure not using the rear defroster and wipers might help it last longer.
The bad one has blown capacitors (that leaked) and a blown diode (?), where the board looks gone based on looks.

Removal- I keep reading people asking how to remove it. take off the plastic piece surround the fuse box under the steering column. Then unplug the plugs in the fuse box (My LS had more plugs than the GS, sunroof, reading lights, and others). 2-10mm bolts 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom. You need a 3 inch extension to get the bolts out. now pull out the fuse box some and you see the ICU behind it with a white plastic bracket holding it in. pop that off and unplug the 1 plug in the back of the ICU (its red). After that grab it and do some work.
It can be a 20 minute job easy, but that is without the capacitor work .

Based on the other thread, I am looking at replacing the 100mf from a 16v to 35
The 33mf 16v to a 47mf 35v. I hope this is right and works. $200 is too much to pay for me.

http://forums.g2ic.com/showthread.php?127170-How-to-fix-the-ICU-for-less-than-5

Questions-

Can the ICU have anything to do with the fan coming on when the car is off?

Does the ICU have anything to do with the automatic seatbelts?

I hope this is helpful

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2

thnx for the instructions but pictures of the process would of have been a lot more helpful than pictures of the results…

3

would the icu from a 4 door work in the 2 door? i just got from the junk yard out of a db and before i put it in i’d like to know…

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All I was trying to do with this post was help people locate it and remove it. the link to the other forum explains what needs to be done I still need to six mine… I don’t know if a 4dr is the same or not. does it look like the 2 I posted? Mine are from 2 doors 1 LS and 1 GS.

5

oh no man. its cool. i wasnt trying to knock you or anything. but the db icu i pulled out has a different stock number on it and all the gizmos on the inside are the same except they have different numbers on it. but i got it plugged up and everything is still working the same. but my defog still isnt working. the strange thing is that i hear the relay click when i press the defog button. so idk what the problem is. but i have 3 more extra realys to try…

6

I just did this exact fix too. My car was sending me morse code messages through the ICU beeper so I had to get this done.

I’ve noticed that there are several dead links that seem to have had the installation/removal posted at one point, so I took it upon myself to tried and capture some pictures of the process.
Do not get freaked out by what everyone else has said. This entire procedure took me about 30 minutes and that was without a step-by-step guide with pictures. Just take your time and don’t freak out and you should be fine.

First, start off by removing the 3 plastic screws and plastic anchors (circled in red) on the driver’s side kick panel where the fuse box is located.

Next, there are 2 bolts that need to be removed that are holding the fuse box in place. One is easily seen at the bottom of the fuse box and the other is located at the top. The top is a little difficult to locate, but if you just use the white plastic at the top, you should be able to find it without much trouble. You will need a 10mm socket with a long extension to get these off.

Here is a picture with both bolts circled in red.

This shows the top bolt a little better. I had to really twist my hand and wrist around to get this shot. This sort of shows you how far back in there that the top bolt is.

Next, I got up to stretch my back and broke my wife’s mirror that I had sat on my seat. I was using this mirror to try and locate the top bolt on the fuse box. Oops.

Once you get the bolts loose, you should have enough slack to pull the fuse box up slightly. Here you can see the exact location of the ICU, behind the fuse box.

The red clip in this picture is the only clip that must be undone to remove the ICU. However, you will benefit from undoing several other clips to give yourself some more slack during the removal (next step.)

I’ve circled the location of the 4 clips I removed in this picture. The two red circle at the bottom are for the clips that plug into the bottom-rear of the fuse box. They are small and were pretty easy to remove. BE CAREFUL when removing all clips. These are all close to 20 years old and will break if you use excessive force.

Next, I just took a normal flat-head screwdriver and GENTLY pried the ICU off the back of the fuse box. If you can use your hand, more power to you. I found this to work pretty well though.

Lastly, the only thing holding the ICU on now was the red clip I mentioned before. This one was the tightest throughout the process but it eventually came free. This last picture is what you’ll be looking at when you’ve successfully removed your ICU.

All you have to do now is reverse the steps and put everything back together. If your ICU (and everything else) is functioning properly, you should have the following systems working:

-Intermittent Wiper Control
-Side Marker Flasher Relay
-Seat belt/Key-on Beeper
-Lights-on Reminder beep
-Low Oil pressure flasher
-Rear window defogger timer

Instead of doing the whole capacitor repair mess, I just bought a used ICU from a junk yard. It does have some issues (no intermittent wiper) so I’ll just have to do this again. I think that’s what I get for breaking my wife’s mirror. :confused:

If anyone wants me to post the Circuit Schematic of the ICU, just let me know.

I hope all this helps!

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7

so if only one of these is not working like my rear defogger i have to replace the icu?

8

Not necessarily.

I knew I needed to replace my ICU because it was beeping at me. At first it was throwing my seatbelt control module warning and then the ICU started to beep randomly. Also, my rear defogger has never worked in the 8 years I’ve owned my car, so I don’t think it’s the ICU that will fix that.

You might have a more in depth issue than just simply replacing the ICU.

9

thanks a million for this write up and more details pictures on how to locate and remove the icu.

10

You ARE the MAN !!!

11

i do not feel like swapping this out,fawk me.

12

This shiet was easy. Just try it at the junk yard.

13

But…it was a pain in the ass though ahaha

14

Thanks for the detailed pictures. That upper bolt was really a pain and impossible to see.

I didn’t have intermittent wipers, very occasionally had an oil warning flashing (got very nervous the first time!), and just yesterday the rear defogger started coming on and wouldn’t shut off. So I decided it was time to tackle it and put in that capacitor that I bought a year ago. It didn’t fix the wipers, but I’m hoping the rest will be cured. I can live with the wipers.

Dave

15

Awsome thread. Everything works!!!