# Automotive electronics



## ritehere

With the many people around my area that are doing the recovery processes now, I find myself strapped for any regular sorces for getting boards and other for my hobby. However there is still my most abundant source thus far of automotive electronics scrap.
I run a towing service and often end up with the clunkers. The scrap that I recover from comes from things and components such as mass airflow sensors,o2 sensors,ecm's,stereo/radios etc. As well as any jewlery and misc. found in the autos.
I was wondering if any of you out there have processed any of these items and what you have found from them.


----------



## NoIdea

Hi their, all switch have silver or PM's, that also goes for relays, the computor card found in most modern cars, have PM's and i would say the same for some of the sensors.

Not much help i know, butt if you adopt the policy that all electronic contain silver or PM's, then you wont throw anything of value away, how much silver and PM's? Sorry butt Pass.

Deano


----------



## CBentre

ritehere said:


> With the many people around my area that are doing the recovery processes now, I find myself strapped for any regular sorces for getting boards and other for my hobby. However there is still my most abundant source thus far of automotive electronics scrap.
> I run a towing service and often end up with the clunkers. The scrap that I recover from comes from things and components such as mass airflow sensors,o2 sensors,ecm's,stereo/radios etc. As well as any jewlery and misc. found in the autos.
> I was wondering if any of you out there have processed any of these items and what you have found from them.



Don't forget the cats!


----------



## NoIdea

CBentre said:


> Don't forget the cats!



Not to mention the little puppy dogs. :mrgreen:


----------



## ritehere

Thanks NoIdea that is a great policy. And the cats come off first. I am quickly appoaching my 1,652nd catalytic converter sold on e-bay or to core buyers


----------



## Anonymous

I have an old mass air flow sensor from my van and after looking at the contact pins, I noticed that they are gold plated.

Kevin


----------



## ritehere

Have another friend (who is a scrapper) and he has been collecting some of the igniter wire from blown airbags. It has been said at many times that they are platinum wires. Is this true? are the just coated in platinum? And if so how much platinum?


----------



## kevin68311

a fine wire only 0.018 millimeters (18 micrometers) thick, one third the diameter of a human hair. Made of a special platinum alloy and just 1 to 2 millimeters long, the wire is part of the airbag trigger, called the initiator.


----------



## redrat

I was doing some prospecting at a local flea market and found an auto ecm. I figured that it was a computer so there must be some PM inside. Picked it up and a few other odds and ends for $10. I couldn't tell what make or model car it came from. Four screws held the cover on. There was a mother board inside with quite a few processors but it was encased in a clear amber colored gel material that was really tough. The gel might be a silicone or urethane, regardless it is strong enough that it wasn't worth the effort to dig it out. The connectors on the side have some gold plated pins so I might pull those out. Red


----------



## Pantherlikher

That looks like an older ECM... AC Delco type... Forget trying to just pull that rubber out and finding a clean board. It must be poured and let harden in there as it's attached to everything inside.

The newer autos have an aluminum case with the board attached with screws...
Toss that to where you can get scrap and keep searching...

The air bag sensors have gold plated pieces as well as all that copper wire leading you to sensors with just about everything and anything hiding inside.

25 years and total auto destruction have taught me there's PMs in that thar junker!

B.S.


----------



## Auggie

redrat, try different solvents on that goop to see if something will just melt through it. Maybe acetone or paint thinner or mineral oil, etc.


----------



## macfixer01

Auggie said:


> redrat, try different solvents on that goop to see if something will just melt through it. Maybe acetone or paint thinner or mineral oil, etc.




Solvents would probably be a losing proposition even if they worked. I was going to suggest heating the ECM on a hot plate or on hot coals and see if the majority of the resin might melt and pour right out of there?


----------



## Geo

Karyl1Matt said:


> Have you ever knew that XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> will make a difference in your daily life.



I had to deal with these guys on another forum.

He's gone. 

Harold


----------



## Wulf

I have just joined the forum. I have zero precious metal recovery experience. So take this two cents of mine for what it is worth. I get a lot of scrap fluorescent light fixtures from our side business in construction. They have copper ballasts inside of a poured resin assembly like what you have displayed above. To get them out I throw them on my anvil, give a few sharp whacks with a four pound cross peen, and they break right apart. I am not sure if this is an adequate method for your purposes. Once I break them apart initially I use two pair of slip joint pliers to break the smaller clingy bits off.


----------



## alexxx

Wulf said:


> I have just joined the forum. I have zero precious metal recovery experience. So take this two cents of mine for what it is worth. I get a lot of scrap fluorescent light fixtures from our side business in construction. They have copper ballasts inside of a poured resin assembly like what you have displayed above. To get them out I throw them on my anvil, give a few sharp whacks with a four pound cross peen, and they break right apart. I am not sure if this is an adequate method for your purposes. Once I break them apart initially I use two pair of slip joint pliers to break the smaller clingy bits off.



Carefull with those ballast, most older types contain PCB (and I'm not talking about Printed Circuit Boards).

Polychlorinated_biphenyl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl

For the little copper they contain, it's not worth it seriously. Your health is worth more...

my2c

Alex


----------



## Silencetriedgood

Anti lock brake systems have gold as well as air bag


----------



## g_axelsson

Silencetriedgood said:


> Anti lock brake systems have gold as well as air bag


Can you be a bit more specific, exactly where, how much and is it close to the explosives in the air bag? We don't want happy amateurs blowing off their hands looking for gold in a explosive charge.

Göran


----------



## Topher_osAUrus

g_axelsson said:


> Silencetriedgood said:
> 
> 
> 
> Anti lock brake systems have gold as well as air bag
> 
> 
> 
> Can you be a bit more specific, exactly where, how much and is it close to the explosives in the air bag? We don't want happy amateurs blowing off their hands looking for gold in a explosive charge.
> 
> Göran
Click to expand...


Not sure if it's like this for all new vehicles or not, but, on our 2010 equiNox (yes, I'm sorry, and call it "the nox") - it's more the "wheel speed sensor" which is by the brake caliper system, it can throw the abs system out of whack if its bent, or misplaced, or damaged when changing the tires or brakes. It looks like this


----------



## geedigity

Below is a picture of two gold plated steel balls (although not 100% sure about the steel part) that came out of the impact sensors (crash sensors that deploy the airbags) from a Mercury Sable (1996). The balls are approximately 1 centimeter (7/16") in diameter and I suspect the plating is fairly thick, as compared to the plating on fingers from PCBs.

However, don't think this is a new gold mining opportunity, since these impact sensors were buried in a rubber potting material. The only reason I opened them up was I was curious to see how the impact sensor was designed. I think they used the gold plating to prevent oxidation of the steel ball for fail safe operation of the airbags. Please note that the impact sensors are mounted in remote locations that are expected to feel the impact first, so there is time for airbag deployment. In my case they were located at the base of the front bumper.

I would use extreme caution and ensure there is no battery connected in the car before anyone goes messing around with the airbag system.


----------



## nickton

There is a you tube video about a guy who looks for the "legendary" gold ball in the airbag sensor and finds it. He was just doing it to see if he could find anything and he did. Pretty good video, but I don't have the link.


----------



## butcher

Sounds dangerous.


----------



## Kyrandy

Yes the airbag itself has just 4 pins that are plated an not worth messing with the charge itself contains potassium nitrate and another chemical I have one that I have tore down to the charge canister there can be no electrical static or anything or they will ignite an serious damage not worth it be safe on automotive stuff


----------



## stella polaris

I have seen some ok electronics from cars. But only from German Cars. They just spend more on quality it seems like. If not german car i do not pick it up.

"Lukas invented the darkness. Go for Borsch" All mechanics said once.


----------



## tbone0327

most of my scrap comes from junkyards. certain newer model cars are a lot better to be looking into than others. As far as the best ones to hit up for pms, my findings are between gm and chrysler. bmw and mercedes have some good stuff as well but some of it is a lot more to get to. General motors vehicles from the mid 2000s and up are sweet little pm holders. the ecms have ag plated pins, ag print on the boards and a nice bga chip in them. add some descent sized mlccs to the mix along with the fact they are easy to get out and opened up. to the crown jewels of gm vehicles. look inside at the rear view mirror or anywhere the driver can easily reach. if there is an onstar button, the day just got better. the onstar modules are not to hard to get out and contain some really nice recovery scrap. small rack of plated pins, sockets for those pins, small ag plated rf connectors, the center pins for those connectors, bga chips and on certain ones they have a small pcb with ag flesh on them. early 2000s chryslers only make the list because certain ones will contain up to 4 good sized bda chips. there are other sources on these things to get pm but these are the best spots i have found to hit up. 

If anyone knows of some more good stuff on cars from the usa market, let me know. i clean out my sources kinda quick but luckily they restock pretty often,


----------



## tbone0327

those gold plated balls i believe are plated over nickel. some testing with a magnet shows they are magnetic but not like steel.


----------



## kernels

tbone0327 said:


> most of my scrap comes from junkyards. certain newer model cars are a lot better to be looking into than others. As far as the best ones to hit up for pms, my findings are between gm and chrysler. bmw and mercedes have some good stuff as well but some of it is a lot more to get to. General motors vehicles from the mid 2000s and up are sweet little pm holders. the ecms have ag plated pins, ag print on the boards and a nice bga chip in them. add some descent sized mlccs to the mix along with the fact they are easy to get out and opened up. to the crown jewels of gm vehicles. look inside at the rear view mirror or anywhere the driver can easily reach. if there is an onstar button, the day just got better. the onstar modules are not to hard to get out and contain some really nice recovery scrap. small rack of plated pins, sockets for those pins, small ag plated rf connectors, the center pins for those connectors, bga chips and on certain ones they have a small pcb with ag flesh on them. early 2000s chryslers only make the list because certain ones will contain up to 4 good sized bda chips. there are other sources on these things to get pm but these are the best spots i have found to hit up.
> 
> If anyone knows of some more good stuff on cars from the usa market, let me know. i clean out my sources kinda quick but luckily they restock pretty often,



I think you probably mean Gold (Au) plated ?


----------



## tbone0327

Yeah. None of it is solid gold except for the tiny bond wires in the bga chips. Went on a run today and for 2.5 hrs got 24 capped bga, about 75 grams of pins and I have no idea on the other bga.


----------



## tbone0327

I havent looked through most of the threads yet but to save some time, does anyone know of a descent way to get rid of silicone potting?


----------



## etack

there was a post a few years ago on gas pedal sensor. They were PM plated like a slip ring.

Eric


----------



## etack

took a while but found it.

https://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=20886&p=223172&hilit=car+sensor#p223172

Eric


----------



## Ohiogoldfever

Digging up an older one here while reading through stuff. 

Any drive by wire vehicles have a really killer gold plated card and contractors in the throttle body mech. It’s designed to constantly move so the playing is pretty thick. Mass airflow sensors, stock stereo head units, any anything pertaining to the safety systems. If it’s vital to not killing the occupants due to malfunctions they make a point of being sure it works pretty religiously.


----------



## Edlin

redrat said:


> I was doing some prospecting at a local flea market and found an auto ecm. I figured that it was a computer so there must be some PM inside. Picked it up and a few other odds and ends for $10. I couldn't tell what make or model car it came from. Four screws held the cover on. There was a mother board inside with quite a few processors but it was encased in a clear amber colored gel material that was really tough. The gel might be a silicone or urethane, regardless it is strong enough that it wasn't worth the effort to dig it out. The connectors on the side have some gold plated pins so I might pull those out. Red


Looks like epoxy. If it is epoxy or urethane it won’t melt and solvents won’t work either. You’ll need to burn it out.


----------



## Golddigger76

Some, maybe most of the fuel level sensors inside the gas tank have palladium but do require some work to remove.


----------

