[Shinobi]

My MED is still working fine. However, I wanted to ask the question to see if there are always symptoms before the MED completely fails. If there are no symptoms before complete failure, one can get stranded on the road. And I want to prevent that.

Maybe a better question is: What do you recommend as preventive measures (for less headache when it fails) for MED systems that are still working fully for 2 instances A & B?
A) Have PIN for the MED
B) Have no PIN for the MED

It would be important for owners to proactively follow your recommendation before the MED failure.

 

[Stimpy]

I recommend removing the fuel solenoids now. They are excessive (just some European regulation of some sort), they are another failure point (there's 2, so twice as likely to have one fail), and there’s lots of other protections from casual thieves without them (door locks, alarm siren, starter relay kill, and chipped key for the ECU). Advanced thieves that are going to tow away your car won’t be stopped by the fuel solenoids.

Then if the med fails, unplug it, and jump 8 and 18 with a paperclip, and drive away. That will avoid a tow for when the Med finally fails on you, and a Med failure on a road trip would be very painful with those solenoids. Plus without the solenoids, you don't have to worry about PIN codes.

You can always save the solenoids and include them in the sale of the car if/when the time comes.

 

[Shinobi]

Noted! I will work on the solenoids and bring a paperclip with me. Thank you!

 

[suckstobeyou]

A little late to the party but has anyone tried connecting pin 8 (Starter crank start signal from key in crank position) to pin 10 (Goes to both MED fuel solenoids) in addition to pin 18 (+12vdc to starter relay while the key is in the crank position)? I'm thinking if the starter can crank by connecting 8 to 18 maybe same is true when connecting 8 to 10 to open the fuel solenoids when key is starter crank position. As mentioned before the solenoid fuel valve stays open under pressur once the car is started so I don't think pin 10 needs constant power.

 

[Stimpy]

A little late to the party but has anyone tried connecting pin 8 (Starter crank start signal from key in crank position) to pin 10 (Goes to both MED fuel solenoids) in addition to pin 18 (+12vdc to starter relay while the key is in the crank position)? I'm thinking if the starter can crank by connecting 8 to 18 maybe same is true when connecting 8 to 10 to open the fuel solenoids when key is starter crank position. As mentioned before the solenoid fuel valve stays open under pressur once the car is started so I don't think pin 10 needs constant power.

Unlike the starter relay that’s just gets 12v, the solenoids get a coded signal on the wire going to the solenoids.

 

[suckstobeyou]

Unlike the starter relay that’s just gets 12v, the solenoids get a coded signal on the wire going to the solenoids.

So there is a microcontroller on each solenoid? That's very interesting. So for Med units that work intermittently and no scratch code I wonder if one could simply put a multimeter on that pin and measure the fluctuations in voltage/current to read the code. Once the signal is recorded (a sequence of on/off bits?) I think it's rather straightforward to build a raspberry pi to play back the same sequence on that pin.

 

[suckstobeyou]

@Stimpy I'm trying to fix my own Med unit by replacing some of its components such as capacitors, resistors, etc. I know you got a new Med, do you happen to have the old one and if you can send it to me for a nominal amount?

 

[LamboFrank]

@Stimpy I'm trying to fix my own Med unit by replacing some of its components such as capacitors, resistors, etc. I know you got a new Med, do you happen to have the old one and if you can send it to me for a nominal amount?

Yes Microcontroller in each med solenoid. You likely could make a Raspberry pi jig, but it may be easier and a longer term more reliable solution to just remove the med's.

 

[suckstobeyou]

My unit consistently works when heated up. I'm thinking about installing a hairdryer under the passenger footwell.

 

[Murcielago 03]

I am in the middle of an engine out service and I have now bypassed my other MED valve. As Stimpy said before I already feel better that they are gone. These solenoids can stick and cause other issues. As a word of warning here pin 8-18 jumping is only confirmed for first gen Murcies. 2007 and up cars I have not looked over the electrical schematics. If anyone has the schematics and can PM them to me I would be glad to look them over. Caution must be used when jumping any electrical connection. I can also confirm you cannot electrically bypass the meds. Tried it and it didn’t work. They are indeed coded...

 

[suckstobeyou]

I'm not going to jump them as my unit does work when it warms up so I can just keep doing that to start the car My other idea is to get another MED unit and replace the memory on board, this should be a small chip. It'll take some soldering jijutsu to remove a small chip but I have identified which chip it is. It's basically the EEPROM memory chip which should contain any parameter/history information particular to the car/key. So I'm thinking this should be the only chip that ties the MED to the car and has unique data. The other chips should contain the same code as all other MEDs. This is my theory and I'm in the process of testing it. Hopefully I don't brick my current MED altogether. If it breaks my next option is to bypass the solenoids and order a new MED so I'm not modifying too many things.

 

[pdisme]

Guys, thanks a million for your hard work of chasing down the MED issue and sharing it.

Has anyone experience sudden failure of the MED without any warning symptoms (i.e. range of the remote decreasing, etc.)? Or does it give you some symptoms of malfunction before complete failure?

When mine failed in my '03 there was no indication it was coming. Car had been fine, and then I went out for a drive one day and the remotes no longer worked.

I'm about to have it in for a clutch job, so now I'm considering bypassing the fuel cut offs given the engine will be out anyway, so should be an easy time to do it.

 

[Stimpy]

It will be a little easier with the engine out because you can stand in the engine bay for an easier reach. Otherwise, having the engine out doesn’t really help because the fuel valves aren’t blocked from coming out by the engine.

 

[suckstobeyou]

I know how to fix this. If anyone needs help with the electronics hit me up. All it is a simple electronic component that needs changing in the MED.

 

[Murcielago 03]

Could you please post what you found as well as some pictures? It may help others that experience the same issue. The more info we have on this crazy alarm the better!

 

[Stimpy]

I know how to fix this. If anyone needs help with the electronics hit me up. All it is a simple electronic component that needs changing in the MED.

Are you referring changing out capacitors on the board (aka recapping)?

These two metal can capacitors (the ones that have half of their tops painted black to show the negative side of the capacitor) near the relays look like the type that the how-to videos say go slowly bad and finally die after around 20 years.

 

[suckstobeyou]

It's not. It's actually a bit more complicated, if you have a unit that doesn't work send me a DM I may be able to help.

 

[Stimpy]

I know how to fix this. If anyone needs help with the electronics hit me up. All it is a simple electronic component that needs changing in the MED.

Let me save everyone some time since "suckstobeyou" emailed me his proposal after setting expectations above with a "simple component replacement."

"I can fix it for 3500 I need to order a new med which is kind of pricey in order to get the part I need for replacement."

For those that haven't read through this thread, it's $1200 for a new MED unit from Lamborghini with 2 new key fobs, and a $100 in parts to replace the fuel valves with a Diablo bypass. So if that's really how he repairs it, you're paying $2300 for a few minutes of soldering work, on top of the price for a new MED, and you still have an old unit.

I may go to a local electronics shop and ask them to replace those 2 capacitors to see if it fixes my old unit, just out of curiosity. I think there's a good chance that's what will fix it since the type of capacitors on the MED board are notorious for going bad with age, and the unit runs 24x7 when the battery is plugged in.

 

[AngelOfMurci]

Let me save everyone some time since "suckstobeyou" emailed me his proposal after setting expectations above with a "simple component replacement."

"I can fix it for 3500 I need to order a new med which is kind of pricey in order to get the part I need for replacement."

For those that haven't read through this thread, it's $1200 for a new MED unit from Lamborghini with 2 new key fobs, and a $100 in parts to replace the fuel valves with a Diablo bypass. So if that's really how he repairs it, you're paying $2300 for a few minutes of soldering work, and you still have an old unit.

I may go to a local electronics shop and ask them to replace those 2 capacitors to see if it fixes my old unit, just out of curiosity. I think there's a good chance that's what will fix it since the type of capacitors on the MED board are notorious for going bad with age, and the unit runs 24x7 when the battery is plugged in.

Capacitors over time will delaminate. It can’t HURT financially to swap new caps.

 

[pdisme]

Let me save everyone some time since "suckstobeyou" emailed me his proposal after setting expectations above with a "simple component replacement."

"I can fix it for 3500 I need to order a new med which is kind of pricey in order to get the part I need for replacement."

lol, yeah as soon as I saw the wording in his replies it didn't pass the smell test.