Rescued a PC engine from the depths of a drainage canal. Will it ever play games again?

[Rooster | 124]

Okay so I was walking down the road the other day and glanced down into the drainage ditch and saw a kind of familiar shape.

I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but had to go back and fish it out just in case....  So, like an idiot I climbed into the ditch and lo' and behold, it really was a PC Engine core grafx console and (probably) power adapter!  However, the adapter was mostly buried under mud and the cord snapped off when I tried to pull it out, so I left it.  Here is the video of my encounter. 

I get home and as soon as I pull it out of the bag, I know this thing is in serious trouble.  Here are pictures of all sides.  

As you can see, the damn thing is crawling with worms and dang seashells even!  I tried to clean off as best as I could, but this thing is seriously caked in mud.  I rinsed the internals out and didn't even put a dent in how much mud is inside of it.  Three or four seashells fell out of the inside, as well as these boys here.  

They probably don't work any more, but I can probably find other 25V 47uF caps somewhere around here.  Anyway, I tried for like two hours to clean it out.  However, it's a complete mess.  So I figured I would put it outside to dry for a while, and I'll update whenever I can get it fully open.  Might need to drill it out because the screws crumbled away as soon as I tried to pry them off!

  

Edited April 18, 2021 by Rooster

[TDIRunner | 2,876]

A bag of rice ought to fix that. 

[Vectrex28 | 366]

Oh no! You gotta save this poor baby

[tbone3969 | 316]

You can do it.

[nesmaster14 | 464]

Man, that's kinda sad to see from an environmental standpoint.  Awesome you fished it out though!  Here's hoping you can get some gameplay out of it, if nothing else it has a story to tell at least.  I think you'd deserve a VGS Rescuer badge especially if you got it to bonk again.

Edited April 18, 2021 by nesmaster14

[FireHazard51 | 2,104]

We gotta save it!  I got a little Crest bench top ultra sonic clearer.  I'll gladly clean anything you want.

 

 

[Richardhead | 2,925]

I’m a little disappointed in you for not diving in to save it the first time you went by..... 

[croagunk | 798]

Wow. Insane story. I’m so glad you saved the poor thing. Good luck getting it to work. I truly believe it is possible!

[MrWunderful | 2,932]

I give it very low odds. 

[LastCat | 246]

Yeah that PC engine looks like it already ascended to the heavens judging by how bad it looks like.

[drxandy | 3,278]

Hahah that's amazing!! Wonder how long it's been in there, but what a fun project to play with.

[Koopa64 | 60]

Take it apart and wash the separate parts (shell, board) in hot water with detergent. Use a soft brush. 
 

After that you can assess for corrosion damage. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Koopa64

[Rooster | 124]

1 hour ago, Koopa64 said:

Take it apart and wash the separate parts (shell, board) in hot water with detergent. Use a soft brush. 
 

After that you can assess for corrosion damage. 

Will do.  First I need to probably drill out the last two screws.  I can't figure out any other way to get them out.

[Tanooki | 5,102]

No you got it, fine drill, hollow those rusty messes that once were screws out of there so you can pop it open.  I'm pretty curious to see if the main board is salvageable.  Much of the rest can be shopped around for pretty cheap as replacement pieces.  Perhaps one of those few dollar(yen) cheapo probably dead as they label them 'junk' systems could be used to harvest stuff.  Odds are the plugs are shot, hucard reader is probably done, if not the ribbon cable at least.

[Rooster | 124]

6 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

No you got it, fine drill, hollow those rusty messes that once were screws out of there so you can pop it open.  I'm pretty curious to see if the main board is salvageable.  Much of the rest can be shopped around for pretty cheap as replacement pieces.  Perhaps one of those few dollar(yen) cheapo probably dead as they label them 'junk' systems could be used to harvest stuff.  Odds are the plugs are shot, hucard reader is probably done, if not the ribbon cable at least.

I can keep an eye out for junk PCE systems in used shops but I don't typically have much luck finding the PCE stuff, even broken.  Maybe Vectrex can find one on his end though?

[SilverspoonGaming | 346]

That is truly a find In The Wild!

[phart010 | 1,779]

You forgot to get the CIB cardboard boxed game  

Edited April 22, 2021 by phart010

[Air Gio | 50]

Yes it Will Work Pc Engine baby . Better Than Any Other Console  Faster . Better . High Energy  System  .  

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

On 4/18/2021 at 12:42 AM, Rooster said:

Okay so I was walking down the road the other day and glanced down into the drainage ditch and saw a kind of familiar shape.

 

"In the fall, the PC Engine returns to the stream in which it was born. There it will spawn the next generation of 16-bit consoles..."