c16 popped

[ashford]

i had pulled my ms to modify and swap with a different car as i had a new unit to install that had been modified for my new motor. when i pulled it apart to make changes the tanaltum cap had exploded, i have noticed nothing out of the ordinary so i don't know how long it has been bad. this is my origional megasquirt circa 2007( wow ive been running one of these for 7 years)

the car it was intended for is my current DD, so not having a replacement part i used an electrolyte capacitor of about the same value. so my question is how long should i be running on it. can this be permanent or is this only good for temp use?

[DaveEFI]

Tantalum are very attractive due to their small size and low ESR. However, what you describe isn't uncommon - and has been the case since they were introduced about 50 years ago.
But aluminium electrolytic have improved over the years too, and a decent low ESR one won't be far behind a tant in performance.