Olympus D-450 flash quit working

[Fragmentum]

My Olympus D-450 Zoom flash quit working. When I open the lens cover the viewfinder yellow light blinks for almost a full minuet then stops. When I lift the flash cover the green light flashes continually and the left side of the body where the flash capacitor is located begins to warm. The green flash charging light does not extinguish even with new fresh batteries.
The camera will still take non-flash photographs.
I recently bought another D-450 Zoom off ebay that did not work so I could swap the camera shell with my broken one. There were three soldier connections on the circuit board from the flash that needed switching during the camera shell replacement, and yes, I did the switch and the flash did work for several shootings after the body shell replacement.
I still have the old camera shell with the flash assembly inside and the guts of the camera bought on ebay.
Questions; Should I just try to swap out the flash capacitor from the two cameras AND the flash tube assembly as well?
Do I need to ground or short out the capacitor from both units prior to disassembly/reassembly?
How do I do that, just across the leads?

Thanks for any assistance!
Don

[Clemmie]

Provided you are absolutely CERTAIN you didn't cross any wires during the case switchout, and your solder connections are still intact (check this, as it's very possible a short has developed) - then it sounds to me like you have a Capacitor gone bad.

Capacitors DO carry quite a charge, even if they've been on the shelf for years. I don't recommend the 'shorting' method to try to discharge it - that's a good way to blow it up! Put a piece of electrical tape or duck tape over the leads for insulation, and just handle them carefully.

The number one killer of capacitors, besides improper voltage, is Age - so you may be swapping one dud for another. Once you have it out, take it to Radio Shack, where they can decipher the encoding on it - and match up a fresh replacement of the proper rating.

Note that they're not always successful matching to current stock, and you may have to order the correct piece. So when you tear into it, plan for the possibility of being 'down, awaiting parts' for a few weeks.

The flash tube rarely blows - though it's not impossible, of course. I would switch the capacitor first, since we know there's a problem there - then proceed as needed.

Let us know how it turns out.