F'ing wiring harness connectors!

[doogie]

Ugh.....

Due to my various problems (mainly running too rich causing poor restarts when a little warm due to fuel flooding) I decided to have a poke at the wiring harness connector where the ECT sensor etc goes on it's way to the ECU..... I know I should've been a bit suspicious in that a PO has already jumped a single lead out of this harness and connected it with spades and a seperate bit of wire directly.

Anyway.... what a bitch that thing was to open.... I don't know if it's supposed to be or I just got unlucky and mine has been cross threaded etc by a PO, but I was getting starting problems this morning (including stalling when I tapped this connector) and running super super lumpy - so bad that I just left it and got a lift in to work. I'm going by the assumption that this connector is past help and I'd be as well grabbing some spades and wire on the way home, chopping the connector out and just doing each of the wires myself.

Obviously that's a bit crappy, but it will enable me to make sure they're all connected properly and do some poking with a meter to make sure things are what they should be.

Anyone think I'm crazy? Any gotchas or alternative solutions?

M20 520i

Cheers

Doogie

[doogie]

After completely rewiring this section and not using the silly silly connector (using choccy block because the spade stuff I did sucked), it looks like I've fixed my warm start problem....... I'm not counting my chickens just yet, but it certainly *looks* like it... will try to verify over the next few days. :)

[Kalevera]

Hey Doogie - what did you use to rewire the harness? More specifically, what is "choccy block"?

After 15 years, I've noticed that even TOUCHING some of the plastic connectors on my car (ex: the orange airbag sensor connectors under the hood) makes them disintegrate. It'd be good if I could find some way to fix them..

best, whit

[doogie]

I used this stuff http://www.toolstation.com/messages.html?closeUp=85099

- basically 2 screw down brass terminals with a plastic insulation coating and repeated.... just cut the connector out, stripped screwed and twisted both sets of 7 wires and then wired them through one of these (once I identified the colours properly!)

Not exactly the most glamorous of solutions, but it seems to work ok!

I took the removed connector into the office and a few of the guys had goes at opening and closing it and every one had immense difficulty..... and that was with it fully visible with loads of elbow room etc.... no wonder I was swearing at it when it was cramped in the engine bay where I couldn't see it properly :)