Broken/corroded Engine Loom Plugs?

[GLPoomobile 958]

PART 1

 

I thought I'd post this up as I figure there's a lot of people who don't have the first clue about this stuff (still learning myself), when in reality, it's something that can be a regular source of frustration for us 205 owners, and is actually a problem that's so easy and cheap to fix. I remember when I had my Graphite Grey 1.9 a couple of years ago, the ECU temp sensor plug on that was shattered, so it quite literally held in place due to the ground in dirt in the connector It could have easily caused me grief had it worked loose. But I simply had no clue that you could replace these things so easily. So here we are, my attempt to offer some guidance (brace yourselves )

 

 

So you've got a broken plug in your engine management loom huh? Maybe it's your AFM plug, an injector plug, the Ignition Amp/Module plug, ECU temp sensor plug......errrrrrr........I'm sure there's some others, but you get the point. You really need to fix it. No point bodging it with tape like Maturin23 does, cos it'll only leave you stranded on a hill blocking someones drive, and swearing like a trooper in front of your kiddie, so better fix it, and fix it right

 

So what are the options?

 

1 - Buy a brand new connector. The original connectors are Junior Timer Housing type connectors. You can get these for about £2 for a 2 pin, to about £11 for a 7 pin. An alternative is the Junior Power Timer Housings. The JPTs are very slightly different, and have a slightly different female terminal inside BUT I have read that they should fit, and certainly looking at pictures the difference looks so insignificant that I reckon they should be OK. If anyone can confirm that JPT Housings ARE interchangeable with JT Housings, and work fine as replacements on a 205 loom, then that would be great.. The benefit of the JPT Housing is the design of the securing clip, which on these is much easier to release as you just squeeze it in. For this reason alone I'd use them (and will be) if replacing any plugs as I personally hate the original plugs with a passion for being such a PITA to get the clip off of The JPTs cost a little bit more than JTs, but not a lot.

 

Here is a JPT Housing

 

 

2 - If it's just the plug that is broken but the terminals inside and the local wiring is intact and looks healthy, then there's really no point in going to the hassle of crimping new terminals on. So with this in mind, it's perfectly feasible to source a good second hand housing. Then simply release the terminals from your existing broken housing and slot them in to the new (2nd hand) housing. Nice and simple. Note: you could of course buy a new housing as in option 1, and simply slot the old terminals in. If you are doing this, try and find a supplier who sells the housings individually without terminals and seals etc.

 

The cheapest way to do this is trawl the breakers yards, but you often find cheap looms on eBay that may come in handy for this sort of thing if you need a lot of plugs, or of course you could put a wanted ad on here and wait for a helpful forum member to come to the rescue.

 

 

So how do you do replace the plug? Well, it's really very simple. Ideally, and to make the job as simple as possible, you need a terminal extraction kit. Below is my kit which I got for about £20 via Welshpug who bought it from his travelling tool salesman for me

 

 

I use tool C from this kit for these terminals, it's the thinnest one

 

 

There's really not much to releasing these terminals, it's not rocket science, and so I suspect that you could get them out without these fancy tools. I was going to try it with a safety pin just to see, but couldn't find one. Anyway, you could for instance grind down a very thin tip flat head screwdriver. As long as it's narrow enough to fit in the slot and pretty thin, it should work (in theory)

 

This topic will continue in about 10 minutes (while I type up the next installment ). Bear with me

[GLPoomobile 958]

PART 2

 

Assuming you've released the connector from its corresponding male plug (did you have fun with that bloody poxy clip? ), you'll have something like this (this is the AFM plug IIRC)

 

 

 

The next step is to pull back the waterproof seal. It's one hell of a draw back! What is? An Elephants fore skin! Groan....

 

 

 

To release a terminal you need to insert the tool in to the front of the housing. Each terminal is in a T shaped hole, the terminal being in the top of the T, the downstroke of the T being the space where you insert the tool

 

 

 

When you slide the terminal in to the bottom of the T, it should push upwards on the clip in the terminal thus allowing you to slide it out the back of the housing. In practise it can be a bit more fiddly than this though.

 

I found I had to wiggle the wiring about a bit (gently), moving the terminal in and out and inserting the tool a few times before I could pull the terminal from the back.

 

If you are absolutely stuck, there is a last resort sure fire method, which is to twist the tool 180 degrees. This does a better job of bending the clip up, but I say it's a last resort as it does slightly bend the 'mouth' of the terminal too. YOu could bend them back again, but better to play safe and not cause unnecessary damage if you can.

 

To be continued......

[GLPoomobile 958]

PART 3

 

So when you've managed to get your first terminal out, you'll have this (pointless picture time, but hey, why not?)

 

 

 

Here's a close up of the terminal, which shows the little clip that holds the terminal in place. When you insert the tool it should bend the clip inside the terminal allowing you to withdraw it. If you are going to refit the terminal back in to a replacement housing you will need to gently bend this clip outwards again, as in the picture

 

 

 

So that's pretty much it in a nut shell. Repeat on all the terminals and take care not to damage any wiring as you do it. Once you've released all the wiring from the broken connector you just refit the terminals back in to the replacement connector (refit is the reversal of removal, as Haynes say). With the retaining clip bent back outwards, just poke the terminal in to the correct hole in the back of the housing, with the clip downwards (if you are holding the housing with all the 'T's the right way up) and push it in until you feel it clip in place. Once it's all back together, slide the weatherproof seal back over the shoulder of the housing, and refit it back to it's male counterpart. Take care with that damn retaining clip as you refit the plug!

 

For reference purposes, here's some more pics of an empty 7 pin Ignition Amp plug (just cos I took 'em, so feel obliged to post 'em up now

 

 

 

One more part to come.....

[GLPoomobile 958]

PART 4

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, where to buy new housings etc:

 

Auto Electric Supplies

 

Vehicle Wiring Products

 

Simtek UK Offers forum discount

[Sandy 189]

Good stuff!

 

You can use JPT housings no problem, but some of the sensor connectors have an extra lug to "code" the item to it's plug. These lugs can foul the JPT housing and will need to be trimmed off with a knife.

[maturin23 10]

Good work Steve!

cheers

Ian

 

edited to say: I'll ignore the jibes about my bodging

Edited April 15, 2008 by maturin23

[GLPoomobile 958]

I am so glad this has been so gratefully received. Clearly it was an hour of my time well spent!

 

I guess everyone on the forum already knows this stuff and my perception that some people might not have the first clue that you can even get new connectors let alone replace them easily was way off target

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Nah don't be silly, I like this stuff. We need more "how to" kinda guides. In fact my CTS plug needs replacing.

So let's get this right. You stick something small enough into the bottom of the "T" to unhook the terminal from it's housing?

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Farkinell he's right, it works! I used a thin nail!

 

What bits did you buy to upgrade your Junior-Power-Timer-Housing to a grade that's higher than your original Junior-Timer-Housing grading?

Can the rubber bit you refered to above as elephant's foreskin be reused on a "power" style connector?

EDIT: 4444 posts! Do I get a prize?

 

Edit: And they do it in blue for that O.E look: http://www.simtekuk.co.uk/www.simtekuk.co....ch=&sought=

Edited April 16, 2008 by KRISKARRERA

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Nice work Steve. Minimal ranting too.

 

Pitcrew here you come.

[dch1950 37 1 Cars]

Hi,

a really useful article mate, well done.

PS - I certainly didn't know all about it - cheers

Dave.

[daza4 24]

Might be worth trying to get one of the mods to transfer this into an article for the main 205 drivers page. I always try there first before trying the forum here. Well done chap. There are some people out there that dont have a clue!!!! my mates one of them but he would follow that.

[GLPoomobile 958]

For the sake of completion I might add some pics at the weekend showing how you go about crimping on new terminals with a proper ratchet crimp tool, seeing as some people might have corroded terminals or wiring they need to replace. Been covered before but might as well compile it in to one topic.

[large 33]

A really well put togeather artical and as funny as ever. I for one will be off to replace some plugs.

[maturin23 10]

Just wanted to say I've just swapped my ignition amp plug - I usually estimate the time for a 205 job completion using the the following formula;

 

(amount of time I expect) x 3 + at least an hour

 

Swapping the plug using Steve's trusty tool and handy guide took me all of 3 minutes - first attempt an' all!

 

Cheers matey

Edited April 19, 2008 by maturin23

[GLPoomobile 958]

Coolio

 

 

Wonder what will go wrong with the car next

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Any idea where we can buy this trusty tool on it's own instead of having to buy a whole set of trusty tools?

[M_R_205 5 1 Cars]

Top notch article, those terminals always infuriate me, i think il buy myself one of those kits

[maturin23 10]

Coolio

Wonder what will go wrong with the car next

 

I resent that comment

 

Actually - I took it for a test drive after fitting (your) new ig amp plug, and the damn thing still kept cutting out. It struck me as odd as it happened at exactly the same place as last time, coming up the hill into Totteridge. A little bit of logic suggested that the hill is the first time the car gets some proper revs (stops being horribly residential around there) - I realised it was the ig amp overheating.

 

Got a new one (£23),applied the thermal paste and all is well. Did my south Herts circuit this morning and she went like a dream.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Got a new one (£23),applied the thermal paste and all is well. Did my south Herts circuit this morning and she went like a dream.

 

Was it a Bosch one?

 

If not I could have provided a working Motorquip one for a few quid I know some people don't trust them but it used to work fine when it was on my old 1.9.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Well now it's me that needs help

 

The JT type connectors are a piece of piss to remove, but I'm buggered if I can work out how to remove the the terminals from the brown multiplugs and the relay plugs.

 

I pulled the engine loom out of the car a couple of days ago and I'm going through it to repair various bits, but it's quite tangled up from previous work (bodgery) so I need to be able to release some wires to untangle them.

 

If anyone has any hints on the right release tool to use and the method for using it to release the terminals then that would be great.

[kyepan 291]

Well now it's me that needs help

 

The JT type connectors are a piece of piss to remove, but I'm buggered if I can work out how to remove the the terminals from the brown multiplugs and the relay plugs.

 

I pulled the engine loom out of the car a couple of days ago and I'm going through it to repair various bits, but it's quite tangled up from previous work (bodgery) so I need to be able to release some wires to untangle them.

 

If anyone has any hints on the right release tool to use and the method for using it to release the terminals then that would be great.

Aren't there a special set of picks that slide into the plug and depress the metal terminal.. hang on *Fires up google " automotive connector removal tool"

 

these?

 

all the types of connectors and some links to relevant bits at the bottom

 

another one

 

states side loom restoration company

 

picks and deush tools listed further down

 

j

Edited July 4, 2008 by kyepan

[GLPoomobile 958]

After a bit of faffing about, I now know how to release:

 

The female terminals in the relay sockets

The female terminals in the brown multiplugs (for example the 4 pin brown plug that connects to the coil)

The male terminals in the brown multiplugs (for example the ones under the dash that he loom connects to).

 

The female ones are actually a piece of piss once you know how. The reason I struggled with them was not seeing an obvious way of doing it, and not wishing to just force a tool in there and make a mess of things.

 

The male ones are a bit of a pain TNB. Needs quite a bit of jiggling about to get the buggers to come out.

 

I've also pulled the ECU plug apart and taken a terminal out of there too. The good news with that is that they are basically the same terminals as used in Junior Timer housings, which means 2 things - 1, they are nice and easy to get out, and 2, you can source the terminals for little cost from somewhere like VWP, rather than going to Pug.

 

I'll try and do some 'staging' tonight and take photos to show how to do all of the above.

[kyepan 291]

nice!

[BamBamGTI 0]

What type of terminals does the connectors in the engine bay loom use? Are they metri-pak? Im trying to source all the male and female terminals to re-terminate the brown multipug and all the yellow earth connectors in the bay, but im buggered if I know where to buy the bastards