Bypassing The Brown Connector,

[jamiej 0]

Heya guys,

 

Tomorrow i hope to rid myself of my intermittent start problem. I was told by Cole at Pug Performance and by trawling through this forum, that the brown connector that sits on the gearbox (ish) underneath the air flow meter can be the source of my problem and that if i cut the blue turquisey whitish wire and bypass the connector block with a fly wire then i will have no further problems ... is this right, or i am going to make my problems worse ...

 

Many thanks

 

Any opioins/suggestions welcome.

 

Jamie

[Anthony 1,003]

The thickish light blue cable is the starter solenoid one, yes.

 

Bypassing the brown multiplug for that wire can help the common "clicking starter" syndrome, but is not a guaranteed fix.

[jamiej 0]

OK perfect, well at least it will rule out one possibility.

 

Is the best way to do it but cutting and bulleting, or cutting, soldering and wrapping OR, shaving some of the sheathing off the current wire and simply soldering in the fly wire ONTO the wire, leaving the original connection in place.

 

Thanks

 

Jamie

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

When I did mine I cut the brown plug out altogether and soldered the wires together, covered in heatshrink. The starter wire is noticaebly quite a bit thicker than the rest, it is easy to spot which one it is TBH.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

80% of the loom can be bought out of the loom under the inlet manifold so the starter, Alt, Oil presure & Oil low can go directly back into the cabin, The remaining Water and oil temp can be re-crimped or what I tend to do is replace them all with new wire as you'll find the ends starting to corrode and cause high resistance then the only joint you have is under the steering coloum

[jamiej 0]

Right... not good news i dont think.

 

I cut the thicker wires from each side of the connector, one was a light blue and one was almost white. Both where the 5 in from the engine side of the gearbox and both where noticeable thicker than the rest.

 

 

I tried to start the car with the wires cut and it didnt crank, so i guess i have the right one (well one at least!), soldered the fly lead over the brown connector and connected the 2 cut wires, car cranks and drives perfect. Hurrahh !! it works ... then i notice that my coolant temp gauge is acting rather irractically and seems to react to the revs ?

 

So, what can this be, i have only cut 2 wires and have re joined them, now the coolant temp guage is dancing all over the place but seems to sit at a reasonable reading at idle ... what have i done, can it be anything more sinister than upsetting the signal to the gauges ?

 

arghhh, you fix something and something else rears its ugle head and bites you in the ass.

 

Any help/opinions/comments/suggestions very much appreciated/needed.

 

Thanks

 

Jamie

[McDude 33]

You might have wiggled the spade connector that plugs onto the pressure sensor making the contact worse. Disconnect it, clean the spade up with emery paper and replace. I think it is nothing more sinister than this.

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Either as McDude says, or otherwise it is possible you have disturbed the wire for the coolant temp in the brown plug. If it looks at all corroded and horrible personally I'd just cut it all out and be done with it........

[Spiky 37]

check the wire on the actaul sensor it self, you might have a dodgy connection there too

[jamiej 0]

Where are these spades that are on the thermostat, are they easy to see, i have had a look and canne find it, Also, as i was working by the multiplug, i am assuming i have upset something here. With that in mind, does anything that comes from this horrid hellbound multiplug effect the way in which the engine. My only worry is that if i have upset something then my fan wont cut in when it needs to etc etc. can someone put my mind at risk.

 

Many thanks

Jamie

[Spiky 37]

mmm sounds like the main feed from the battery or the junction box might have a loose conector then

[Anthony 1,003]

My only worry is that if i have upset something then my fan wont cut in when it needs to etc etc. can someone put my mind at risk.

The radiator fan is on a completely different system to the coolant gauge and light (themselves two seperate senders/wiring btw) and doesn't go near the brown multiplug - if the fan worked before, there's no reason that it shouldn't work now.

[jamiej 0]

Push push wiggle wiggle, positive click and .... its working again. I swear this car has more than an ECU, more like a brain that can sometimes be in a "playful" mood. So thats it done then.

 

New starter wire in place, temp gauge working again, lets just see if it works on those cold winter mornings ... hopefully, no more clicks for me !!

[Grim.Badger 15]

Personally I think bypassing the brown multiplug is just a bandage; I replaced the whole sub loom and now have accurate guages and have much fewer starting troubles.

[jamiej 0]

How do you replace the whole sub loom, can you still buy them new ?

[vicious-monkey87 0]

is the sub loom just everything on the engine side of the brown plug? like the starter, coolant meter etc? can you buy that part of the loom on its own? is it expensive?

[GLPoomobile 958]

Yes, by sub loom he means everything that connects through that horrible brown plug. So that would be starter, oil temp gauge, oil pressure gauge, oil pressure warning light, engine temp gauge, engine temp warning light, and the alternator excitor (charge warning light).

 

Absolute peace of piss to make yourself for circa £5 to £20 (depending on choosen connection method) if you have basic crimping tools.

 

Budget option - use all the same coloured wire so that you can get away with just buying 2 or 3 metres in a single colour, for about £1. Use basic insulated terminals at the sensor ends. Solder new wires to the old wires (stripped back to clean wire) and insulate with either heatshrink or PIB self amalgamating tape.

 

Pricier option - buy new wire to match the colours of the originals (meaning you'll likely have to by a minimum of 1 metre each). Use heatseal insulated terminals at the sensor ends (tighter connection if you're not good with crimping, and better weather proofing). Replace the brown plug with something like a Superseal plug (you'll need a 6 way connector and an additional 1 connector for thicker core cable, to accomodate the starter solenoid cable). Costs (off the top of my head) are circa £8-£10 for the 2 connectors, about £5 for the heatseal terminals, and probably no more that £5 for the wires. (should be much less than that I'd have thought).

 

You'll need a ratchet crimping tool to crimp the Superseal terminals on to the wires, but you can get these for under £20.

 

Should take no more than an hour to put together.

Edited December 19, 2008 by GLPoomobile