PSA: Check your connectors thoroughly

I have been dealing with an intermittent cut out issue for the past several months. A few weeks ago it was so severe as to leave me stuck on the side of the road. The engine backfired so hard as to cause the timing belt to jump.


I ended up finding a few suspect points of concern and reconfigured the fusible link distribution method to ensure a solid power feed. Replaced the 60 way connector as several of the locking tangs inside were broken away and replaced several wires going into it. Everything was good to go and it ran solid... until this morning. Made it to the end of the street and for a moment I thought I stalled it. Hit the key and it was no-start.


pop the hood, wiggled some wires and it fired up... drove back to the dry-dock and naturally it was 'fixed' yet again. No amount of jarring the harness could make it break up or cut out.


Against my better judgement I decided to go to work taking the Shadow and of course it ran just fine the entire way there... Going to leave this afternoon was a trying experience but we made it back to the dry-dock.


Figuring the coil was the last thing I have not screwed with I got out an OEM original (Denso made in Japan) used coil from my collection-o-junk. Maybe 2-3 years ago I made a short adapter pigtail to retain the original coil connector and use a Deutsche connector to rejoin it to harness or to allow for it to be unplugged and an extension harness be used for reaching the old conventional style oil filled coil mounted on the inner fender. The car as built came with the E-core style coil mounted on the t-stat water box.


With the coil removed and the short pigtail adapter still with it I decided to scrutinize that connection. With the wires removed from the connector and the pins/wires inserted onto the male terminals inside the coil it became apparent immediately there was a problem. The female terminals were totally sprung and had zero grab onto the matching male terminals on the coil.


Around the late 90's Chrysler figured out these round style terminals were a problem and rapidly got rid of them. Except for a few legacy applications that would be extremely $$$ to re-do like the solenoid pack connectors on the ultradrive automatics (604/606). The Apex 2.8 series (or others similar to it) in the flat pin/socket design configuration are much more durable and do not have this issue.


I found some pins/sockets in my collection-o-junk and redid the adapter pigtail as a temporary fix. The aftermarket sockets are no where near the quality of OE, the OE sockets look just like the 60 way ones but are about 50% larger on the ID/OD.


The upgrade to the 1999+ coil and connector will be coming ASAP. Typing all this out I cannot be certain this was the problem all along but seeing/feeling how loose those terminals were making contact.. it would jive.

So, the Deutsche connector failed if I'm reading that correctly?

The oem connector failed.

Edit: It looks similar to this one. (That is the oil pressure switch)

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....WUdXibu%2BAwEN

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Originally Posted by 135sohc

The oem connector failed.

Edit: It looks similar to this one. (That is the oil pressure switch)

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....WUdXibu%2BAwEN

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Oh, those are pretty horrible in the long run. I've had several make questionable connections over the years.

That is another one that there are no aftermarket replacement pins for. I had several salvage ones from various vehicles and finally found two, on for the dual oil pressure sender and one for the later coil on my konvertible. Haven't got it on the road yet, but it starts and runs reliably and I have done the "wiggle test" as Ford calls it, shake and tap all connectors while it's running and had no problems. I used a 1991 harness from a Shadow turbo 2.5L convertible and even used as much of the front engine harness as I could cut out of it so I am using the later engine to chassis weather pack connectors instead of the greased open style of the 1986 models.

Once upon a time you could get those pins in the dorman 'help' packs and they were actually probably OEM sourced. Then they went off shore and the quality was terrible.

A coil for a 1998+ 3.9/5.2/5.9 or 4.0 is a direct swap and the connector for the later coil is readily available for around $20. Easy upgrade and permanent fix. The TPS and MAP sensor both use them also or something similar and they are next on my replacement list, to use the 1990 and older MAP & TPS that use weatherpack connections.

Got a CEL illumination and it bucked once yesterday. Code 14 for map sensor voltage out of range. Checked the connector sockets @ the map sensor and they were loose. Time to fix them

For a company who at one time was a leader in engineering Chrysler sure went downhill on wiring. One of the things that drives me crazy trying to figure out is wiring on Chryslers. First the alpha-numeric system, that not only can change from year to year, but from one body series to another. At least there seems to be some attempt at logic with Axx being battery power, Lxx being lighting related, Gxx being Instrument panel (gauges and lights).

Ford and Chevrolet (can't speak for the rest of GM) use numbers and in both cases once a circuit is designated by a number it stays with the circuit, new circuits simply add the next higher number. I guess once FCA finishes all their changes we will have an entirely new system.

TPS and MAP both converted to 1990 and older weatherpack connection sensors. Noticeable drive-ability improvement on the low end and with the AC running and sitting stopped it does not get really rough and act like its going to stall out.

Never ceases to surprise me at just how 'bad' a 2.2 can be operating and yet it still just keeps going :thumb:

Few nights ago I noticed the headlights getting dim when pushing the brake pedal. Checked up on some things tonight and what a god damn mess of melted wire found behind the battery :confused: Total back to square one here on the power distribution side of things, even sealed up those connections were still apparently very high resistance and things got HOT. 1-10 scale with 10 being smoke and fire, this was like a 9.5 :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 135sohc

Few nights ago I noticed the headlights getting dim when pushing the brake pedal. Checked up on some things tonight and what a god damn mess of melted wire found behind the battery :confused: Total back to square one here on the power distribution side of things, even sealed up those connections were still apparently very high resistance and things got HOT. 1-10 scale with 10 being smoke and fire, this was like a 9.5 :eek:

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That really sucks thus my desire to move both cars to a PDC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 135sohc

Few nights ago I noticed the headlights getting dim when pushing the brake pedal. Checked up on some things tonight and what a god damn mess of melted wire found behind the battery :confused: Total back to square one here on the power distribution side of things, even sealed up those connections were still apparently very high resistance and things got HOT. 1-10 scale with 10 being smoke and fire, this was like a 9.5 :eek:

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Glad you didn't hit 10 on that scale. Do you have any pics? Any ideas which circuit kicked the whole thing off?

I mounted a bus bar on the shock tower to feed the fusible links. The connection between the fusible links and the car side was made via spade terminals and those were sealed with glue lined heat shrink. I used spade terminals to keep things compact and for the ability to undo the connection if necessary to replace a link without having to cut back and re-terminate as some of the car side wires are shorter than I would like. What I believe occurred is the hot melt sealant flowed into the spade connection and acted like an insulator to cause a high resistance connection. I will get some pictures, all of the circuits were burned equally well. Except for the ignition off draw as it does not do much on my car besides the radio memory.