Tachometric Relay Question

[WALDO 1]

Hi Telf

 

Thanks for your interest. I have a lot of domestic electrical wiring experience but not much auto electrical wiring experience. That particular group of damaged wires as mentioned looks as if a rat (rather than a mouse) has tried to eat through them with some success. 2 or 3 of the wires are broken through. I have a digital camera but don't take many pictures these days. I may dig it out and try and take a photo.

 

I have to assume that a wire or two has failed and then when I bypassed the relay that has extended the damage? I have some same size wiring and have ordered some more as I want to keep at least some of them the same colour etc. I have ordered some blue butt connectors. I did think of a replacement loom (until I realised that there wasn't one purely for the injection system only). I don't have your talent or patience to replace the engine bay loom. There are wires going in all directions or so it seems to me. I was hoping to increase my knowledge of these damaged wires but have since noted that the wiring diagrams don't use colour coding. I am hoping from your comments that only simple wires have been severed and nothing more complex. Mercifully the car is on my drive and I am able to take my time and hopefully get it right.

 

At the back of my mind my main concern was what caused this electrical wiring failure. The car is 28 1/2 years old so maybe it is just age related wear? I have had the car since it was a couple of years old so I know it is as is.

 

Thanks again and regards

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

Alan,

 

A picture paints a 1000 words- try to get a pic of it.

 

The loom isn't a drama to remove- if you take the inlet manifold off you will see it really is just a main loom that branches around the engine bay.

 

Having said that if you can get to a scrappers or go on Fleabay there's no reason you cant just splice in the damaged section - it depends how far you are prepared to go. I know a garage in Lieston on the Suffolk coast that has a shelf full of engine looms- I'm talking 20+ of them just sitting there.

 

If you choose to repair them then you need to properly environmentally seal the wires using a inline splice and a heat shrunk seal ( I'm thinking aircraft standard - that's my trade). The area under the inlet manifold where the injector cables are is prone to oil/dirt ingress in my experience.

 

You are based in London -How far from Ipswich are you?

 

The damage is probably just age related- insulation break down, ingress of oil and moisture followed by arcing on a metallic surface- probably not any real drama.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Telf

[WALDO 1]

Hi again Telf

 

I think that I am going to solder the wires and then cover them in heat shrink tube. Only one of the 7 wires survived intact. I am hoping to attach a picture. I have removed some of the old electricians tape which was wrapped around the damaged area at least in part.

 

Regards

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

have you traced the wires to their termination points/plugs?

 

Quite possible they are heading towards the injectors or another part of the ignition system.

 

The wiring around that area isn't that complicated - if you remove the air filter hoses, dizzy and that annoying tray assembly for the AFM you will be able to get pretty good access and trace them fairly easily.

 

If the cars off the road it might be worth getting a can of gunk and cleaning all that oil etc off the engine, I did mine - its so much easier inspecting everything when years of oil and grime has been blitzed.

 

Looking at it I would say you have found your problem at any rate.

 

If you can get a splice tool the repair will last longer - soldering often causes issues down the line (I think)

[Anthony 1,000]

If you can get a splice tool the repair will last longer - soldering often causes issues down the line (I think)

That's a can of worms you've opened right there

 

If you do a solder repair, you need clean, bright copper wire, you need a decent soldering iron, and it needs properly heat shrinking and supporting so that it doesn't flex at the joint. Try doing it on dark corroded/dirty/oily wire or with a crappy soldering iron and it just won't work, and unfortunately you often need to cut back a lot of cable in the engine bay to get to decent wire.

 

Of course, needing decent clean wire and proper tooling applies equally to doing crimp repairs.

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

I agree with Anthony when I went through some of my looms I was amazed how far some of the corroded cores went back.

[WALDO 1]

Hi again

 

Thanks for your comments. I was surprised how clean and shiny the copper wires are as soon as I had cut the wires back a bit. I had thought splicing the wires soldering and using heat shrink was the best way of doing it? I have got some heat shrink butt connectors. I think I will have a practice away from the car with my soldering iron and test the joints before I start. On a positive note the wires aren't under any strain where they are.

[jackherer 543]

Solder Sleeves are the method recommended by Peugeot, they even sell them in bags with Peugeot labels on, 50 of them cost £68 from a dealers! However there is someone selling them on ebay for 10% of that, do a search for 9769Q6. Or just buy generic ones for a few pence.

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

Never heard of solder sleeves just looked them up they are great just got some to finish some of my wiring.

[toolie72 67 1 Cars]

Looks like that wiring might have been crushed at some point (from the photo) I removed my brown engine plug/spliced in repair sections/solder,heat shrink/insulating tape-been like that for years now and still ok

Will agree that cables can rot for inches-probably not the purest to start with

I think you'll get there-once you fix other people's mishaps

[WALDO 1]

Hi again

 

I am not sure what caused the trauma to the wires. I had not heard of solder sleeves but will investigate. I have repaired the wires now as mentioned above and the car started and ran. I tested it before heat shrinking the tube and it fired up without the AFM etc. etc. The old tachymetric relay also had survived the problem. I remember changing the oil filler pipe many years ago as this had perished and I suspect the wires that I have repaired had been subjected to engine oil dripping on them for years. They are also sandwiched between the engine and the radiator top hose which may also have had a tiny connection leak? I will have to bear in mind these repairs to the wires in case of future problems. I do like the sound of solder sleeves although the 120mm lengths of 4mm heat shrink tubing did give a professional looking finish. It has been an interesting experience and hopefully I have learn't something from all the contributions.

 

Thanks and regards

[Anthony 1,000]

Glad to hear that you've got it sorted

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

Happy days - cased closed - well done.