Wiring harness connector failure

[El Thermidor]

Hello all,

Annoyingly I have a couple of broken wires right by the lambda sensor connector on my 2001 GS. Body-side, so I can't fix it by replacing the sensor. I don't think there's enough meat on the wires still attached to the connector to make a wire-to-wire repair: there's less than 10mm. Has anyone else had this, and what did you do? Are the connector and/or pins available through BMW or other sources? Is it straightforward to de-pin and re-crimp, or is it dead? I'm not really in the mood to change the whole harness for the sake of one dead connector (so far...)

Another option would be a generic ebaytastic waterproof connector, entirely replacing the OEM one: has anyone done this, or is it frowned upon due to some obscure requirement of the sensor?

Or have I missed something else...

 

[Ian J Hartley]

Hello all,

Annoyingly I have a couple of broken wires right by the lambda sensor connector on my 2001 GS. Body-side, so I can't fix it by replacing the sensor. I don't think there's enough meat on the wires still attached to the connector to make a wire-to-wire repair: there's less than 10mm. Has anyone else had this, and what did you do?

I doubt it's common, but the wiring does suffer from ageing.

What to do is up to you and depends on how confident you are at wiring repairs.

Are the connector and/or pins available through BMW or other sources?

Not that I know of, both the plastic connector and the metal contacts/terminals are made by LK. As is usual with most of the stuff produced in the auto electric industry, they are made exclusively for BMW and are usually not available from other sources.

Is it straightforward to de-pin and re-crimp, or is it dead?

It is possible to remove the terminals from the plastic connector, but you need a tube shaped extraction tool which pushes over the terminal to depress the locking tabs (x2) which are located 5mm from the end of the terminal. Once depressed just lift the plastic lock tab on the connector and the socket should just slide out. Comes out wire side.

Once you have the sockets removed from the connector, it's simply a case of either prising back the tabs (not easy) or filing the tabs down to release the wire (this is what I do), this should leave enough remaining if your careful to solder the wire back onto the socket.

I'm not really in the mood to change the whole harness for the sake of one dead connector (so far...)

Not something I would do.

Another option would be a generic ebaytastic waterproof connector, entirely replacing the OEM one: has anyone done this, or is it frowned upon due to some obscure requirement of the sensor?

Or have I missed something else...

Replace the connector with a non standard might be easier, but you would have to replace both connectors, and you would loose some flexibility, not being able to just plug in a replacement Lambda for fault diagnosis. But here's the thing how often do you need to do that, very rarely. You could just remove both connectors and hard wire the lambda.

Let us know how you wish to proceed. I could upload pictures if you need more information/clarity, and if you do wish to proceed with repairing using the existing connector, I might be able to help fashion an extraction tool.

Ian