The other day my car started misfiring. I performed a cylinder drop test by disconnecting each ignition coil and determined the misfire was coming from cylinder 2. I then swapped coils to see if that was the issue and the misfire disappeared completely. I did go ahead and replace that ignition coil with a name brand coil ( not cheap generic from the jungle site!)

Upon further inspection I found that the insulation was missing on the wiring going into most of the coil connectors. This must be a common issue as a pack of 4 was only $10.

I spent about an hour replacing all 4 taking my time by doing one wire at a time. Then I took my time with cable management and rewrapping the harness and securing it properly to prevent any chafing or other damage.

A post mortem revealed no visible corrosion on any of the terminals but most of the connectors broke apart when I disassembled them as the plastic had become very brittle

Tools used:

  • Seam ripper for cutting the wiring harness open
  • Wire cutters
  • Wire strippers
  • Crimper
  • Scissors
  • Heat gun
  • Metal license plate as a heat shield

Materials:

  • 4 new connectors
  • 12 red heat shrink butt connectors (possibly controversial)
  • Cloth electrical tape
  • Several zip ties to replace broken factory ties
    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldOPM
      3·
      3 days ago

      We shall see, this car was a basket case and not worth the $1500 I bought it for. It has excessive oil consumption, currently a bottle of Rislone is holding that back successfully. It also currently has a brake hose which is causing the right front brake to periodically stick causing an awful smell. I will also be replacing that this weekend.

  • Courtney (she/her/they) @lemmy.blahaj.zone
    4·
    3 days ago

    Looks like the same shitty corroded connectors my Chevy Silverado/gmc Sierra used. Had to replace one a few years ago, and figured I’d do them all in one go.

    Gotta say, I like being able to sit in my engine bay and work on it, but I definitely don’t like having to reach an arm’s length behind a dirty part to get to something.

    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldOPM
      1·
      3 days ago

      fortunately these were all on top, but the car sits lower so my back was not too happy bending over to work on it.

  • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
    31·
    3 days ago

    Those butt connectors certainly are controversial I hate the idea haha especially since it’s for ignition, soldering would be more ideal.

    • PriorityMotif@lemmy.worldOPM
      7·
      2 days ago

      I used to feel the same. Soldering is more likely to fail because solder is brittle and it’s a high temp environment. As long as you use quality connectors and a proper crimper then it’s good.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Proper crimp connections are far better than solder in that environment.

      I used to solder everything in cars before I learned about vibration and stress on rigid joints like solder.

      I switched to crimp only (mumble) decades ago but started buying proper crimp tools and connectors with heat shrink on them. Better ones come with a heat-activated adhesive on the heat shrink too.

      None of those crimps have ever failed, and they’re faster and easier to complete.

      I’ll only solder something now if it’s the only way to fix it.

      My inner solderer cries a little with every crimp, especially after spending decades building up my soldering kits. But I can’t argue with the industry’s experience.