02 sensor connector crumbles
 

hi I have an 1980 SC and the o2 sensor connector in the engine compartment broke apart. I wanted to splice a connector in to the wore but noticed its got a shielded core wire surrounded by what I assume to be grounding wire. Is there anyway to repair this? Is there a replacement segment of wire I can get.....help!:eek:

Oh my, Welcome to the Club.

Unfortunately the loom is part of the DME wiring and it is cost prohibitive over $1300, if you can get it.

I and many have just solders a shielded/water proof bullet spade M/F. The most important part is the solder at the DME side, make sure it is solid then shrink wrap it.

Some have stated the connector is also a air sampler which effect the proper function of the O2S.

Jim

No DME or DME loom on an 80SC!

Doh, you right I meant on 3.2. my bad. Well maybe it will be less expensive then.

ohnooooooooo! my mechanic said he can fab up something. Do you think its doable? SmileWavy

Probably going to do the Bullet Spade Trick or at a minimum stand spade. Hell, you paying him to do that? Hope not?

well, Draco, im pretty handy, but im not sure about the hookup. I mean how do i keep the ground wires from contacting the innter signal wire? I put in a spade connector already, but Im afraid its not right, as all the wires are mashed together. How did you manage it?

perhaps the outer wiring is the air sampler? or is it a ground?

Heat Shrink it Brother!


BRB, will post a pic

lol, i mean how did you manage the wires? did you solder all that mess together, or did you separate the signal wire from the outer wires?

oops just saw your BRB, ok thanks!

Subscribed. Would love to know what you find. I was doing a tune-up last weekend and the same thing happened when I was checking the connector. I barely touched it. When I posted about the "orange" connector I was told that it was originally white in color so it has some age on it. Not too worried because the O2 sensor was reportedly disconnected anyway.

That same thing will happen to most mid-80s German cars. From what I found BMW & Mercedes have the same connector that turns to dust. I suspect VW and the rest of the German cars will have the same Bosch connector.

LOL, soldered it. :D

It was a tight fit because my 3.2 O2 wire was too short to work on so it took me couple of tries to make a solid solder. As far as the wres, the 3.2 sensor and heating wires were designed seperately so I left the OEM heating conectors alone and just butt spliced the O2S side on to it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...703_150157.jpg

Top is the Mercedes Logo-ed ( on the other side) heater connectors and the bottom is the O2S rig with water proof sealed bullet connector with heat shrink. I used the OEM connector metal clamp/holder to keep it where it should be.

I pulled it out a bit to show you the work.

Brain Fart, maybe the other German manufacturers sell the DME side connectors, we can dream right?

Draco, thanks alot for the pics, looks like very nice work. However the SC's have a different wire. Its got an inner insulated core inside an outer insulated bundle

Post a pic if you can, like to see your set up.

Where you see the yellowish shield/tube use to be where the 3/8" OD OEM connector was. Underneath was the metal mesh shield. Liken to a coax cable.

I simply stripped it and the green outer layer away and solderd the Male Bullet and finished with Heat shrink. The O2S side I spliced the matching Female spade and finished it off with heat shrink for extra measure.

ah ok, i see, so you just cut away the outer wires and solder the inner core? I can do that, but are u sure your O2 sensor is functioning? I thought the outer wire was the ground, but I could be wronng

Outer Wire? Do you mean the Mesh Surround? or the two white Wires?

My O2S does work, when I hook up the DVM to it with the car on I get .5-.6 volts, at hot running temps.

let me try to get a pic, but i would have to open up the work i did. On my application there is a green plastic shroud, inside that are copper strands and inside that is another small green shroud with a few copper strands inside

Oh damn, don't want to mess up your work.

OK, so you have a copper mesh under the shroud, then green wire with 2 or 3 strand of wires?

One has to be the sensor feed (positive lead which draws current from the heat of the exhaust) and the others must be the heater feed/ground. The mesh I believe would be the air sampling on my 3.2.

Damn, hate working blind.

This what mine looked like prior to fix:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...SConnector.jpg

Indeed the mesh goes back to the DME as a ground but strangely enough it terminates at the crumbled connector with absolutely no indication it grounds to anything. In fact, the Female shroud ( O2S Side) only receives the signal feed and nothing more.

It is however well insulated by the rubber shroud and crumbled plastic which was white in color in the beginning of it's life. Solved this on my mod with heat shrink, sorry to sound liek a broken record :eek:

Also did a bit more digging and found the "air" sample appears to be from the sensor itself as described in BOSCH's own cross section:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ossSection.jpg

ok, thanks Draco for that info and great picture. Yes that what my (now white) connector looks like. I guess what you are calling the" mesh" you disgarded and just soldered the inner core to a mlae spade and the sensors working?
I will pull it a take a pic

Draco,

Have you been in my car? I swear that's exactly what mine did. :)

I think it is your post I pirated the pic from. You must have recognized your finger.

How is your fix doing? SmileWavy

Yes, the inner signal wire connected to the male bullet spade.

The mesh was cut back and insulated with heat shrink ( here I go again ) as not to receive an errand ground for my DME.

ah, now im beginning to understand (thick head here) you shrink wrap the ground. SO basically I cut the mesh off a little ways down below the inner signal wire and shring wrap that. The nsolder the signal wire to the male bullet spade, then that will fit into the female o2 sensor and im good?:D

Sir you are a gentleman, genius and occasional picture pirate (i hope tirwin forgives you, especially since now he too can repair his o2 sensor wire)SmileWavy

You are too kind Sir!

When I was a Noob and still feel like it some times. I built a shroud with parts from Home Depot and Electronics store.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...COA5OG/o2s.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...OA5OG/o2s2.jpg

It worked but, I did not solder it properly and it broke off. so I went with the Bullet Spade with Water Proof insulation.

If you want OEM look this is how you can do it.

You know while I was taking the earlier pics, I placed a 1.5" piece of 3/8 hose around the male connector so the holder held it firmly, realized I did not like it being loose. OK I have OCD :(

Now the New & Improved version 3.2:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...703_191556.jpg

http://www.idylwilde.net/Porsche/01.jpg

http://www.idylwilde.net/Porsche/02.jpg


maybe this gives a better idea of what im dealing with. Im not so sure i can tackle it, those wires are very thin. I tried separating out the inner signal wire from the outter mesh and plugged that into the o2 sensor but did not hear any change in idle, so dont know if that worked.

Isnt the 3.0 o2 a narrowband single wire and the 3.2 o2 a heated wideband? I was under the assumtion that the o2 for the 3.0 is not the same as the one on the 3.2. So the fix may not be the same. I dont know.. just asking the question...

Maybe I posted a pic. I don't think so. If I posted a pic and you pirated it I could care less. Unless you were claiming my car. :D

Anyway, that is exactly what mine did. I was just trying to jiggle it to tell where the two ends of the connector met and then oh snap, it snapped!

Obviously it's a lot more common than I thought.

My car seems to have been running w/o it for years so I'm not in any hurry to fix it.

^^^ LOL ^^^

OK,

I see the metal mesh shield, green wire cover then the copper strand wire underneath. Am I missing anything?

If not, you are good with the Bullet Spade Set.

The green thing in the connector is piece of the green wire cover that snapped off.

Simply slip some heat shrink on then solder that copper strand on to the Male Bullet (prefereably water proof type a FLAPS will have it, i.e. Pepboys is where I got mine)

Heat Shrink that Mesh and end of the Bullet where you soldered it.

O2S, solder the Female end and then heat shrink it for extra measure.

Prior to soldering, make sure the Bullet set is nice and snug, if loose squeeze the female side. Better safe then sorry with a loose connection.

That's it brother.

Brad,

Yes the 3.2 is pre-heated narrow band system but the two heat wires are seperate from the sensor wire. 3.0 has to wait for it to heat up before operating as designed. 3.2 is about a minute later ergo our 45 second high idle warm up on the 3.2.

Status Update
 

UPDATE:

Draco, I belive its working now. I spliced a male bullet connector onto the affected wire, using only the inner core and pulling the outter shildeing away and wrapping that up. The male bullet fits snugly into the female connector on the O2 sensor. Now when I unplug the sensor with the car idleing i hear a distinct change in rpms indicating that im getting a signal. Will have to do further tests to see if its working correctly, but its definitely doing something now!:SmileWavy

Hoorah! Outstanding! Now go drive her and have fun :D