Ground Cleaning, 16V Euro

[Landseer]

This car is a 1984 and it needs its grounds and electrical contact points cleaned.

I'll post some pictures as I work through it over the next few days


14 pin connector. If you are careful and don't bend the wires, they will naturally remain in the right orientation to be refitted into the plug holder.
The females need to be cleaned out. There is a little tiny barrel shaped wire brush for dremel that fits inside, but I don't have one. Had to use a little diamond coated cylindrical bit -- very carefully. Better way is make a tiny little roll of 400 paper and work it around inside EACH connector. Just do it. Worth it.

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Now checkout these in the pictures below.
On the 16V cars, as some of you know, the engine computers and injectors and O2 (if USA) and CPS (if Euro LH) ground via these.
On USA cars, the rear one is nearly inaccessible and blocked by the valve from the air pump and the tube. (remove for ground access)

This car was starting to cut-out randomly. Thought it might be the CPS. Instead, this might be the problem!




















By the way, in the vicinity of the rear ground bolt is a fuel line (feed) running up past the PS manifold.
Holy mother of god is it parched and dry rotted! Sorry, no picture, but it scared me. Always check that stuff.

[Landseer]

Couple more. These are the males for the 14 pin connector.

#6 wire is corroded and insulation deteriorated, but not really scorched. Its for oil level sender.

I happened to have the parts from an S4 memory seat --- by luck it has a 14pin connector which matches this male piece.

[Landseer]

Here's the patient.
Came here in July.
I've put about 400 miles on it.
Its got about 199,500 miles.
MDS. 2 1/2 or 3 inch pair of Dynaflow bullets. Y to Spin tech for 3 1/4" out the back.
Not inconspicuous, for sure. 170 or 180 mph speedo, I forget which.
Has an adustable fuel regulator running a little bit higher than normal since it used to run lean.
18" twist knockoffs. LSD. Very nice car. Trying to drive it carefully in its later years.

[Pete R]

I like it ,the gray and the wheels look sharp. I have never seen electrics like that.

[Landseer]

Its really grown on me.
The heads were off in late 2001, so that's probably when the cam tower grounds were last addressed, maybe 30,000 miles ago.

One more picture from last summer (may have posted it before).
I understand the grey was a special request. Its a M.Benz color from back in the 80's.

The rear stance is now lower, as above. Fronts are as low as I can wind them. Will need to investigate.

[Maleficio]

Gorgeous car!!!!

[Landseer]

So, now we move to the front of the engine.

First, at the front edge of the PS cam cover:










Next, the Driver's Side (left) body ground --- near radiator & headlight motor.

[Danglerb]

Any change in how it runs?

My 85 Euro has 195k miles and I have zero plans to ever drive it easy.

[riber.bentsen]

Exstremely helpful tread this - I am in the process of doing excactly the same!

I just did the clear lenses as well, and the color is a near match too.. Strange world sometimes.

Getting close to 180k miles on the odo, and nope no plans to go all granny on it here either.

[Landseer]

Thanks. Danglerb, it'll be a few days before I can try it. Icy here today. And I need to go through the fusebox and internal grounds, plus put on some rotors/front pads while its in the garage. In between surges of job search.

The clear lenses are neat, but I can't take credit for them. Its former owner (known as Jadz928, Jim) gets all the style points, along with you Peter. He's the 928 guy that is in the process of rescuing "#6" on rennlist, the red production prototype. That's a pretty good read actually. Historical fun.

My mission is to do a little catch-up maintenance on "Chewey" and prolong the enjoyment of driving him. Somehow I need to get a VA motor vehicle inspection in the process.

Car runs very strong and will keep up with S4, especially with Jim driving.

Will keep showing various random shots of the electrical rehab.
Feel free to add your pictures and comments too. Makes for useful and interesting archives for those following us.

By the way, these ring terminals and contacts are copper or brass, not plated, so don't worry about putting some force into cleaning.

[Landseer]

Now we move to the passenger front.
Access is slightly limited to this ground point.
It is located on the body, just in front of the AC dryer.
One bolt, two ring terminals, each with multiple ground wires.
I used simple 10mm craftsman box wrench, but an angled gearwrench would have been faster.
Its sometimes possible to remove that sharp condenser bracket by removing the visible screw, then pivoting it on the screw hidden under the headlight shaft, if the hidden bolt isn't too tight. A very thin 10mm open end could help.











Now, reviewing the 14 pin and jump post --- both now cleaned and reassembled. I put a piece of heat shrink on the exposed wire strands for the oil level sensor, pin 6, that you can't see. The jump post unscrews using an 11mm wrench. The ring terminals got cleaned and reassembled. I clean with dremel wire brush.

Be sure to clean the threads of the bolts with the dremel, then they will wind-in much easier than they came out. No lube.




To clean inside the female terminals of the 14 pin connector (first post) I use cylindrical diamond bits but its a delicate operation or you will remove too much. Some kind of chemical cleaner might be better. I've used black 400 paper, also a cylindrical wirebrush (hard to find one for dremel that fits inside female terminal)








This is a Porkensioner car, BTW:



It also has 85 slotted cam gears and can be cam-timed using the scarce but effective porken 16V'r tool.

[Opelotus]

Has anyone considered a replacement for the stock 14 pin connector under the hood? Something more like today's weatherpack connectors?

[Landseer]

I think its a good idea.
On the other hand, these lasted a while!

So now we move inside the car for a while.

First-up, fuse panel and grounds.
Found some extracurricular wiring, too, to consider.
One hour, working slowly, to remove and clean panel.
Intending to change all fuses with new ceramic VW fuses. Buss fuses do not work / too long.

















Using mainly the dremel wire brush ( don't worry, terminals are not plating, they're solid brass )
(this camera lense really sucks)

[riber.bentsen]

How do you clean the fuse panel on a car with the new style plug-in fuses?

[tisilrad]

"Has anyone considered a replacement for the stock 14 pin connector under the hood? Something more like today's weatherpack connectors?"OPELOTUS
I have replaced a large sum of the connectors underhood with newer connectors...mostly off mercedes and BMW salvaged from scrapyards(new cars..1999 and up mostly)...most junkyards could care less about the cars wiring and if you are allowed you can strip some of this stuff and wire it into the 928. This allowed me to relocate components also...like my idle control motor..which is normally mounted under the intake on my car(1987 S4) and has now been relocated to the front of the engine(with new piping). I also relocated my ignition coils and flappy valve actuator solenoid(which was replaced by a volvo peirburg(OEM manufacturer of the 928 part)unit ...brand new from a wrecked car..different electrical connector.) All of my wiring is now steel /copper or aluminum braided and fiberglass/silicone insulated as well...depending on location. I should take some pictures i guess...

[Landseer]

Post some pictures of the wiring upgrades.
There surely are better connectors.
I've replaced some but tried to stay stock because most of my friends are preserving the original look, but that's not the best engineering solution.


For cleaning the later panels the experts are recommending a chemical cleaning regimen:
CE Panel Refurb Questions - Rennlist Discussion Forums

[Opelotus]

I figured that replacing various connectors with weatherproof ones would be a good idea, especially in areas that are hard to access, like behind the rear leather quarter panels. Also 14 pin connector under hood because it has some pretty important connections in it.
Tisilrad if you could post pics that would be great.

[Landseer]

What I'm about to describe is corrosion due to trapped moisture.
I think this needs to be added to everybody's the PPI checklist
The configuration of the insulation pad behind & under the CE panel is not good.
Water from passenger feet, windshield leak, fan plenum leak, heater coil leak or AC condensor discharge tube leak can contribute to wetness in this area.

As it turns-out ---- the main harness has a big rubber plug to seal the passage through the firewall. The plug was not installed correctly during prior maintenance: That was the source of the moisture. Remember, this car was inside for months -- the foam sound insulation never dried.

The foam underneath soaks up the water, or lets it conduct itself underneath. And it gets SERIOUSLY trapped. I think for years.

I shoved my fingers pretty far under the black, foam-backed insulation under the CE panel mount points.

Got a little moisture on my hand from the foam.

This became a mandatory WYAIT.

Some film:

[Landseer]

FYI, the fan is sealed and has been for a long time. No moisture on carpets.
Car has been in garage for nearly a month.
Like my Suburban carpet underlayment, once moisture gets conducted under this insulation, it has very little means of escape and could stay for years.

[riber.bentsen]

Yuck What does WYAIT mean?

Keep it up, this is a great tread as mentioned earlier. I haven't had time to go to my garage these past few days, or I would love to give my input as well.

How did you get to those groundpoints by the headlamp tube? I found the clearence to be minimal..