I hate the electrical on these cars....!!!

[ae1969]

OK... I will concede that most of these cars are 20 years old..

BUT why do these connectors disintegrate in your hands.... the wiring cracks as you bend it the wrong way..... wires short out as you gently try and find a new path for them to take...........

JUST HAD TO VENT.

Now I have a short in my injector harness.... 12V both sides....

COntinuity on both sides with power off.....

GRRRRRR.....

I am just gonna cut it back as far as it will go and rewire the entire injector loom......



Ok I feel better.

[Wolf1]

HAHAHAHAhehehe........Don't you just love german wiring!!!

Almost as bad as German oil seals and gaskets!!!!

[Zero10]

Man, I replaced about 2/.3 of theunderhood wiring during my last big project. Everything I touched, the insulation just crumbled.

I used TONS of shrink wrap to make new casings for the wires, and ran all new wiring,soldered it to the old wires right at the connectors though, so it all still plugged in.

[Brando]

I just replaced two out of 4 harnesses.

Wasn't that hard. Just required a lot of patience, and beer.

BEER.

[Moneyguy1]

Outsourced to Lucas, I'll bet....

[ronin]

Originally posted by ae1969
OK... I will concede that most of these cars are 20 years old..

BUT why do these connectors disintegrate in your hands.... the wiring cracks as you bend it the wrong way..... wires short out as you gently try and find a new path for them to take...........

JUST HAD TO VENT.

Now I have a short in my injector harness.... 12V both sides....

COntinuity on both sides with power off.....

GRRRRRR.....

I am just gonna cut it back as far as it will go and rewire the entire injector loom......



Ok I feel better.

wiring's just fine. problem is simply that it's almost 20 years old

[MrPants]

Where does everyone get their replacement wire? i tried to find some replacements for that brown casing that is around the ground/alternator cablesetc but i couldnt find it anywhere

[88_944]

Originally posted by Wolf1


Almost as bad as German oil seals and gaskets!!!!

LMAO!!

[pearldrum]

But atleast if something electrical goes wrong on these cars, most of the time all you have to do is find the ground and start scraping...

[ae1969]

Ok cut out the entire harness...........

Hacked away at it last night..........

ALL FOUR CORRODED AT THE CONNECTORS....... RIDICULOUS The connectors look great from the outside.....

I am surprised they lasted this long..... Well..... I will be doing some soldering today......

I am not sure what they used on the plastics on these cars but the cycling of heat and cold just destroys them......

I had an old 72 Ford pickup a few years back....... but the connectors all held well. NOW the rest of the truck.... thats a different story...

[SoCal Driver]

Solution: Use the old Ford connectors!

[ronin]

do I hear a firing squad warming up?

[TCMdocs944]

I have come to the conclusion that my wiring harness will need to be replaced.

I had the brilliant idea of putting on one of those cool msd watertight connectors the replace my crumbling speed and ref sensor connectors.

Bad...bad mistake.
Not only was the wire deteriorating INSIDE the wiring harness but one of the wires is bare and wound around the other two. Almost impossible to solder.


OoOOhhhhh, and don't get me started on Gremlins. They creap in and out of my car like it is a freakin spring break hotel.

[Crippler]

The wiring on my 84 944 is in very good shape. However the wiring on my 82 volvo 242 crumbled into nothing if you looked at it the wrong may I have had to replace most of it.

[Zero10]

Oh man, that's right. At least it's not a volvo....
I worked on an early 80's volvo 240DL... everything I touched crumbled.

I agree about this german wiring holding up terribly to time. I have worked on both an 85 subaru and an 85 mazda, and on both, all of hte wiring was still in good shape, never had a connector crumble apart, or insulation fall off in my hands.

[TCMdocs944]

Is the problem in plastic technology?

I know the plastics of 2000 are far superior to the 1990's.

If I get new connectors/harnesses do they make them with new tech plastic?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[Moneyguy1]

It is not the age of the plastic that is at fault in itself, it is the cheap plastic that was used in the first place. I have restored GM cars from the late 50s and 60s in which the wiring required a cleaning, period. Let's face it guys, Porsche chintzes on the electrical systems of their cars, from wire to switches. My 944 has nearly all new wiring and I took the time to install new connectors purchased at a surplus company (industrial grade). No electrical surprises in the parts I have redone. The worst I found was wires hidden in the rocker panel going to the rear of the car...corroded, brittle, etc. And these are not subjected to engine compartment heat. All Electronics (with which I am NOT affiliated)has a good selection of colors and gauges of stranded wire and some connectors. Go at least one gauge bigger since the originals are not adequate to retain current carrying capacity at elevated temps.

Do one wire at a time and you will have no problem. I found it very helpful in learning at least the function of the various cables, their locations, etc. I did revise a copy of the wiring diagram with the "new" colors to save time in case tracing has to be done in the future.

[TCMdocs944]

Good info Bob.


I guess it has to sink in that these are race cars that were made comfortable as an afterthought.

Nother plastic problem..

The interior light that breaks apart in your hands. Anyone else?

[Moneyguy1]

TCM:

I made a trip to a "recycler" (euphinsim for junkyard) armed with my interior light and found one out of a Ford van that fit fairly closely and way a heck of a lot better quality. Some of the switches I needed to replace I got from Japenese cars, cutting the connector as well with enough to solder to. Once again, better quality. I moved my electric switches for the windows to the center console, using marine grade switches (DPDT momentary contact), locating them to the area once occupied by the ashtray. Since I have an early model, I utilized the "speaker grille" for the leds for an alarm system and a voltmeter. I added a third brake light, installed additional lights in the "empty" location in the tail lamp assemblies. Removed/replaced all connectors under hood and replaced with surplus MilSpec, including that rotten orange piece of crud from the O2 sensor.

Some folks think I am overcritical of the 944. Not so. Granted, it is 20 years old, but up until three years ago my wife's ride was a 1986 Sundance, driven every day at least 30 miles and required far less in the way of necessary maintenance, losing in five years only two sensors and a prudent change of the timing belt as well as one radiator. The 944 is, to my ancient eyes, one of the prettiest designs body wise I have ever seen, basically 30 years old (back to the 924) and still looks good, with folks saying things like "What model is that? I never saw that one before...Is it new?" I only wish they had spent a bit more time and effort on the go parts as they did on the body and suspension. Electrically, it is a disaster, and the engine has so many potential problems sometimes I get nervous just starting it up for fear of "SNAP!!"

[bigyagi]

ha ha, thats way toooooo funny bob, but very pertinant, and to the point.
i really am quite happy with my 20 year old car, but i find that the quality of some oem parts, are just junk. no two ways about it. they seem to last about as long as a toffee. ie: radiators/master/slave clutch cylinders etc etc.
so far, no problems with electrics, apart from cleaning up contacts on electric window switches, but then, i'm very used to "LUCAS ELECTRICS"on british cars, so the 944 wiring is a step up for me !!lol.
bob.