Glow plug harness wiring disconnect

[lynnejohn]

Like many of you here I had the check engine light on my 98 TDI and went down to Autozone and got a P0380 code (the dealer wanted $78 to read it!). I figured I'd with the most likely (and cheapest) fix and got the glow plug harness. It was quite easy to pop the harness ends off the glow plugs. But when you get to where the harness wiring goes into the large round electrical connector there is a definite issue. How on earth does the electrical connector come off? When you look at the ends of the new harness there are male plugs with a nice rubber seal behind them, which suggests to me there should be a way to open the connector up and swap in the new plugs. My dealer says I should just cut the old harness wires and attach the new plugs to them. Can someone tell me what the secret to opening up the connector is?

Thanks.

 

[spoilsport]

I ran into the same issue.

If you look at a replacement harness it will have spade connectors on the end. There is no place to plug those spade connectors in.

The fix is to snip off the spade connectors, and cut the wire leading away from the harness terminals (appx 1-2 inches). Then purchase a repair kit that includes butt connectors and shrink wrap. It is not recommended to solder this connection.

Even though I have a new harness waiting in the wings, I'm going to try some Stabilant 22A contact enhancer first. Cutting wires makes me very nervous.

[ December 16, 2002, 13:21: Message edited by: spoilsport ]

 

[lynnejohn]

I'm not to keen on cutting the wires, but if that’s what VW is going to do. I assume VW sells the repair kit?

Another reason I went with the harness was that I had a problem with my right front blinker. The blinker was flashing quickly which was supposed to indicate a burned out bulb. I replaced the bulb and that worked for a day. Then I cleaned the contacts inside the connector the bulb plugs into and that worked for a week. When I talked to the parts guy at VW and he said that the connectors themselves were bad. I really did not think it could be that because the only thing in there is the metal contacts the bulb touches and the plug end that connects to the wiring harness. No moving parts and only metal corrosion points which I had cleaned. But yet after I replaced the connector all was well.
So I wonder if the internals of certain electrical parts are degrading enough to cause these types of errors? It seems that there are quite a few people having problems that are fixed by using two to three different methods (like the glow plug issue.)

 

[spoilsport]

Really the GP harness has been the main problem area when it comes to electrical glitches. That's assuming that Relay 109 has been dealt with and that the window regulators are more of a cheap part issue.

 

[lynnejohn]

I checked with a different VW parts guy (who went into the mechanic) and they said they just clip the wires and twist them together with shrink-wrap. I'd like to find the counter part to the connector on the new harness, as if it failed again in another 90K, it would be an easy swap.