Having had all the engine electrics and sensors checked out and replaced where neccessary by Quadratec in August I was a bit befuddled when the car recently developed a missfire on acceleration on a trip up the M40.
I went to get the car out of the garage this morning for a look at the distributor but the electrics to the starter kept cutting out. I managed to get her started by fiddling with the connections behind the dash - which I knew were already needing a fix - (as previously discussed in here).
The burnt black connector in the pics below is under the lid of / behind the dash just in front /on top of the steering column and just below the windscreen. It was part of a factory recall to be replaced as they tended to overheat and burn.
I bypassed the plug temporarily a while back with those blue clip cable connectors you get from Halfords
Have been meaning to do a more permanent solered fix for a while but to date havent had the nerve to take a soldering iron in there.
Needs must that it could wait no longer so today I used a mini butane soldering iron from Maplins to replace all the blue clips with proper soldered joints.
Its a pig of a job if you have large hands and a head and neck (I straddled the transmission tunnel but the screen then tries to decapitate you as you try to reach the wires)
I had to use an aluminium plate to protect the screen, speedo cable and other wires in there (and disconnect the battery).
About 90 mins later I took her for a short blast up the road and the missfire was gone completely, running like new all the way up the rev range. She's back to sounding like a feline making out (for all you cat lovers out there).
I went to get the car out of the garage this morning for a look at the distributor but the electrics to the starter kept cutting out. I managed to get her started by fiddling with the connections behind the dash - which I knew were already needing a fix - (as previously discussed in here).
The burnt black connector in the pics below is under the lid of / behind the dash just in front /on top of the steering column and just below the windscreen. It was part of a factory recall to be replaced as they tended to overheat and burn.
I bypassed the plug temporarily a while back with those blue clip cable connectors you get from Halfords
Have been meaning to do a more permanent solered fix for a while but to date havent had the nerve to take a soldering iron in there.
Needs must that it could wait no longer so today I used a mini butane soldering iron from Maplins to replace all the blue clips with proper soldered joints.
Its a pig of a job if you have large hands and a head and neck (I straddled the transmission tunnel but the screen then tries to decapitate you as you try to reach the wires)
I had to use an aluminium plate to protect the screen, speedo cable and other wires in there (and disconnect the battery).
About 90 mins later I took her for a short blast up the road and the missfire was gone completely, running like new all the way up the rev range. She's back to sounding like a feline making out (for all you cat lovers out there).
