Hi Dennis. Thanks. I wasn't aware that a wire could fail like that. Thats a
very useful trouble shooting tip to be aware of. Especially given the age
of the WBX harness. Your comment reminds me of a thread on the samba about
a fellow who tracked down a WBX wire fault to where ECU portion of harness
takes a sharp bend at the firewall. Maybe he had moved the harness and
disturbed a crumbling wire? I can see what you mean though. Some of the
wire strands I saw certainly looked brittle.

I have been using double wall type heat shrink crimp connectors but have
soldered some connections on repaired wires. (with heat shrink wrap and
tape).

For anyone else doing an ABA swap (or other Mk3 ?) and dealing with
corroded wires.....

If you're not using the Mk3 OE large round connectors to interface the Mk3
engine and ECU harnesses (I won't be), the smaller female terminals from
that connector will fit the ECU connector. Bonus: they already have the
little round (silicone?) seal. Also, if you've run out of wires with sealed
terminals, cut that seal from the corroded or damaged wire, slip that seal
over the "new" wire then seat it in the plug. Not optimal but maybe better
than nothing. I guess some kind of sealant could work for this too.

Neil.

On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 3:14 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I have seen these wires corrode t the point of actually breaking inside of
> the insulation. Disturbing them makes those breaks open up further. It is a
> common repair for me to have to slice open a harness and repair or replace
> a wire on the failed circuit. The most common one is the wire that brings
> power from the ignition coil to the ECU.  Crimp connectors with sealing
> heat shrink are the best repair method except for full length wire
> replacement.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Neil N
> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2018 9:13 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: ECU Wire Corrosion relative to Length and Load (and?)
>
> Hi folks. This is for OBD1 Motronic on an ABA engine swap but the question
> might apply to the WBX O2 and ECU.
>
> I was cutting back two corroded wires, hoping to find clean strands but
> they're still corroded at 6" from the ECU connector. I don't have the means
> to remove and replace them.
> .......

--
Neil n

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