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Tracing from wheel well to engine bay it appears--to my very untrained eye--the "brown 5th wire" merely connects the engine bay ground to the wheel well ground. But that surely isn't the whole story, so I'm fishing for what purpose it serves (even THAT would give me a little more to go by as I'm researching the question--as it is I'm really poking in the dark).
Kevin, your suggestion sounds reasonable, but I'm not familiar enough with what it means to translate it into something actionable with WeatherPack. I'm still on the steep side of the learning curve with electrical stuff, and if the answer isn't found in the wiring diagram (e.g., connect the red wire to terminal #2) or other pubs or previously Rennlist posts then I'm lost. This time, search has failed me.
Is the magic in the manner in which the ground is enclosed in the barrel connector or in the fact that the ground wire is part of the same bundle running to the wear indicators and ABS?
I've just spent a fortune on other bits and was really hoping to get this refreshed without spending for harness replacements too.
The white barrel connector does not "come apart" other than the two (or three if you have RDK) individual sensor leads unplugging from the barrel. The white barrel is part of each end of the harness that runs from the shock tower down to the steering knuckle. When the individual 2 pin plugs started coming apart I used some urethane bumper epoxy to temporarily hold them together/seal them up. I plan to eventually replace the plugs in the engine bay with plugs scavenged from the individual sensors as they seem to be keyed the same at both ends of the harness.
I've been dreading these things, but this happened when I was working with the fuel tank valve near the fender wall. I didn't notice any new lights on the dashboard, but I'll add this to the long list of things left to fix.