In an effort to find a very infrequent electrical glitch, I went to clean my bellhousing grounds last night. They were clearly in need. Notice the nice green coloring in the first picture. However, while poking around, I noticed that the reference sensor connector did not seem tight, and would not click into place. As it turns out, looks like someone broke the connector somewhere along the way, and just plugged it back in hoping the pressure would hold it tight. It was far from tight, however, and I am hoping this may have been the cause of my glitch. We'll see. I picked up new sensors this morning. Just need to find the time to install them. Any special tips for that?

 

Special tip......do not drop the nut into the bellhousing access hole!

Kidding aside, there is a required clearance between the sensor and the flywheel. Check the manual.

 

Spray a little lubricant on them before trying to get them out and try twisting them a bit first. We had one on the race car that that the aluminum housing of the sensor stuck to the aluminum of the sensor housing. All we pulled out was the internal windings of the sensor itself.

 

I already have duct tape on the opening...

 

I had a ground cleaning surprise myself a couple of months ago, I was cleaning the battery earth mounts in the back and low and behold, I found my old allen key set, and a mars bar... I dont recall ever buying a mars bar, may have been the PO's.

 

Tom, did you manage to fix the grounds without removing the intake? How did you do it? I need to do the same thing but I'm not comfortable removing a million parts myself. It looks like a real tight fit from above.

 

I actually did take the intake off, but only because I've done it a thousand times and thought it would be easier than struggling with the tight space -- and now because I need to replace my ref/speed sensors. I was able to get to it with the intake on, with a long extension and a jointed socket, but was tight. If you disconnect the 02 sensor and ref sensor wires (mark which is which first), you can buy a bit more room. If you pull the heater valve hose, it becomes a pretty straight shot even with the intake on.

 

Hey Tom;

The sensors can indeed be stuck. Not uncommon. Do soak them with penetrant first, and do try twisting before pulling hard. Sometimes you can coax them out by soaking and twisting and soaking and twisting. Sometimes not.

You DO NOT have to reset the clearance of the sensor bracket UNLESS you take it off. First look to see that the old sensors show signs of pin contact. If not, install the new ones and you'll be fine. Use a little never-sieze on them too! If you see impact marks from the pins on the ends of the sensors, you'll have to reset the clearance. E-mail back for the procedure, or check the FSM.

If you can't get the sensor(s) out, you'll have to remove the bracket from the back of the engine and break the sensors to get them out. Then you'll need to reset the bracket clearance for sure.

Good Luck!

 

Tom,

Instead of spending the cash for new sensors, splice and solder new male and female connectors on. In a matter of time the factory female connector will crack too.

 

I thought about it, but I like shiny new parts. Besides, aren't the wires shielded like coax, complicating the splice?

 

Made a little progress tonight. Grounds clean, sensors installed. (The old ones came right out, no problem.)

 

I used a spare engine mount heat shield to protect the sensor harnesses. Worx like a charm!

Zach

 

Deep fry that mars bar, it should be fine.

 

Since this dead horse has been beaten again, I'd like to point out that one of my sensor connectors pretty much fell apart so I spliced a 3 pin garden variety Molex type plug on there as a temporary fix and after running it that way for a couple months I never noticed any difference from doing so.

If you can see how the connectors from the factory are arranged, the shielding braid is just wired to one of the three pins on the plug so either way when it gets to the plug it's unshielded for an inch or two. Short of something like an all metal circular connector (aka a cannon plug) there's not much you can do about the momentary interruption in the shielding braid.

Using something that's watertight like a WeatherPak connector would of course be better but I was only doing it as a temporary measure and since it wasn't causing any problems I just let it stay with the Molex plug for now. Living in Phoenix I can get away without it since humidity and water related corrosion is pretty much a non-issue here.

Ultimately, I'm planning on reverse engineering a harness and building myself a new one. I picked up a decent used one on ebay and while the insulation on the spare harness is a bit too "crackly" for my liking to use in the car it's intact and perfect for a template. I'm planning to use mil-spec aircraft wire to build it since I like the look of the all white insulation in wire bundles and the Tefzel insulation is nice stuff all around between it's heat tolerance and self extinguishing properties. It's pretty similar to Teflon but doesn't give of toxic fumes if it's burned like Teflon does.

 

Brian, I've got a spare harness sitting around ('87) as well if you need one to make a layout board for. I've been planning to do the same thing, Tefzel with a braid/shrink jacket. You have a better place for the wire than Waytek, or want to combine orders to get a higher quantity discount?

Sam