Fuse box connector burnt.

[bogbasic]

Bit of a recurring problem with this connection at the back of the fusebox.



Any clues as to the cause and cure. Given that graphite conducts, cleaning all that carbon off might reduce the shorting ;-? I assume that is what causes the heat ;-?

[bogbasic]

Found an excellent thread from 10 years ago describing what to do: http://www.volvo300mania.com/uk/forum/v ... =56&t=9808

OK, so a bit more inspection showed the connector to be quite badly toasted, but not as bad as the one in the above thread. After squirting it with tons of contact cleaner, I decided to try and remove the old female connection pin from the block and, with a bit of destruction, it came out reasonably easily but clearly had been broken in several places prior to removal.




The old pin, which I cut off its yellow wire, can be seen in the above photo next to the one I intend to replace it with. The local spares shop didn't have that pin so I had to remove one with the same thickness of wire from an old connection block in the roof (some of my collection is shown). The plan is to join the yellow wire on the new connector with the original yellow wire on the car with a crimp connector and pop the new pin into the old block. Should be amusing.

I did ask in the shop if they had any proper connection block dismantling tools but he didn't have any in stock, alas, and said that he could only get them from Laser and would therefore be expensive! However, with a bit of brain-aching I was able to locate a broken Poundland mobile phone stylus with exactly the right diameter to do the job (shown above), and after testing it on several of the wires I can confirm that it works. Its the smallest diameter tube of this sort:

http://lwsgadget.blogspot.com/2011/07/p ... phone.html

I haven't seen that sort in the shops lately and I was a bit sad when it broke because (contrary to the above review) I found it to be excellent! Anyhow, great that it (or rather, half of it) now has a second life.

[bogbasic]

Hello Jon, gotta new connector?

A trip to Wilco turned-up one of these fancy connectors which is rated at 32 Amps.



It deffo has potential.

[bogbasic]

Done, dusted and sorted. Nice one, top one, sorted.

[TasMan]

Nice job Jon, looks a good solution. Would be handy to have a source of new crimp connectors but wouldn't know where to start looking I see Chris_C had posted up this link a while ago https://www.skandix.de/en/spare-parts/a ... e/1029289/ Thats a bugger as I have literally just received an Skandix order and you have to have a decent order to make the postage worthwhile...!

The connector block you have used looks readily available on Ebay as a 'WAGO' 2-way lever connector.
I am thinking this could be the problem I have at the moment, if so, I will report back and update this thread to keep it under a similar topic for others.

Cheers Dave

[Chris_C]

Hi all,

Sorry, been hiding for a few weeks.

I had to buy some of these a few months ago to add the dash illumination wire to the stereo connector (I super briefly mentioned it here http://www.volvo300mania.com/uk/forum/v ... 15#p194996 )

They are TE Connectivity 925663-1. I bought mine from ebay, but they came in a onecall bag with the label chopped off.
The ebay listing I used is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181885614242
The onecall listing for that part is https://onecall.farnell.com/amp-te-conn ... dp/8578222

I'm aware they both show the wrong gender, but the part that turns up is correct. The TE catalogue has a good listing, and photo of mine here:


They need a non insulated crimp tool to fit. Glad you sussed a terminal removal tool Jon, neat solution! I'll go and put that part number up on the other thread for future us to find

[bogbasic]

Thanks both for all the info. I should have mentioned that crimping the wire onto those connectors appears to have been done under massive pressure. My crimping skillls, strength, lack of, etc, delete as appropriate, are a bit slack, so opted to go for re-using an old wire with the right pin on it already.

[TasMan]

Thanks to both for this thread, I expect it will be very useful to others in the future.
I am going to get some of those terminal sockets Chris, just to have to hand.
I had said to Jon on PM, I assume there is enough slack on the cable to snip off the old socket and crimp on another..? Jon's solution is also rather neat if not
I have spied a terminal removal kit on Ebay which may do the job https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/59PCS-Automo ... 2460422708
It's got a 4.9mm dia. round tool which I think could be near enough based on the discussion elsewhere.
Keep up the good work...!
Dave

[bogbasic]

Hello, I've just ordered one of those 59 pcs kits. Should be a chuckle to try it out. About clipping the connector off the yellow wire, I was hoping there would be enough wire left to attach a new connector, but I wasn't sure. It looked a tight fit and would need a heck of a crimping tool, not to mention an expert limbo dancer.

[Chris_C]

The tool doesn't have to be anything special, I have one like the blue one on here:
https://www.vehiclewiringproducts.co.uk ... ping-tools

But the fiver one would work with a bit more juggling. The key is to form the heart shape with the flaps on the terminal, you want them both sides to curl over on into themselves. RS / CPC etc will also carry the tool.

Mines had enough use that the jaws have worn out now, I did see if I could get new jaws but its not looking great. It's done a lot of terminals though.

VWP also sell the OEM single spade insulators:
https://www.vehiclewiringproducts.co.uk ... male-blade

for

https://www.vehiclewiringproducts.co.uk ... male-blade

If you ever have to repair any of the more standard sections of loom

[bogbasic]

Thank you. I always wondered how to crimp those things properly. There should deffo be enough room if you are willing to remove/replace the wiring loom cable-ties. They are the only things that would make it a tight fit, I think.

[Chris_C]

I've done them in place before, there is. Don't chop too much more loom than you need, I only take off the crimp and any singed insulation (mostly around 5mm). I did a few at V3M meets when the thread first came about, just used to put the bits in the car whenever we had one!