Hey Kids it's STOOGE TIME! Today I'm going to show you how I repinned the Motronic 2.7 T55 Connectors for my 348. I bought a strip of 100 tin Junior Power Timer pins from EFI Express for $40 EFI Express : Home The extractor tools from Eagle Day for $60 Terminal Extraction Tool Set And a double crimper from Eagle Day for $30 Double Crimp Tool I also used a pair of needle nose pliers, good heavy scissors, some small screw drivers, and a pick. The reason I needed the pick was because "wouldn't you know it" I couldn't find my extractor tool for the T55 connector until AFTER I finished repinning BOTH harnesses. The straight pick worked just fine because the original pins only have 1 locking tab that needs to get released. Please forgive the blurry pics, as I was using my cell phone to take the pictures. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
First I removed the retaining screw holding the Motronic T55 connector to the housing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Next I pealed back the boot and slid it down the harness as far as I could. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The 2 screws holding the the loom clamp to the butt of the housing got unscrewed, and the top of the clamp removed. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Using the pick, I got up under the gasket and carefully lifted it out from between the T55 connector and the housing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I lifted up the connector then pushed it, and the wires, as far out of the housing as I could. I needed as much room as I could get to work with. So the the further out I could get it, safely, the better. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are a couple of shots, from different sides, showing the wiring attached to the back of the connector. Most of the wires are the same gage, but some are thicker, some of them are split to different pinouts, and some are doubled up into a single pin. "Fun, fun, fun" Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here we have the face of the Motronic T55 connectors. The 55 is for the amount of pinouts in the connector. The two top rows have 18, and the bottom row has 19 pinouts. Notice that not all of the pinouts are used. There is space for 55 pins but they aren't all needed. Also, one connector had 42 pins and the other has 41 pins. Best I could figure is because, only one of the harnesses has the connections for the vapor purge valves. So I'm guessing that's the reason one of the connectors has 1 more pin (on the bottom row) than the other. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before I got started removing pins, I made a couple of charts of the T55 connectors. I also wrote down the number of the Bosch connector housing for each chart I made. Remember one connector has an extra pin, and the wire colors did different a little bit between the two harnesses. I numbered each chart, noted what holes had pins, and what didn't. I also wrote down what color wires (and how many) went to what pinout. Making the charts, and recording everything, took me around 1 & 1/2hrs to 1hr 45min combined. About 45-60 minutes each +/-. These came in very helpful, as I referred back to them at least a dozen times during the repin. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Heres a close up shot of the old Junior Timer Pins inside the connector. Again sorry for the blurry pic, I was using my cell phone. Anyway, you can see that the pins have gaps in them, and have lost clamping force = bad connections. Of all the pins I replaced, in both T55 connectors, roughly 85% of them have gaps in both of the double ears of the pins. The other 15% had about half of those with only one ear with a gap, and the others that were "touching" where just barely doing so. Not good for making solid electrical contact, not good at all. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now before I got started depinning the connector, there is a little trick you need to know. There is a pin retaining clip built into the T55. If it is not unlocked you will not be able to get the pins out not matter what kind of extractor you have. The clip locks down behind the back of the pins. So it MUST, I repeat M U S T be unlocked before you can extract the pins, even after you have depressed the tab on the pin. To unlock the clip I needed to push it up through the connector, from the bottom row (the row with 19 pinouts), with my fingernail. You will see the top pop up on the other side. The clip doesn't come all the way out, so don't try to remove it. All you will be able to do is unlock it. Again. This clip MUST be unlocked before you can begin extracting the pins. Also, it runs the length of the T55 connector. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the T55 unlocked I can now remove the old pins. To remove the old pin I needed to stick the extractor under the bottom of the pin, to compressed the locking tab on the pin, allowing the pin to be removed. In the picture it's my pick being used, because as I said earlier I couldn't find my extractor tool until I and finished the entire job. So I Stooged it. Would you expect anything else. Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the T55 unlocked, and the in tab depressed I removed the old Junior Timer Pin. On the bottom of the pin you can see the single retaining tab. You can also see the gap between the worn out double ears. This pin has seen better days, as have the rest of them. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Time to get that old pin removed. I cut if off the wire as close to the base of the old pin as I could. The reason I did this was two fold. First, if I goofed up a crimp I would have enough wire to redo it. This happened to me once. Second, as I got closer to the bundle going into the loom there was less and less wire to work with. The wires closest to the loom I had only about 1.5"/3.8cm to work with. I is a VERY TIGHT work space. So, I clipped off the wire at the base of the old pin. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Next I placed the wire into the stripper and cut off about 3/16" / 0.50cm of shielding. At first I cut off more than needed, but as I progressed I was better able to tell how much I needed to cut off. With the wire stripped I gave it a twist to prepare it for the pin. You don't need to do this, this is just how I did it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Taking the heavy duty scissors I neatly snipped off a new Junior Power timer pin. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Then I prefit the bottom of the pin into the double crimper. You want to make sure that both parts of the wire retainer are in the double crimper. One grips the wire, and the other grips the shielding. So make sure you have both of the "gripping ends" in the crimper. Most of the wire was around 20/AWG, but a few were thicker, maybe 16AWG, and a couple had double wires in the pin. So I just used what ever slot was needed. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now I insert the wire through the bottom of the pin. Hold it so that the exposed wire is located in the clamp closets to the ears, and the shielding at the bottom clamp. Then SQUEEEEEZE the piss out of it. These aren't the fancy schmancy clicking crimpers, but they got the job done. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is the new JPT pin crimped onto the wire. You can see I still had a little bit of wire sticking out the top. This was the first pin. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's a pic of the second JPT pin, much better. You can see the bottom clamp gripping the shielding, and the top one gripping the wire. I also checked them with a little tug to make sure they were held nice and tight. Looking at this picture you will notice the main difference between the Junior POWER Timer vs the factory junior timer. There is an extra clamp on top of the ears to increase the clamping force, helping to make a much better contact with the male pins on the Motronic ECU. Image Unavailable, Please Login
With the new JPT pin crimped to the wire I inserted the pin back into the proper hole of the connector. When you do this do ONE PIN at a time. This reduces the chance of putting the wrong wire back into the wrong hole. Even then I still have to refer back to the charts plenty of times. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are the two new JPT pins (top right of the connector) next to the old worn out jt pins. 2 down, 41 to go. Image Unavailable, Please Login
And here is the Motronic connector all finished up, 5 hours later, with new Junior Power Timer pins ready to go to work. Yes you read that correct, it took me 5 hours to repin ONE T55 connector. The second "only" took me 4 hours because I wasn't taking pictures. It was head phones in, something to drink, and nose to the grind stone. I was averaging about 5 minutes per pin for the ones furthest from the loom, and about 10-15 minutes for the pins closets to the loom. The hardest pins are the ones closets to the loom in the center row. This is a EXTREMELY TEDIOUS job. For both T55 connectors it is a 8-10 job total. Keep in mind this is with the looms completely removed from the car. So it can take even longer if you attempt to do this I the car, while playing Cirque Du Soleil behind the seats. For sure this is an ALL WEEKEND project. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Back to the show. Next up the connectors for the sensors. Using a small screw driver to get under the boot, I remove the boot from the back of the connector. Image Unavailable, Please Login