Bad connector....where to get a replacement?

My female connector to the speedometer sending unit located on the LH side of the transaxle is bad. Question is, where to get a new one. There is nothing in the parts diagram listing this (see item 34, table 31, Gearbox Covers and Lubrication).

Its a 2 wire female connector not unlike many others in the car. I believe these are probably available from an aftermarket supplier somewhere. If not the actual brand, the same type by another maker.

Does anyone know where I can get one? John K has suggested NAPA and believes they may be Delphi. Also, how do the wires connect to it? I removed the little top piece that I thought would release the 2 wires but they still won't come out. Hard to see much more when its down inside the car like it is.

 

Bob,

It looks like it might be the Delphi 150 GT shown under "connectors" in the link you posted. Not sure though, there are 3 shown all with the same name and they all look very similar. I'll have to take a closer look at mine to make sure.

I have an old sending unit with its male connector so I could take it to NAPA as John suggested to see if they have its female match (presumably they carry Delphi).

The one in the posted photo sure looks similar but not quite the same. Again, I need to look at mine more closely.

If I don't have any luck with these suggestions, I'll post a pic. Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.

 

Bob, Thanks for your generous offer. If I find that's the right connector, I'll take you up on it. And thanks also for the how to video on removing the wires. I don't know if I would have thought to look inside the female end for the little tabs that release the pins so nicely shown and explained in the video.

 

One last thing. Here's how all this started.

When my speedometer first began to act up, the needle started to bounce at speeds below about 40. At higher speeds, it smoothed out and acted normally. I thought it was the sending unit so I replaced it with a brand new one while doing some other work on my car.

After I got the car back on the road, the speedometer now was totally dead. The needle didn't move at all. Frustrating! So I took the speedometer to a shop that was familiar with these instruments and they found a problem and fixed it. At the same time I had them go through it to be sure it was in perfect shape. But when I put it back, it still didn't work. No needle movement at all.

I drove it like this for a while and then one day, for a brief few seconds, the needle popped up to register a speed and then quit again. Obviously it got a signal for a few seconds telling me the new sending unit was likely OK (I had thought I might have gotten a bad new unit).

While the car was back up on jack stands for some other stuff I wanted to do, I found a test method to check if the sending unit was bad by using an outboard resistor, a volt meter and placing an iron object first near and then far from the sensor end. I tested the old unit first and found it was fine so I pulled the new one back out to be sure it was not bad. It wasn't. It tested fine too.

The only other thing I had touched in all this was the connector at the sending unit (I had disconnected the one at the speedometer itself too but was pretty sure it was fine). That's when I discovered the poor contact the male pins had with the female sockets. I even made a small probe to duplicate the male pins and when I stuck it into the both female sockets there was no contact. It could "rattle" around in there. How it got that way I have no good explanation for. Its not something that is disconnected that often.

Anyway, that's the whole story. If it doesn't work after installing the new connector.....well.....I'm not sure where to go if that doesn't fix it. Here's hoping.....

If not, any ideas????

 

Thanks Watson. I never knew this kind of thing existed.

 

Well....I took drbob101 up on his kind offer but it turned out to be the wrong connector afterall. NUTS!! So I'm returning it to him.

Now I'm back where I started. But I do know a few its not. Its not an Amp Superseal or a White Products Weatherpack (Ricambi's suggestion). It doesn't seem to be any of the Delphi Weatherpack series either (unless its an old model they no longer list). I'm at a loss!

Pangea, Where did you get a sending unit with an Amp connector? I bought a brand new one from Ferrari and it doesn't have that connector. It matches my old one exactly, whatever that is???

Anyone have any suggestions? HELP!!!!

 

Dave, I did buy a new sensor from Ferrari. It does not have a male Amp connector like the one in Pangea's photo. Instead, it matches my old sensor's male connector exactly. What I need is its female counterpart that is on the car, not the male connector that comes with the sensor. My problem is, I don't know what make or model it is.

 

That's an idea John. I hadn't thought of that. Duh! But if I can find the right one, that's my first choice so I'll continue to pursue that, at least for a while. I'm surprised this is so difficult.

 

I just noticed something. I currently have my rear bumper off and the female connectors for the LH and RH side marker lights looked like the one for my speedometer sensor. I plugged my old sensor into them and it fit perfectly. They're identical. Same color water seal too, blue.

Just to make sure they fit tight electrically, I plugged the probe I made that duplicates the male electrical sensor probes into them. it was a tight fit just like its supposed to be. Rechecked the female connector for my speedometer sensor the same way and it doesn't make contact at all. I believe this is definitely confirms this is my problem. As I thought, I need to replace the female speedometer connector.

Maybe now that we know its the same as the rear bumper (likely front too but not checked) side connectors, it will be easier to find a matching new replacement.

 

Bob,

I'll try to take some pics in the next day or two and post them here. Refresh my memory on how to post pics here again.