New M30 wiring loom for my Emerald ECU

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Andy335Touring
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Post Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:56 pm

4 or 5 years ago when i first got my Emerald ECU i made a wiring loom, ripping all the old Motronic wiring out and replacing it with new wiring. My wiring loom wasn't the best due to using the wrong type of wire and gernerally too thick a guage wire with too many spade connectors.

It's lasted a fair time but the last time i took the inlet manifold it developed a mis-fire due to a wire comming a drift on one of the injectors. Too thick/stiff wire and quite a few connectors means the wiring had to be squeezed into the wiring conduit to get the lid back on, not good.

I could have just fixed the fault but i wasn't happy that the wiring might cause me a break down so i sourced a second hand loom from a Zoner(thanks Paul + Ian).

This post is more just for sharing than for a "how to guide", if you want a lesson in how to do wiring properly look at Brian/Ian/Dameon(sp?) posts ! :)

This is how the loom started off, it needed stripping of all the stuff i didn't need like the diagnostic/service port, ECU plug and big gromet thingy, relays, O2 sensor wiring, AFM wiring, etc, being carefull not too get snip happy with the wire cutters !

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I thought it would be a good idea to take my manifold off to give me some more elbow room and the old wiring had to come off any way.

Undoing the conduit allen key, admire the old loom :roll: :)

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Pry off the injector rubber boot

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Undo the clip and repeat for the other injectors

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With the rubber boots and clips out of the way the conduit can be lifted enough to allow access to those pesky wire clips on the injector plugs, keep a close eye on them as they are easy to lose. I used a bradawl and a small slot head screw driver to remove the clips, not ideal but it worked.

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Conduit out the way so i can now get to the inlet manifold bolts

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With the manifold off i admire my nuckle wrash :) :gay:

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Back to the wiring loom, removed all the covering tape so i can get to see where all the wires go.

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Taking the ECU plug apart ready to snip the wire

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Ecu plug and relays removed

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As it's been a few years since i had a standard loom it took some head scratching to figure out what all the plugs are for, top plug oil pressure sensor, bottom one was ICV i think ? :)

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Some more head scratching sorting the C101(?) conector out as some of the wires were different to my old one, trace the wires back to see what they are for and weather they are needed, if not they get snipped and insulated so the ends stay under the rubber boot where they have a better chance of staying dry.

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See if the weather is dry tomorrow so i can carry on, i havn't driven my car for a few weeks so i want it done !
maxfield
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Post Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:00 am

God, wiring looks a bitch!

Need to get a meet going off up here!
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harry_p
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Post Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:15 am

still trying to figure out the best way to fit an emerald to my m3. would like the wiring to look and retain as many standard functions as possible. guessing a new look is expensive, and secondhand ones fairly rare, unless it happens to be shared with another 4pot e30.

making u[p an adapter loom would be easiest, i have a spare emerald connector, but guess i would need to strip an old ecu to get a connector to plug into.
cheers,

harry
appletree
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Post Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:41 am

i did mine the adaptor plug route, works realy well and if you need to run the old ecu for any reason you can plug still plug it in :cool:
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You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

M42 Supercharged 285bhp + M3 6speed box
Andy335Touring
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Post Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:18 pm

I'm not to bothered about an adapter plug, i just wanted to strip out the wiring i don't need but retain as much OEM wiring as posible. I've halfed the weight of the loom i think and it should prove to be more reliable with better wiring/less connections.

Before.......

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....and after

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Stripping/labeling the last few wires of the old loom, the old wires are pulled back through the bulkhead then snipped to leave a 6" tail from the Emerald ECU multiplug to which the new wires will be joined. I'd have liked to have the new wires go straight into the multiplug but the loom isn't quite long enough :(

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The weather has stopped me finishing today, i've got the manifold back on, a few more things left to wire up like the TPS and IAT, tidy/dress up the loom, refit the cooling pipes/fill/blead the cooling system and it should be ready to fire up touch wood !
old_skool
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Post Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:13 pm

To quote Mr. Moooooore "Oooh, those lovely wires"

Looks like a full on job Andy. There's a lot there to take care of. Are you going to be reusing the OEM plugs and remaking pretty much everything else then?

And get shot of those crimps!

:D
ian332isport
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Post Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:42 pm

Glad you got it okay Andy 8)
old_skool_2002 wrote:And get shot of those crimps!
I was going to comment on those as well. For reliability, you really should be soldering the connections, and insulating with heatshrink. As well as being more reliable, it looks better and takes up less space.

Ian.
If it aint broke - Modify it...
Andy335Touring
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Post Mon Jun 25, 2007 10:29 pm

Yeah, crimps arn't ideal for every occasion and i've minimized there use but some times they are handy like using male/female spades on stuff that you don't want to perminantely(sp?) joined.

There's plenty of crimped connections from the factory under those little rubber things(below picy) but i might break out the soldering iron/heat shrink tubing to reduce the crimps further still.

I must have reduced the crimped connections by about 70-80% from the old loom, losing a lot of that shity coarse wire has got to help too. On the old loom i didn't use the stock earth shielded wire for the CPS, though i didn't have any aparant electrical interfearence faults caused by not using i have made sure i've used it this time and earthed the insulation wire. The other thing that i've been able to do with thinking things through better this time is that all connections made now are in more weather resistent areas like under the main conduit rather than making any connections in the bay and hiding them behind insulation tape.

Like i said in my first post :)
This post is more just for sharing than for a "how to guide", if you want a lesson in how to do wiring properly look at Brian/Ian/Dameon(sp?) posts !
I do appreciate your hints and tips, i lack the resolve to take my time and do such a thoroughly good job like you guys, i'm too lazy/impatient :o:

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Toby_Unna
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Post Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:58 am

that's some good work Andy, there's a lot of stuff in those M30 looms isn't there! I started trying to strip mine so it would run the spark while the MS did the fuel, and got so confused that I binned the lot and gave up!
Andy335Touring wrote:I do appreciate your hints and tips, i lack the resolve to take my time and do such a thoroughly good job like you guys, i'm too lazy/impatient :o:
err, me too, look at the state of my engine bay 8O
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Andy335Touring
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Post Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:45 pm

Toby_Unna wrote:that's some good work Andy, there's a lot of stuff in those M30 looms isn't there! I started trying to strip mine so it would run the spark while the MS did the fuel, and got so confused that I binned the lot and gave up!
Thats what i did the first time around, it's just my first go wasn't up to much, mind it lasted 4-5 years before it started playing up, probobly more by luck though :)

Well at long last it's done, work/weather has really slowed me down, i want a garage ! :)

Again more by luck than judgment but it fired up with out any faults needing to be fixed ! :o :)