Itinerant Air-Cooled

All caps for effect!!!

The Guac took his first tow truck trip last Friday. I was driving on the E370 when he just quit. Nothing, nada. I coasted onto the shoulder and tried restarting. No luck.

It was snowing and below freezing and I wasn't dressed for crawling around in mud (the shoulder was ALL mud) so after a visual inspection of the points, dual relay connectors, plugs and wires, etc, I gave up and called AAA.

I finally got to check it out today. Here's the problem:



Those connectors were new last fall when I put that fuel pump in. The old ones were nasty so I replaced 'em. But less than a year later the wire is corroded and pulled out of the crimp, the tangs on the pump were horrible looking, and everything was just all around nasty.

I wire brushed the tangs on the pump then applied lots of dielectric grease. I cut the wires back to clean copper then added 6" or so to them so they wouldn't be pulling on the harness like they were before. Lots of dielectric grease and heatshrink to help protect them as well as possible:



There's a twist-loc connector in the background. Since I have tendonitis I can't crimp a connector in a cramped area like that. I wrapped the whole thing in silicone tape after I shot this pic just to be sure.

I'm betting there are supposed to be rubber boots over those connectors on the pump. I'm gonna start looking so I don't have to deal with this again.

I think originally there is a rubber boot that covers the connectors.

Geez those harsh winters sure are harsh on our cars. That looks like a 10 year-old repair.

steve74baywin wrote:I think originally there is a rubber boot that covers the connectors.

Confirming there should be rubber boots covering those connections.

...and that hose clamp is not for high pressure fuel injector hose. They love to cut into the rubber causing leaks! Switch it out before you have a fire.

Bleyseng wrote:...and that hose clamp is not for high pressure fuel injector hose. They love to cut into the rubber causing leaks! Switch it out before you have a fire.

I have never had difficulty with those hose clamps on all the FI hoses on my BMW/MB/VW/. I have seen some pretty mangled hoses from people who tighten the heck out of those clamps. If you have good hoses, you do not need insanely tight clamps. Just snug. Check when running. Re-tighten in two weeks. Yer good.

Colin's right. It's all about how tight you get it. You just need it snug.