Need injector plug

Va914 · Post by **Va914** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 7:17 pm

One of my 2.0L injector plugs is broke. The wire pulled free from the plug and now I am looking for a replacement.

Anyone have a spare plug to splice or know where I can get parts to fabricate a new one.

Thanks

Kerry

pbanders · Post by **pbanders** » Sat Mar 16, 2002 9:22 pm

Contact Jeff Bowlsby at [email protected] . Jeff rebuilds D-Jet harnesses and has all the parts. He can either sell you a pigtail to splice in, or you can send him your harness for a perfect repair.

Brad Anders

Va914 · Post by **Va914** » Tue Mar 19, 2002 5:59 pm

Anyone have a source for the connector pieces.

Va914 · Post by **Va914** » Sun Mar 24, 2002 7:57 pm

mrbaja · Post by **mrbaja** » Sun Mar 24, 2002 8:35 pm

I give up...What's "Bump"? I have some used ends from a bus if that'll work.
Aloha, Theo

pbanders · Post by **pbanders** » Sun Mar 24, 2002 11:09 pm

Va914 - did you see my reply about Jeff Bowlsby? He has the exact part you are looking for.

Va914 · Post by **Va914** » Mon Mar 25, 2002 6:21 am

I did see you post. He does great work from what I hear, however I don't want to send my entire FI Harness out for work at this time. If I could find a cheap connecter and just splice it in, I sould be fine.

Thanks for the help and GREAT web site..I have been there many times to look at your tech files and the photo's of your ride.

ray greenwood · Post by **ray greenwood** » Mon Mar 25, 2002 5:28 pm

The problem with splicing...is that unless you use a factory spec connector and crimp...there is a very good chance that you will raise the resistance on that wire. Especially the original factory wires...in their aged condition. If you must splice....and you know that you will sooner or later spring for having the whole harness done right, the correct thing to do...is to snip all four injector couplings loose...and trim them to the same length...and splice in four clean...trimmed connectors. Use telecom quality splices..with a proper crimpiong tool. Those are available...among other places...at Radio shack. They are smaller, have transparent color coded insulation...and are very uniform in resistance...and cheap. BUT...without factory strain relief to grip the wire insulation...you may get a year or so out of them before vibration starts to weaken the wire at the back of the butt connector...and you connections start to suffer. Ray

Va914 · Post by **Va914** » Tue Mar 26, 2002 12:00 pm

Brad, I e-mailed him and it seemed like he reconditions the whole harness rather then sell parts out. I am sure the trminals create a small work space, but if I was gun shy I would have never bought this 914

If I measure the resistance (if I can) in the other three leads and try to match that with the new one, everything should be fine.

Thanks

pbanders · Post by **pbanders** » Tue Mar 26, 2002 11:52 pm

Va914, I may be wrong, but I think Jeff can sell you the plug and the terminal pieces. Be aware, it's a delicate operation to get one of these assembled correctly.

Brad Anders

bowlsby · Post by **bowlsby** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 9:09 am

Allow me to clear up any misconceptions. If there was a way I could responsibly make the harness parts available, I surely would, but the risk to 914 owners is too great. As much as I would like to, it is unwise to provide harness parts separately in an effort to protect the greater interests of 914 owners. That may sound odd, but there is significantly more than meets the eye to servicing these old harnesses and one can easily do more damage than good to a harness or even destroy good FI or engine components with even the most sincerest of intentions.

Please remember these harnesses are old and embrittled by heat and oil degradation from 30 years of abuse – uh, service. Sometimes just looking at them causes a breakage it seems. The wire terminals often just fall off from vibration fatigue. When the plastic harness casing or wire insulation become embrittled, it breaks or cracks, likely causing internal harness shorts which are hard to find unless you know where and how to look and have the right diagnostic equipment and knowledge.

Installing the wire terminals requires special crimping tools and techniques to ensure a solid electrical and mechanical bond connection that will remain corrosion free and will stand up to the extreme vibration stresses found in engine bays. Removal of the plastic wire terminal housings requires a special tool and process. Without the tool and special knowledge the existing wire terminals will be damaged, which will require even more repairs. It is very frustrating when that happens. An electrical schematic is required for each of the 6 different 914 Porsche D-Jet FI harness configurations to ensure that each wire is in its proper location and has continuity, for the harness to function properly. I have created all 6 schematics and include a diagrammatic one with each repaired or rebuilt harness I provide.

A typical original FI harness has hardened, severed and missing casing sections, sometimes a severed branch of the harness, missing or non-functional boots and broken terminals. The wire terminals are dirty, corroded and have poor electrical contact. Even a single defective ground can render the entire FI system inoperational and cause untold additional hours of searching for the culprit, if it is ever found. Or a swap to carbs. What a tragedy.

For a minimal repair charge ($60 currently which includes return shipping and insurance), an FI harness sent to me is completely disassembled, cleaned and every wire and connection is bench tested with custom diagnostic testing equipment. Simple repairs like a missing wire terminal or missing section of casing are simply performed at no additional cost. Repair quotes are given for harnesses needing more than simple repairs, but not requiring rebuilding. If a given FI harness is not cost effective to repair, I usually have excellent condition repaired original or completely rebuilt replacement harnesses ready to ship at reasonable prices. I don't keep junk harnesses, they get rebuilt. Replacement Porsche 914 ignition harnesses with correctly color coded wiring will be available soon as well.

Most 914 owners do not have the special tools, test equipment, wiring schematics or knowledge required. I am a 914 owner too and Porsche 914 owners deserve the best available service at minimal cost. Here is a quote from a recent repair customer that is typical “hey Jeff. i recieved the wiring harness last week and it looks great. i was pretty surprised when i opened the box, it looks brand new. i can't wait to get it back in the porsche now. thanks! A.J.” [sic] This harness came to me in pieces and was returned in a condition that will provide many additional years of service before replacement is needed.

My harness customers are satisfied knowing they can rely on their harnesses to perform properly and spend their time DRIVING not wrenching. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

Jeff Bowlsby
3237 Julio Avenue
San Jose, CA 95124
[email protected]

pbanders · Post by **pbanders** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 9:49 am

Jeff, thanks for the response. Sorry to have communicated wrong info about your being able to supply parts. You comments are accurate - harnesses are often in such poor condition that repairing one area causes breakage in others. You prices for the amount of labor and parts are so good that it's hard to justify doing it yourself!

Brad Anders

ray greenwood · Post by **ray greenwood** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 10:45 am

I concur with what Jeff has just told you about harnesses. Actually the harness is the most important and failure prone part of the entire system. In my past posts...it may seem that I disagree with Jeff on some issues. I actually do not. I am an advocate of using newer, better connector designs when available...but never on a repair...and never without proper modification and only on a completely newly built harness. It is difficult to give a warranty on any thing used. Jeff is courageous to do so...and has to be meticulous in his work ethics. I am an advocate of using the L-jet terminals over the D-jet. Jeff is producing type 4 based stock harnesses with factory specs with as much guarantee as he can muster. I'm hoping that when I am able to gather all of the technical writings I have come across over the years, he may be able to offer his customers enough evidence to allow them to comfortably ask for something a little different than stock...and for him to comfortably warrantee that product. His methods appear to be exemplary.
We tend to have the habit of thinking of FI harnesses as just wires....they are a bit more complex than that. 7 out of 10 times they are one of the sources of poor running in fuel injected cars. If you are creating a custom engine with an existing FI system...that will require serious tuning...it would be worth your time to invest in a new harness first...or else you may be tuning around electrical connectivity issues. Ray

Steve Arndt · Post by **Steve Arndt** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 10:49 am

The wires broke off on my 76 Djet harness where they enter one injector connector. I needed to get back on the road (not interested in retaining value or long term performance, whatever. ., the car is a rusty pos).
I went to my back yard and cut a connector and a few inches of wire from an Ljet 77 bus engine. I crimp connected this to the Djet wires.
I only replaced one connector even though the other three are also ready to break. It has been working fine for six months.
I would send my harness in for professional repair if that didn't exceed the value of the car.
fyi.
Steve

ray greenwood · Post by **ray greenwood** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 5:17 pm

Steve, the L-jet connectors are excellent. Its not that I wouldn't repair something with them...I do it all the time, but I can see why Jeff B. would not do so in repair of a harness. I build fabulous harnesses...but I'm not in the business because I do not have time for the headaches. You could repair a harness...even better than stock...by using new..relatively easy to get L-jet parts. Problem I see is....you send this harness back to someone and if the engine does not run properly (and it probably would have nothing to do with the harness...non-stock or not) and the first thing they do is whack you for giving them a harness that does not work...and probably whack you for using non-stock parts....its a risky business. I was first not happy when they changed connectors in the first place. Started asking around a long time ago and started running across lots of good reasons why they changed to L-jet parts...and continue to use them. Now I am trying to re-gather a lot of this info. It may help Jeff and others who do build harnesses for a living...to be able to show customers that there is a much more viable alternative to finding pristine new D-jet connectors to rebuild a harness. Yep...the L-jet connectors connect just as well as D-jet...to D-jet equipment. To get that perfect seal that L-jet connectors are capable of...it takes a very few simple modifications. But even without the seal...D-jet didn't have them anyway. The real advantage of L-jet parts...is that the connectors maintain a better connection for longer, and wear less. Also what I was alluding to in the previous post...is that if I were building harnesses to sell...I would make them all either D-jet parts or L-jet parts...but wouldn't mix them ...for simplicity of replacement sake. My D-jet 412 is running all L-jet connectors....but its a brand new harness. Ray