Wiring - help needed

[S7Paul]

I suspected that my battery was on it's last legs, so thought I would pull the carpet out of the way and measure the voltage. However, while I was poking around in that area, I found this:







The plug was just dangling and wasn't connected to anything (and I don't know whether it ever had been). The 3 wires going to it are white/green, white/pink and bare copper where the insulation has melted and dropped off! Does anyone know what this plug is for?

And while I'm asking wiring-related questions, does anyone know what this is:



Sorry about the picture quality, it's not easy when you're laying on your back with your head in the footwell.

Any assistance will be much appreciated.

[ATG]

The plastic wotsit in the final photo looks like the resistor that tells the ECU to run in its "with catalytic converter" mode. IIRC the ECU has a cat mode and a non-cat mode, and the resistor is used to select which one is in operation. Not sure about the connector in the other photos. FWIW, my car certainly has some unused connectors flopping around in the footwell. Can't remember off the top of my head if any of them look like that one. Obviously any burnt wire is concerning. WOuldn't be too surprising if a male connector like that just flopping around eventually touched a live connector on some other part of the loom.

[timshap]

I've got the same...not sure what they are though.

[Johno]

The 3 pin plug is all Griffith and Chimaera footwells, a case of they all hve that . .. Tuck it up out of the way, but you need to make sure of how those wires have got sooo hot and melted before further damage to anything else occurs.

The second one in the clear heat shrink is a resistor, and is used to set up the Lambda's as far as I am aware. It is therefore important and make sure it is tucked neatly with the loom and away from wherever that heat source is coming from.

[S7Paul]

Thanks for the replies so far. The plot thickens.........

A trawl through the bible (well, it is Sunday) has highlighted (on p.93) that the white connector is the ECU diagnostic plug, and that the burnt wire is the "signal ground", i.e. it goes to earth. So I guess for it to have overheated there must have been power applied to it somehow.
Having traced the burnt wire up the loom, I've found that it doubles back on itself and terminates at a blue rectangular item that looks like a multipin connector (with nothing connected to it). However, there are no contacts visible on the side opposite where the wires go in (so maybe it isn't a connector). This item is taped to the loom about a foot back from the ECU, and I now need to establish what this is for, as it's not mentioned in the bible. Again, any ideas?

Edited by S7Paul on Sunday 24th February 22:14

[nawarne]

And while I'm asking wiring-related questions, does anyone know what this is:



Sorry about the picture quality, it's not easy when you're laying on your back with your head in the footwell.

Any assistance will be much appreciated.

[/quote]

This little gizmo is the interior light delay unit .....(O-level physics - discharge of capacitor thru a resistance).

The capacitor charges up when the door is opened and the interior light comes - shut door and the capacitor discharges through the resistance lighting the bulb until the charge is 'spent'.

It's the same deal for the intermittent wiper system - - and on the Chimaera you alter the resistance value by the knob on the steering column - therby altering the time delay.

Nick

[spend]

nawarne said:

This little gizmo is the interior light delay unit .....(O-level physics - discharge of capacitor thru a resistance).

The capacitor charges up when the door is opened and the interior light comes - shut door and the capacitor discharges through the resistance lighting the bulb until the charge is 'spent'.

Earlier replies were correct, it is the map selector for the ecu..

The operations you are describing are all integral to the courtesy light timer relay which is plugged into the fusebox.

Dave

[rev-erend]

Just make sure you put some insulating tape around each of the burnt wires .. they have probably been trapped against something in the past.

[S7Paul]

Thanks, but I still don't know what the blue connector-looking thing is/does, and therefore don't know whether the burnt wire overheated recently or, as I suspect, ages ago ('cos everything seemed to be working OK).

[spend]

S7Paul said:

... but I still don't know what the blue connector-looking thing is/does...

What blue ?????

The white connector is like the ones TVR used in the loom, I thought the ecu loom ones are a bit different OTOMH?

Dave

[S7Paul]

spend said:

S7Paul said:

... but I still don't know what the blue connector-looking thing is/does...

What blue ?????

The white connector is like the ones TVR used in the loom, I thought the ecu loom ones are a bit different OTOMH?

Dave

Sorry Dave (and anyone else that may have been confused). This blue thing is where the other end of the burnt wire terminated:





As I mentioned earlier, though it looks like a connector, there doesn't seem to be any provision for attaching anything to the opposite side to where the wires are attached.

[spend]

That looks more like a connector to device, someone previously had a tracker/alarm or something installed? The loom does look like its been 'tinkered' with (got pulled up last time I used the term butchered )

Dave

[S7Paul]

The loom looks worse than it is because I've stripped all the tape and conduit off it. I'm intending to buzz out the wires on the blue connector thingy to check that the burnt wire wasn't linked in some way to any of the others. I will then double check that all the electrical stuff still works properly. If everything looks OK, I'll re-bind the loom properly. At least it's given me the excuse I needed to tidy up that mess of wiring and relays that the factory lovingly dumped on top of the battery. Thanks for your help.