martinpl

i have plans to either seal or move my ECU. i have thought of ways to seal it in some kind of water tight box. or i have thought of just moving the box up to my headliner. my biggest question is if i legthen the wires will this effect anything? i have an 89 pickup 2.4

1lowtoy

i think it just depends on how long you make the wires, if they have slack, or if they are really tight.

martinpl

i was going to cut the wires 1 by 1 and add additional length to each wire. but i wasnt sure if the wire gauge would be a problem cause of how long it is. i dont think it would be but i dont know for sure

1lowtoy

maybe you should move your ecu to your glove box- just a suggestion and then line the glove box so it is water tight. because i dont think it would be to good for head room to have the ecu rigged up like that.

martinpl

ive read about that before also. but when i was messing around with that the harness was being pulled fairly tight. the unit is only about an inch thick so the head room wouldnt be to big of a deal. do you know of any other voids in the dash that it could be moved. and also do you have and waterproofing suggestions.

thook

A longer wiring harness wouldn't be a problem. It's only when you get into splicing and soldering that "could" be....that is, if you are going to do it that way. Sensitive as they are, ECU's read the voltage signals in specific ranges. Any resistance created would compromise what it reads. If you do cut and splice, make sure you do it very well and support the splices however you can so no stress is place on them.

It would be most excellent if you could get generic connectors and terminals from some place like radio shack with the same amount... or close to....connecting slots. That would be ideal. Then, just use the same gauge wire and run the ECU to where you like. This idea just occurred to me and I'm so inspired I'm going to look into myself. I've had three wet ECU incidents over time. No fun.

As far as waterproofing the ECU otherwise, you can run a thin bead of silicon along the contact surfaces of the ECU covers and refasten them. Then, run some silicon around the outside parameters of the terminals. There is...oh....about an 1/8" gap there. Finally, smear dielectric grease into the connecting ends of the harness, plug them in, and smear some more over the back of the connectors. Not that hard, but keep on eye on the heat factor as now there is no way for the internal heat to dissipate as well.

martinpl

cool all good stuff. you were saying something about going to radio shack and looking generic connectors. can you explain that to me a little bit better.

thook

RS has all kinds of electronic parts and connectors. For example, if you were going to repair a stereo, tv, etc., they would have different parts to do that. All you need to do is go there and look....ask someone for multiterminal connectors and put something together. You should be able to get connectors similar to the ECU harness. If RS where you are doesn't have something suitable, I'm sure some electronics store will.

I'm going to swing by the RS near where I work this weekend. I will look. If that fails, there's a Grainger online.

dirtoyboy

I wouldnt cut it..... thats just asking for trouble...


Try moving it into the glove box...If you have water over your glove box you have other things to worry about!

thook

Ever been to a computer/electronics repair shop? They do cutting and splicing all the time. Soldering is tedious work, but it isn't a big deal. It just has to be done right for it to work and remain a sturdy connection. Splicing in connectors is even easier. Now, when you start putting too many splices into a circuit, then problems can arise. Everytime a circuit has a joint connection, some resistance is created. But, one is not going to create an issue.

If you want to see for yourself, take a couple pieces of wire and solder them together. Use the same gauge as the ECU harness if you like. Then, test a solid piece of wire for resistance and compare it to the two joined together.

martinpl..
If you choose to solder, there are good instructions online.

dcg9381

I extend the ECU connector to integrate the factory harness with megasquirt.
It can be done, my recommendation is to cut and solder (not crimp) one connection at a time. Use heat shrink and then insulate the whole thing.

If you're going to crimp it, don't.

There are a few signals - like ignition and knock that are sensitive to interference.

Belize Off Road Team

you can buy an extension kit so it fits in the gloe box. i just can't remember where you can buy it.

Luvmeye22re

I'd be willing to bet that offroad solutions in Colorado could make you an extension. For their motor swap harnesses they offer a basic harness and for extra money they can build it to any length, and I'm pretty sure all they do is what you are talking about, extend the harness with the same guage wire, solder it all up, and heat shrink it. I would heat shrink it and use that protective wire loom stuff (kind of accordian looking, I don't know what it's called specifically).

dcg9381

I'd be curious to how much they are...
Offroad solutions is great, but I think their "painless" 22RE harnesses were creeping up on $800 last time I looked?

This IS a job you can do at home if you've soldered before. Just go slowly and take your time.

A true plug and play extension is going to be expensive - I've only heard of one party being able to source the right connectors: minimum order 100 @$25/each. That's just for one side...

martinpl

cool yall thanks. i was planning on soldering the extension in 1 at a time. and it sounds like it shouldnt effect anything to much. i think i am going to run in up so that it is under the headliner. any other suggestions of where to put it instead.

thook

I'd think in the headliner it would see too much heat from the direct sun on the roof. Maybe run the harness under the carpeting and seat back to the body cavity somewhere behind the seat?

martinpl

oh yeah i didnt even think about the sun. yeah that may also work. i sunk my truck the other day and if it was tilted the water would have been above the ecu. so i dont want to chance that again.

dirtoyboy

I still say the glove box.....if you have water over your glove box you are screwed anyways

martinpl

yeah.....very true i dont plan on going thru deep water but you never know what you will fall into