Glow Plug Harness to Battery connector

[Wvdirtroad]

I took my harness off the truck to add a little wire to my plug wires and put new connectors in and ran into some trouble with this connector. I'm assuming the two wires that broke out of the housing are for the glow plugs, and I'll also suppose that the plug was a royal pain to disconnect as they were melted together. Wanted to see ho others have addressed this issue, and if replacement plugs are available. I thought about just doing some type of bullet connection for these but I'd rather do a little looking first.

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Also- has anyone had any luck with the eBay plug connectors being sold? I bought a pack of and they seem pretty nice. There is glue inside the connector and the ends are heat shrink wrapped for connecting. Tight fit to the plugs. Pics to follow once photobucket cooperates.

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[sassyrel]

find a truck in the salvage yard,,if can.. that's beyond destroyed....

 

[Wvdirtroad]

I'd think most junkyard trucks will have suffered the same issue. Nothing aftermarket available?

 

[79jasper]

Long as it hold the correct amount of wires, and the same size wires.
Run new bigger glowplug feed wires. Keep them separate from the others.

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[OLDBULL8]

That pluggin connector is there only for quick disconnect when pulling the engine. Don't mess with the glow plug power wires going back to the battery, there are fusible links in them, just splice those wires or use the connectors you got. You could use connectors on all the wires.

 

[turbo elk]

I replaced the positive lead from the battery to the solenoid on the passenger fender and then from the solenoid to the glow plug controller, with a power wire for an amp that was about half inch diameter with the insulation on it and a 250 amp fuse.
Ford has to 10 gauge wires for that glow plug controller and they are not adequate... Mine was actually smoking.

 

[tbrumm]

Here is a link to how to eliminate the two yellow (and very inadequate) yellow wires and replace them with a single heavy gauge cable to better handle the current.
http://www.intellidog.com/dieselmann/idi2.htm This is the setup I have on my truck, but was done before I purchased it. The GPC has a single heavy gauge cable feeding it. Of course, the two fusible links are still in place for protection.

Edit - here is a better pic of the schematic:

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[sassyrel]

I'd think most junkyard trucks will have suffered the same issue. Nothing aftermarket available?

sure of that??? my 94, is still all original,,and is ok............

 

[franklin2]

sure of that??? my 94, is still all original,,and is ok............

Just wait, it will happen they all do it. I do not like those slip type connectors for high amperage connections. When they get hot they expand and that makes the connection even worse. They had the same problem with those 2G alternator connectors melting and sometimes catching fire, and it's the same problem with the headlight switch connectors.

I would keep some sort of connector at that location. It's very handy to disconnect these wires and move them out of the way when changing the valve cover, removing the exhaust manifold, etc. When mine burnt up, my smaller connections in the plug were ok, I just re-used them. The two larger ones that burn up I just crimped 4 ring connectors on the 4 wires, and then used small bolts and bolted them together. That way I could take it apart if I needed to. One of those larger connectors that are used for winch disconnects would probably work fine too.

 

[Dave Sponaugle]

The glue in the connectors you are looking at is probably dielectric grease that should be used on all electrical connectors to prevent corrosion of the terminals.
Yes, the two yellow wires are battery power to the glow plug controller.

The rest of the wires are fuel shut off solenoid power, oil pressure sender, water temp sender, key on power to glow plug controller, key on power to the engine temp switch that powers the fast idle and timing advance solenoids and the fuel heater off the top of my head.

The Weather Pack connectors on E Bay would be fine for the smaller wires, but I would separate the two yellow wire in another connector because those two wires carry almost 200 amps when the glow plugs first come on.

On my truck I put a solid crimp connector in the yellow wires where that connector was, soldered the crimp connection after crimping it and took the wires out of the harness so I could disconnect them at the ring terminals at the battery end on the starter solenoid battery terminal when I have to disconnect them.

I kept the same wire size because Ford used smaller wire in part so voltage drop in the smaller wires helps regulate the amount of power going to the glow plugs, extending glow plug life.

In most cases, that connector gets a little corrosion on the terminals causing resistance, which causes heat when the glow plugs are heating. That heat deforms the connector, making the connection worse causing even more heat from resistance which can travel down the wires and damage them as well.

As to is the connector causing problems on your truck?
That most likely depends on where you live.
Northern areas are colder, the glow plug cycle in longer and more often than Southern areas, so more power for longer cycles with more frequent use cause failure sooner.
Another factor in Northern area is the amount of salty roads the truck is driven over contributes to corrosion even under the hood as that salt spray gets everywhere on your vehicle as you drive down the road following another vehicle.

 

[icanfixall]

I replaced that double yellow wire from the solenoid to the controller direct. No fuse or disconnect. Mine melted like yours did. What you can do is make the coupling a direct connection. Only reason that plug is there is so the engine harness can stay with the engine when removing said engine. Just a note about this wire feed. Its always powered hot and if you accidently ground it you will melt wires faster that a dress coming off in the back of a 55 chevy on prom night. You have both battery amps looking for a ground and smoke will happen. Also the alternator and the starter are also powered hot all the time.

 

[Dave Sponaugle]

Yes what icanfixall said is very true.
I run two 1000 CCA batteries and 2000 amps at 12 volts can cause lots of sparks, fast.

 

[Wvdirtroad]

I replaced that double yellow wire from the solenoid to the controller direct. No fuse or disconnect. Mine melted like yours did. What you can do is make the coupling a direct connection. Only reason that plug is there is so the engine harness can stay with the engine when removing said engine. Just a note about this wire feed. Its always powered hot and if you accidently ground it you will melt wires faster that a dress coming off in the back of a 55 chevy on prom night. You have both battery amps looking for a ground and smoke will happen. Also the alternator and the starter are also powered hot all the time.

I think I'll just separate the wires out like many have mentioned. What gauge wires did you use for the battery direct to glow plug controller? You mentioned no fuse on the wire- if I replace the current setup with solid wire do in need fusible link wire at any point or can I just run it straight through?

 

[Wvdirtroad]

Thanks for the info Dave. I didn't realize they sold connectors like that that could be opened and wired specifically. Do you know of one in specific for this that you've had luck using?

 

[OLDBULL8]

I'm not an Electrical Engineer but I do have 60 yrs of electrical experience.
The glow plug circuit consist of: from the battery there are two #10 AWG in parrallel each is protected by a #14 AWG fusible link, from the GP relay to the GP's there is two #10 wires, they split and feed each side of the motor, each GP is feed by a #14 spliced into the #10 wire. The initial current on start of the GP cycle is ~190 Amps for ~1 second, then lowers to ~130 amps, each GP pulls ~16 Amps @ ~9 - 10 VDC, (130 / by 8 = ~16) the max GP cycle is 15 seconds (with a good controlling GPC). The zig zag "Chromolox" strip on the relay is a "resistor", it controls the in rush current and as it heats up controls the voltage and current to the Gp's, as the GP's heat up, the current and voltage is reduced to each GP.
A fusible link wire is a special wire with special insulation, if an overload current accures, the wire will seperate (melt) within the insulation.

To defeat it's purpose (original circuit) by using a large Fuse (250) Amps is not a good protection, a 150 Amp Slo-blow fuse would be adaquate in place of the fusible links.

By increasing the wire size, that allows a higher current to pass in case of a short to ground (Neg side of battery) for a longer period of time depending on what the wire is protected by.

The reason for the OEM connector melting is that the contacts within the connector become corroded and cause a high resistance which creates heat at that point.
That can be expected after 25 - 30 years. So renewing the connection there by new connectors or splicing, you should be good for another 25 - 30 years.