Thread: Oil in my harness 2003 TD5

Dave, I wouldn't worry about the ECU, the oil won't hurt it, it is the insulating of the oily pins in the plugs that causes the faults.
After 25K I would expect more oil that was left in the rest of the harness to make its way down to the ecu etc, unless of course you replaced the complete engine bay loom like LR used to do in the good old days... at great $$$$

Just give it another clean and soldier on

JC

Originally Posted by justinc

Dave, I wouldn't worry about the ECU, the oil won't hurt it, it is the insulating of the oily pins in the plugs that causes the faults.
After 25K I would expect more oil that was left in the rest of the harness to make its way down to the ecu etc, unless of course you replaced the complete engine bay loom like LR used to do in the good old days... at great $$$$

Just give it another clean and soldier on

JC

+2 - if its not your day-to-day vehicles, hang the loom upwards and use a can of degreaser/contact cleaner to clean it from top to botom..... If that is not suitable, buy another off eBay for around $100

Does hanging it up and cleaning it mean removing the loom from the engine by removing the rocker cover or the loom from the engine front connector to the red plug on the ecu?

After it was replaced 25K ago ... did you disconnect the ecu end a few weeks later and clean it with contact cleaner?
If not ... that SHOULD be the answer and solution.
Also, I don't believe there's an after market solution for the oil capillary action issue ... just need to replace the harness when you notice it.


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Originally Posted by northiam

Does hanging it up and cleaning it mean removing the loom from the engine by removing the rocker cover or the loom from the engine front connector to the red plug on the ecu?

Yep exactly that....remove it from the engine completely - this is why I made note that if it was your daily ride, you may be without it for a few days. Suspend the loom from somewhere and liberally soak it with a degreaser and/or contact cleaner and allow the oil residue to 'wick' out of the loom.

Best solution is to buy another loom and fit it to the car while the other drys out - then you'll have a spare

As pointed out, you'll need to clean the fittings at the ECU as well.

can anyone,,,,,and no offence intended (not the home mechanic who has done it once and thinks it has worked),,,,,,, can anyone tell me if there is a definative fix for the oil in the loom problem.

Well I don't meet your criteria for this and I've not even attempted a fix myself because, as yet, there is no oil showing in my loom. But I do remember, some time ago, reading a thread on here about oil proofing the stock engine loom (from injectors to front of engine. From memory it involved, semi-dismantling a new engine loom and filling the connectors to the injectors with epoxy resin. I couldn't say if it works or not but some of the people involved in the discussion were people I consider to know what they are on about with Td5s. At worst I think it would delay the problem manifesting it's self. Sorry I cant be more specific with the info. but it is out there somewhere.

Now I know this will be of no use to you in this case but for anyone reading who hasn't had the problem yet the best way not to suffer the larger problem of a poisoned loom is preventative maintenance. Check the connector at engine front for signs of oil every service (more frequently recommended) and/ or replace the loom in the engine on a semi regular basis, they're not that expensive and relatively easy to do. I've heard if you see oil at the connector then you can expect it at the ECU around 5k later. The guys I have talked to, who are experienced professional landy mechanics, consider it to be a service item.

Good luck with decontaminating your loom.

Ian.

waste of time trying to wash out an old loom

get a new loom then bare the wires on your external plug & inject this stuff into the connector with a hyperdermic

Encapsulating and Potting Epoxy Compound > RoHS Compliant

problem solved, oil can't get past it

I wanted to replace my harness when this happened to me.
The following fix was offered by a trusted Landy workshop owner and he has done this with success.
He didn't sell me a loom as he said I could do this to the old one (although I did get my oil filters while there).

Removed the injector harness and cleaned it with electrical contact cleaner.
I sprayed it 3-4 times till I couldn't see a change in the spray draining off.
I then refitted the loom and modified it in place.
This was done by removing all the plugs that are on the harness(being carefull not to loose parts down into the motor).
I filled each conection with high temp, sensor safe salastic(red).
I then refitted each plug and conected it alowing the salstic to squese out of the conector.
On the front large round conector I over filled the hole so the oil runs off rather than pool.
No more problims to date
Even if the main harness has some oil in it with no oil going in from the loom after 2-3 checks at the ECU none should come out.

From the pictures of the modified loom I've seen it appear all they are doing is filling the front plug with resin to stop the oil from pooling.