Good idea Buzz. I had always interpreted that as the light would blink as long as the code was present but maybe not. I'll have to put the CEL light back in since I removed it along with the SES light.

Thanks Danny. I just did almost exactly what you described a few days ago (for the second time) just to make sure the intake and linkage was really clean. Glad it cured your codes though

Out of morbid curiosity I inquired with Rovers North about a new engine harness. No problem they say. Just $2081.94 + shipping

 

Eric, I think we could re-wire it one wire at a time for less. (My info was really aimed at the other readers more so than you. I expected that you would have already done all that.)

I have torn into my wire harness a little bit, those things are horrendous as far as I am concerned. Especially the way they do splices hidden within a bundle and very poor quality as far as a splice.

If I was going to do a serious rewire, I would look at running all new wires for the criical circuits and use real terminal strips instead of the goofy splices they use, but I was an Aviation Electrician in the Navy then later an Electrical Manufacturing Engineer on the Cruise Missile Program, so I am accustomed to better wiring than any automobile. But even mass produced harness can be better than these are.

Lift your carpets one day and take a look and you will see what I mean.

With a little planning, some good sub-harnesses could be made.

 

Yeah I have noticed the wiring could be of better quality. It's really too bad, because electrical issues are a major reason they get a bad reputation.

I've thought about making wire harnesses before, but there's a few problems. How would you crimp the connectors on? They seem proprietary so I doubt they can be purchased new. What about the wire colors? Buying rolls of every color combination would get expensive fast. Otherwise the ETM becomes less useful if every wire is black, red, or white.

 

Wire color for electricians is simple - they are all black above a certain size, you use colored tape to identify and wire markers, you can get these nice ones that are self laminating. Danny is right, swap out one wire at a time and you would be fine. But be sure it is the wires first. Also, an ohm meter can show you if the connections have high resistance, etc. Your problem is more likely in the harness or a splice point where multiple things can be wrong at once. Guess you could unplug each injector an read for ohms of coil and ohms to ground.

 

In avionics we rarely used wire colors except that it is good to do all 12v red, ground black. We usually used wire numbers, and what we referred to as a Reference designator for everything. Stick on labels are made by Thomas and Betts, come in a little flip book.

As far as the connectors, those plastic housings merely hold the contact, usually the individual contacts can be inserted and extracted. They do make little tools for that but if you look closely at a contact, there is usually a small protuding clip that locks it into the housing. Crimp contacts of many styles are readily available as are crimpers. I have a couple of decent ones from past work I have done as an electrician. It would be nice to find the little housings as well.


I totally rewired a 1967 Chevy SportVan90, but that was a lot simpler. I would just do critical circuits first that may be acting up. or if you are patient, you can hunt down each and every splice and such. A lot of the overwrap on mine has severely degraded. I have rerouted and retaped various sections like the front floorboard and tunnel areas already. And a little bit under the hood.

I had my instrument cluster out a few hours ago looking to see if I could find an obvious problem with my tach. That backplane on that thing is PITIFUL.

Instead of the pitiful splices that are in these harnesses, you could do a better job. You could even step up to using small modular terminal strips. I have a few of those from where I recently gutted 3 PLC's. I was able to sell some of the items to PLCCenter.COM and have a box full of switches, some meter movements and a few odds and ends left over from that effort.

Buying and installing a replacement harness would not only be expensive, it would be so labor intensive, I would rather rewire one myself. You could reroute, use modular conduit, wire what only is needed.

My understanding is that LR only made one production harness that could support all the possible options like rear air, heated windscreen, and so forth. In doing so it made it logistically simple for their assembly line, but there are many many unused connectors that can get corroded or contaminated, wire bundles that are just coiled up and taped over with a little foam, splices that can go bad. All the power and ground wires are there, so some of those wires are energized I would think.

 

Since it seems to be related to running temp I think it would be in your best interest to STOP grasping at straws.

I find it very difficult to swallow that this issue is a wiring problem considering how many Rovers that are running fine with harnesses that are corroded and have been gnawed on by mice.

I would swap out sensors one at a time until you find where the issue originates. You may find a funky CTS causing it to lean out too far, or a MAF that has intermittent signal at times. It may be as simple as a poor connection in a sensor plug.

 

Yeah, you may have a worn connection at a sensor as well.

 

having rewired a number of cars, more complicated than old carb'd stuff, id say if you were replacing things i would opt for a factory harness 99% of the time unless the car was something highly modified that wouldnt make use of most of the factory connections.

making new wiring harnesses is significantly more work than removing components and replacing something with a factory harness that just drops in.

 

For 2 grand for a new harness you can pull one at a yard, or maybe a dismantler. Like Danny, I spent my wayward youth on electgrical things, working inside large walk in control panels that took maybe 35,000 feet of wire. You turn up the music real loud, because it gets real boring. Lable everything and write it down.

ET - I pulled my fuel injector fuse and plugged an amp meter in series. Reads 0.88 amps with key on. Running, that increases to 1.19 amps at idle. Noticed under the multi function relay, just beside the ECU, a ground stud with several wires on it. Suggest you clean yours and be sure it is tight.

 

I could get you a known good one for close to if not free. You could probably do one your self but I think you would be better off ruling it out if you used one that worked to begin with