[Hokie 335i]

So I have to take my car in for the 15k oil service and I figured I'd take out the V2 just to be safe. I should have just left it in there. When I was putting the original female connectors back into the ECU harness I broke the female connector off of one of the wires while removing the tape that had it connected to the male V2 wire. It was my own stupid fault for not being careful enough. This is the type of connector I'm talking about:



Anyways after freaking out that my car was broken and realizing they don't sell those connectors at Advanced Auto Parts or Radio Shack a friend and I bought a soldering gun and some solder. We cut the wire down removing the attached part of the broken connector, stripped it down a little bit, and then soldered it into the little channel in the female connector. Took a while to get it right but we THINK we did it well enough. We were able to get it to lock back into place in the ECU harness and the car started up ok.

The connector I broke was #10 in the black section of the large harness. If this wasn't attached right would my car not be working? I just hope that now it's in it'll be ok but I'm still REALLY worried about getting it back out when I reinstall the V2. What I was hoping is that I could get a fresh connector to put on assuming I can get this one back out of the harness. Vishnu guys, any possible way to get one mailed to me?

Also, if the worst does happen and the wire comes out when I'm trying to remove it but the female connector stays in the harness is there any way for me to get it out? I'm hoping I'd be able to just kinda force it out with my tiny screwdriver but it seems like there are some sections it would have to pass through that are longer than the broken piece making it tough to get it pushed all the way out.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

btw, In the future if I'm taking my car in for routine stuff and I put in the bypass plugs and hide the ground wire in the ECU box, the car will still run since the ground isn't needed with the Procede bypassed correct? I may do this to avoid breaking stuff all the time!

[ybbiz34]

Originally Posted by Hokie 335i

So I have to take my car in for the 15k oil service and I figured I'd take out the V2 just to be safe. I should have just left it in there. When I was putting the original female connectors back into the ECU harness I broke the female connector off of one of the wires while removing the tape that had it connected to the male V2 wire. It was my own stupid fault for not being careful enough. This is the type of connector I'm talking about:



Anyways after freaking out that my car was broken and realizing they don't sell those connectors at Advanced Auto Parts or Radio Shack a friend and I bought a soldering gun and some solder. We cut the wire down removing the attached part of the broken connector, stripped it down a little bit, and then soldered it into the little channel in the female connector. Took a while to get it right but we THINK we did it well enough. We were able to get it to lock back into place in the ECU harness and the car started up ok.

The connector I broke was #10 in the black section of the large harness. If this wasn't attached right would my car not be working? I just hope that now it's in it'll be ok but I'm still REALLY worried about getting it back out when I reinstall the V2. What I was hoping is that I could get a fresh connector to put on assuming I can get this one back out of the harness. Vishnu guys, any possible way to get one mailed to me?

Also, if the worst does happen and the wire comes out when I'm trying to remove it but the female connector stays in the harness is there any way for me to get it out? I'm hoping I'd be able to just kinda force it out with my tiny screwdriver but it seems like there are some sections it would have to pass through that are longer than the broken piece making it tough to get it pushed all the way out.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

btw, In the future if I'm taking my car in for routine stuff and I put in the bypass plugs and hide the ground wire in the ECU box, the car will still run since the ground isn't needed with the Procede bypassed correct? I may do this to avoid breaking stuff all the time!

Is this car leased, or did you buy it?

[Hokie 335i]

Originally Posted by ybbiz34

Is this car leased, or did you buy it?

Lease.

I am hoping that someone at Vishnu will be able to send me out a new female connector with instructions on how to crimp it on as I don't totally trust my solder although I did put a little pressure on it to see if it held before I put it back in the harness. Not too worried about it coming loose now that it's in a mostly steady state, but more worried about it breaking when removing it from the harness when reattaching the V2.

[ToothDoc]

^Why I never buy used...

[ybbiz34]

Originally Posted by ToothDoc

^Why I never buy used...

That is what I was getting at. Someone out there is going to get a used 335i that has had a soldered ECU compartment...

But, there are plenty of people out there with leased cars that have kids that eat and spill in it, people that puke everywhere, go WOT on a cold engine, etc.

To the OP: Good luck with your situation. Accidents happen and you were just doing the best you could to fix the situation. You are paying for the car now so you can do whatever the hell you want with it. I wasn't trying to pick on you or anything.

It is just interesting to point out the fact that there are going to be A LOT of used 335i's out there that have been modified, with unsuspecting buyers.

[Hokie 335i]

Originally Posted by ybbiz34

That is what I was getting at. Someone out there is going to get a used 335i that has had a soldered ECU compartment...

But, there are plenty of people out there with leased cars that have kids that eat and spill in it, people that puke everywhere, go WOT on a cold engine, etc.

To the OP: Good luck with your situation. Accidents happen and you were just doing the best you could to fix the situation. You are paying for the car now so you can do whatever the hell you want with it. I wasn't trying to pick on you or anything.

It is just interesting to point out the fact that there are going to be A LOT of used 335i's out there that have been modified, with unsuspecting buyers.

No worries, that's one of the reasons I wouldn't buy a car off lease! You just never know what people have done to it. The thing is I really do take care of my car, this was just something that happened and I did everything to fix. If I can get a new tip crimped on it'll be good as new.

[Tuned335i]

I think the number of ECU-modded cars is being seriously overstated. Among members of this forum, the percentage is significant.
Just a guess, but I would bet if you take the sample set as the entire production run of 335i cars, the number of drivetrain-modded cars is very small.