wiring / electrical connectors — where to find them

[williamfowers]

i have an 86 ive been working on. took out the motor and have been putting in a new one. however when removing the old engine, several dried out connectors disintegrated. now i am having to chase down these connectors. does anyone know where i can figure out what these connectors are for? i have ordered four new fuel injector connectors, and am currently looking for the other connectors in the same general harness area that the fuel injector connectors are located

[Megadysart]

Most of the connectors on the van are the Bosch type, used in all EV1 Jettronic fuel injection systems. You can pull similar ones off of several models of vehicles at the scrap yard (Volvo s40, Ford Explorer, Nissan Sentra are a few that come to mind.) You can also skip the hassle and buy them new from Rockauto.com . I'm not too sure about the other connectors on the van, but I know that both rockauto and Autozone/Orielly's sell the connector pigtail for the Throttle Position Sensor. Not too sure about the other styles of connectors on the van; I know for sure that the ignition switch pigtail is still available. I recently rebuilt my alternator harness with thicker gauge welding wire/eyelets and a new junction box, then I replaced the wiring coming from the connector in the back and siliconed it to protect it from corrosion.

Good luck, I'm sure there's a couple write ups on this forum and others about rebuilding wiring harnesses. Youtube is a good source of tips for that sort of thing.

[happycloud]

I have a number of failing wires, semi broken plugs etc and am looking as to the best approach for replacing these. I am replacing things in bits, mostly around motor/tranny and am running into the issue of how to get replacement connectors - the various plastic plugs that I would solder wires to that then connect to the engine block. I have no idea how to go about finding matches for these. The junkyard has old brittle ones. I have found online connector sites that show me hundreds of photos of various connectors but its a bit overwhelming.

Does someone have a suggestion? Right now I makeshift things but its not ideal and I am sure there must be a better way.

[Roger]

I had this issue with my 88 van. All of the connectors where brittle and breaking on me. I was able to find a match after some searching, at O'Reilly Auto Parts, for a temp sensor. The same connector works on a lot of the plugs, they just have a notch in different places... so I just took a dremel and cut one in the connectors where needed for those.

I'm not at the shop, where I can dig up the part number. I think it is the same as this though:

http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1988/toyota/van/engine_electrical/engine_coolant_temperature_sensor_connector.html

If your TPS connector is bad, they have that too:

http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1988/toyota/van/engine_electrical/throttle_position_sensor_connector.html

For some of the other stuff, like the VSVs on the side of the motor, I was forced to wire direct. I couldn't find new connectors, and neither could the parts people I talk to. I just attached blade connectors to each post and put some dielectric grease on them to weatherproof a bit. That was my temp fix, that I can always redo if I find good used connectors.

Hope this helps.

[blakebecker37130]

I work for a Japanese automotive electric wiring company.Many of the connectors and harnesses on these vans are made by this company. We also have access to many other connectors due to patents in the industry. This causes an automotive harness to have connectors from a myriad of suppliers. We tear these down and have many on hand for repairs…..etc. P.M. me pictures of the connectors you are looking for and I will see if I can help you out. I was toying with the idea of making aftermarket alternator harnesses for our vans, however the crimping of the terminals for the connectors are done on machines utilizing specific crimp force, height and width tolerances. I would be unable to assure quality of the end product, so I opted out.

Regards,
Blake