Gen1 ECU wire harness slack?

[kristmen]

Question for anyone who has installed a Super AFC themselves or messed around with there ECU wire harness.

Once you get to the ECU and unplug it there is like 4 inches of slack in the wire harness.. Well.. Where exactly does the harness go under the floor? Is it zipped tied down or something? Is it possable to like cut the carpet and pull it back and unfasten the harness from the floor to get more slack to work with?

I wanna pull it out a lil ways and solder the wires but with the slack being so short I cant really get to it well. Not to mention, I'm a big guy, 6'7" so its a lil hard for me to fit down on the floor to get to the thing.

Any info would be great.

 

[MitsuReaper]

Yuo really do not need to solder the wires. You can use wire taps in some situations or butt connectors. sometimes electrical tape gives you the best connection/insulation

 

[kristmen]

Um I was told NOT!!!! to use electro taps with an S-AFC. Infact the manual says not to use them eather.

2 of the wires are going to be butt connectors though. The 2 I have to cut. Eather way there is no freaking slack in the wires. I just wanted to know if its possable to pull out the wire harness if I cut the carpet or something. I dont wanna start ripping at #@%#@%#@%#@% to only find out I cant get more slack.

 

[rsk_wannabe]

I had the same complaint when I first installed the AFC. Hell I even cut the wrong wire the first time (cut the knock sensor instead of the Air sensor right next to it... dooooh. )

Anyway, when it was time to install the EBC, I was not looking forward to this since it is so cramped even for a shorter guy like myself. But what I did is to first remove the ECU and also the other metal cube thingamabob on the passenger side of the center console near the ECU.

With those things out of the way, you can just about get the ECU connectors pulled to the outside of the console area....the larger one (24 pin) to the drivers footwell side and the smaller one to the passenger side footwell. This gives you better viewing of the wires and will allow you to tap into them easier. I did not solder but am confident that the wires are connected/tapped securely and properly insulated.

Hope this helps.

 

[kristmen]

Ya thats sorta what I did when I installed my Air/Fuel gauge. I took out the ECU. Altho I suppose I could have just run the o2 sensor wire out into the engine compartment and tapped the white wire on the o2 sensor there.

Well Apexi says you should not use electro taps and alot of people told me the same thing. They said that over time if they become loose is can throw off settings and mess up your engine.

 

[Zydis]

I just installed my AFC today. I already have an Apexi b/c, so most of the connections were previously completed. I used butt connectors. The wiring harnesses are easier to access if you take the ECU out. I cut back some of the factory tape holding the wires together to get better access.

There is nothing I can offer, though, about being 6'7" and working in that small space.

 

[DrZiplok]

The 1G ECU loom heads out through a grommet in the firewall in front of the passenger's seat.

If you look at the tunnel to the left of the passenger's feet, there's a plastic cover with some carpet on it, which is held on with one screw and threaded over a plastic post on a bolt on the firewall. Pull the screw and the panel.

Next you'll find the ECU loom held down by a big plastic wire clip designed by the devil. Shine a torch on it and study how it works. You can get it open with a screwdriver, just be patient.

Then remove the ECU ground wires from the chassis bolt. Now you can grab the whole loom and pull it into the passenger footwell. There's more slack if you really need it; pull the vent tray (three trim clips) then the carpet screw doohickeys and roll the carpet back.

By this point you'll have enough ECU loom length to strangle yourself with, and you should be fine for the odd butt joint or two.

HTH.