Digijet wiring harness rebuild

[JPrato]

[t3 kopf]

[t3 kopf]

[Vanagon Nut]

great build and neat link to the Bay forum. Super useful. Thanks.

re: pics of your old harness,

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7...ps#7568730

Did you open up any of the old harness further up the wires? I'm curious if there's any failure (or pending failure) points at wires under discoloured sections of OEM loom or how far corrosion typically had crept up any of the wires.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[t3 kopf]

The OE wires were fine under the loom, even at the discolored areas. The corroded points were at the connectors. Especially at the relay box, the temp 2 connector, the injectors, grounds, aux air connector and idle switch. At the injectors on the #1 and #2 side and the temp 2 connector, the wires are exposed to the heat originally. There were some burnt areas there causing an extra 2-3 ohms of resistance on a continuity test. it was far enough up the wires that splicing in a new connector alone wouldnt do. That burnt looking section of loom on the right side of the picture was only in the loom itself.
It seems that the factory didnt do a great job of crimping a lot of these connectors. There are a lot of them that have exposed strands at the crimp which lets in moisture for sure.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[Vanagon Nut]

thanks t3 kopf. That's helpful to know.

I recall a post here about a 2.1 harness intermittent failure. IIRC, the issue was at a tight turn in harness, but was curious to know if something like a burn mark might indicate where one could wiggle, twist, etc., a harness for an intermittent connection.

Neil.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[tclark]

where you might get the low down on all hard to find parts is
kyle
http://kyleautomotivespecialties.com/home

he does brand new 1.9/2.1 harness
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89 Westy with TDI AHU 1.9 manual lots of mods
85 GL 1.9, auto (for sold)

[t3 kopf]

True, and i'm sure he does an amazing job, however nearly all the parts are reused. For less than a hundred i've basically done the same thing for myself.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[t3 kopf]

I got a nice day out here, finally finished up most everything else on the van and pulled it out of the garage. The wiring harness works great and the van is running just fine. I did a coolant bleed and set the timing. Still need to hook up the stereo. Ill take it for a shakedown run this week when i get time.
So now i have 1 new harness in the van,1 new backup, one used harness ready to rebuild and 1 more in the mail to wait behind that one. I may modify my next two to put the ecu under the seat like a digifant van. Might also incorporate the tailight and temp and oil pressure sender harnesses to make it all one clean harness. Lots of possibilities here.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[GreenMachineVW]

[t3 kopf]

May be a different story with an AC harness. His response to my inquiry about his digijet harness was 5 weeks to rebuild mine for nearly 600 dollars and he reuses everything but the injector connectors. I'm sure hes better than i am and he should be because mine aren't being sold to people. Digijet harnesses are a lot different than l-jet harnesses.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[atomatom]

t3 kopf; would you consider selling a DIY kit that contains all the connectors? i'd love to buy one; the main issue with ordering these connectors is the shipping can end up as expensive as the parts if you don't order many, and/or order the wrong part, so more shipping/delay.

maybe it makes sense to sell the wire too? i'm not sure. if you had enough people buying kits you could have different colours for each signal.
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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

[t3 kopf]

That would be kinda cool, but then i would just have to order all the parts and i would have to add more to the cost to make any money, so it would be more economical for people to just use the part numbers i included in this thread. I would feel like i was ripping people off if i just ordered parts and then resold them. If they were to put this thread in the FAQ it would help. I know theres already one with the part numbers in there, but these part numbers are updated and are a lot less expensive.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[atomatom]

i totally appreciate your attitude to not ripping people off - and in sharing. but i'd happily pay some mark-up to save me the chance of making a mistake in ordering the wrong parts. and you could probably even get a better rate from digikey if you buy in larger quantities.

the bigger hassle, perhaps, is that once people pay money, they expect support. like i did all this wiring, and it doesn't work. help. this kit would not be as simple to install as some other kits. so, i can see that being a pain.

in my mind, the wiring is as critical as the fuel lines not only for running well, but also for fires. although it gets a bit of noise, it doesn't get enough attention.

i'll try making the shopping list on digikey, but you see, it'll probably take me at least an hour or so to go through that, double checking the thread to see if i got all the parts i need. if not, then an extra order, 2x shipping, etc, more checking, time, and so on.

i really have no problem buying kits from samba guys who share their knowledge. i'm happier when i can do that and the markup goes to the person who did the r&d rather than a vendor. maybe i should offer them, and send you commission?
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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

[atomatom]

ok, so i went to do this. easy enough, but, how many of each!

[atomatom]

here is a cart link to add all those parts in one easy click: http://www.digikey.ca/short/71zbf5

what i'd also like is a decent choice of wire to go with it, and perhaps some shrink wrap. tons of options. if money was no object, i'd go for the 500oC wire, but $$$. high temperature wire makes sense though. looking at hookup wire, not clear which is best. will update as i figure this out.
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84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

[atomatom]

i think this is the best fit for wire. but that is just a guess: http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/751816%20VI005/751816%20VI005-ND/3716095

wire is tricky; prices are all over the place. this is $40 for 100ft. violet.

[t3 kopf]

I got all my wire, heat shrink and other consumables from my local electronics shop. Good call on the shopping cart link.
As far as the kit, I've still got some other things to do before I can start ordering bulk parts, but it is a possibility of course. I still have another harness to do.
The problem is that I just saved up enough for kennedy engineering's basic ej22 conversion kit and i'm gonna pull the trigger. I'm gonna use my current engine and all my digijet stuff after that on whatever my next project may be. Probably a bay or a ghia.
With all that and the fact that I work 50-60 hours a week, itll be at least a year before I could do something like sell harness kits.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[Lulu1984]

Hi there. My 1984 westfalia is running rich and won't pass smog. Everything is new except wiring harness, ecu and distributor. I need some help please. Can someone tell me the difference between the 2 ECU part numbers:
Digijet
025 905 021
025 905 021c
My van currently has the top part number in it; I am wondering if the previous owner may have swapped out the original ECU with a non california version. Any thoughts?

[Amyrickvermont]

Although there are many other harness threads in here, I found this one the most helpful for my 1980 van. Thanks all for your input. Much appreciated.
In summary, if you have the money for the pre-made harness, go for it. I immensely enjoyed this project, saved about half (even after buying a nice crimping tool and strippers), and learned a lot about the digijet.
After a bunch of frustrating gremlins, I discovered that my harness probably was causing the unpredictable stalls, intermittent skips on #3 and #4, starting issues in the cold, etc.
I ordered the connectors through digikey, using the link at the beginning of this thread. My updated cart is here; https://www.digikey.com/short/47mf4f
The rubber boots for the injectors are available through digikey. I like these better than the silicon plugs for the connectors. They look original, and serve as a strain relief on the injector wires.
There are a couple spare connectors in the order, I recommending having a couple in case you goof them up, as I did. I ordered extra, which will find many uses under the dash and for other wiring.
I found a vendor on ebay that sold me 10' lengths of multi-colored and mult-striped wire in the same gauges that Kyle uses. I researched wire, and like the GXL wire, which has a high temperature rating and a thinner insulation than other automotive wire. I chose this over silicon wire, as it turned out
to have a good amount of stiffness to rout the harness without . I ordered a roll of brown for grounds. It took about 18'. I probably have enough wire left over to create another harness, although the colors will not be the same as this list.
I used a kit of flexible nylon loom rather than heat shrink tubing. Ebay again.
I added about 6" to all the wires coming out of the ECU to make the routing smoother and take the pressure off the plug. This was important, as my old harness rubbed on the airbox and it was a stretch to snap in my injector wires.
I re-used my ECU plug, as it was in good shape.
The Injector connectors are the same as the cold start and idle control connectors, and although I re-used some of my good connectors, I would order new next time.
I opted for masking tape rather than wire labels, but I would get the labels next time.
I built the new harness next to the old, which was necessary because some of the wire labels were mangled.
I started at the ECU, and was able to group wires and cover with loom as I moved away toward the double relay.
In the middle of the project, I decided many of my problems could have been caused by the grounds from this harness. I used insulated connectors here, rather than the OEM crimps.
At the end of the project, I had multiple fused and broken wires, as well as partially broken wires.
I tested all connectors for conductivity prior to installing. I didn't find and problems.
The new connectors installed with a resounding snap. It started right away, even in the cold, and idled properly. It has literally never run better. I think this rates up there with "replace your fuel lines".

Wires up to and including #34 start from the ECU. The rest of the wires start at the relay/resistor an work their way back.
You can use any color combination, but I included mine here based on what wire colors I was sent when I ordered through ebay. One kit was solid colors, one was striped wire. I copied this description from Kyle's site, without permission. Again, I recommend his harness to the vast majority of people. It took me about 7 hours of wiring time, and considerable time in planning and ordering.
WIRE # AWG Description
1 18 IGN Coil GREEN
3 18 Throttle Valve Switch BLACK
4 18 Double Relay 7 Crank signal GY/YE
5 16 Ground BROWN
6 18 Intake Air Sensor 5 Ref Ground BROWN
7 18 Intake Air Sensor 2 Constant GY/RD
8 18 Intake Air Sensor 3 Signal PK/OR
9 18 Intake Air Sensor 4 BK/YE
10 18 Double relay 8 ign power RD/BK
13 18 Temp Sensor LB/WH
14 16 Fuel Injector 1 (2) WH/GY
15 16 Fuel Injector #4 (2) WH/BK
16 16 Ground BROWN
17 16 Ground BROWN
18 18 Throttle Valve Switch YELLOW
20 18 Double relay 1 FP Signal PURPLE
27 18 Intake Air Sensor ORANGE
32 16 Fuel Injector #2 (2) BL/OR
33 16 Fuel Injector #3 (2) WH/RD
34 18 Aux Air Valve 2 WHITE
36 18 Double Relay 1 Intake Air Sensor 6 GR/YE
37 18 Double Relay 2 Aux. Air Valve 1 RD/OR
39 18 Double Relay 4 Intake Air Sensor 7 BK/GR
43 14 Double Relay 8 FI resistor 2 RED 14
45 18 Thermo-time Switch 1 Cold Start Valve 2 BL/GY
46 18 Double Relay 7 Cold Start Valve 1 GRAY
47 16 FI Resistor 3 Fuel Injector #3 (1) BK/BL
48 16 FI Resistor 6 Fuel Injector #4(1) BK/GN
49 16 FI Resistor 1 Fuel Injector #2 (1) GY/BK
50 18 Cold Start Valve 1 Thermo Time Switch 2 BL/GY
51 16 FI Resistor 4 Fuel Injector #1 (1) BL/PK
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1980 Brilliant Orange/Ivory Aircooled ASI Convertavan