Redlance88

so for some reason the Electrical connector to the BACV in my 87 burned up today, still can't get the nasty smell of burnt plastic out of my nose, I was able to disconnect the terminals, and they are not grounding together but some of the copper melted, so I suspect the valve is screwed, my question is can I drive the thing home with that valve disconnected?(unplugged ) I confess I don't really know what it does other than it can effect idle and that a coolant line is routed through the assembly of the valve part. so my 3 questions are, 1 can I drive home and do I need to do any thing other than unplug the connector that got cooked, 2. what might have caused it to fail and burn up, and 3 what does the valve do so that I can make informed choices about replacement. thanks guys prompt answers would be most helpful.

Customisbetter

Yeah it will just not idle as well when its cold. Other than that you are golden. Unless it fried in the open position in which case your car will rev up when you start it.

The coolant doesn't do anything for the BAC, it just happens to be connected to it.

FelixIsGod29X

iTrader: (50)

The coolant flows through it to prevent the valve from sticking in very cold temperatures, does it really help? I dont know.

You can drive with it disconnected no problem. Just bump up the idle a tid bit if needed in the mean time.

Redlance88

well the car seems to idle about the same as it did before the connector burned up, and it is darn cold here today ( North Dakota,) sub zero day. Glad I can get it home and the replacement process seems straight forward enough, I will have to replace the non part side electrical connector but I have some spare harness bits around and probably the valve as well so the cost should not be too excessive probably just the gasket, I am a bit concerned as to why the electrical connection would have shorted out in the first place, but I suspect I may never know the answer to that one. thanks guys for the prompt advice.

Redlance88

Ok time for the repair part of this issue, I have all of my parts on hand except the electrical connector to the BACV, I have a kinda beat up one from my spare wiring harness but its not much better than the one that got fried, so any one have a source for a new oem electrical connector?, or at this point do I just make something work with crimp connectors and Electrical tape? thought, ideas, spare parts laying around any one? any one know of more modern cars that use the same keyed connector? would like to have this just plug in rather than look slap dash but not looking like I have much choice at this point. thanks for any advice you may have. also any one that has worked with this part, can any one tell me at what phases of operation they would get currant to the terminals, so that I can try to test if something else is wrong with the system before installing the new part?
Is it constant 12v or only when signaled by a relay or some thing.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

s4 or s5? if s4 you can use an injector clip and just cut off the locating lug from the BAC.

satch

iTrader: (1)

Black/White wire would have 12 volts w/key to on and the other wire voltage is governed by the ECU. Drops to a couple of volts or so when starting the car and then rises from there to a level depending on how many load bearing accessories you are using at the time. So, the voltage would be the highest w/no accessories being used.

Redlance88

Thanks guys, and thanks evo I had not considered that, (S4) that should work well enough, better than what I was considering doing, ( I do some limited plastic casting) and was pondering on how hard it would be to imbed some connectors in a mold to fabricate a new connecter plug, your solution is much easier as I have those around. also thanks satch for the voltage info, with luck that will let me know if I can safely plug in the new part and not waste my time. you folks rock!

RXSpeed16

iTrader: (41)

I believe the Bosch ev1 connectors are replacements for stock s4 low impedance injector clips. Thus should fit the BAC too.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

yes, and you can find them at auto wreckers on some of their newer stock GM cars readily. when the old stock harness connectors fail i generally replace them with the bosch units because they are easier to unclip and i have never had one shatter yet. used to get new replacements but now i just grab a bag full when i'm out hunting for parts.

just wish i could find some connectors with the offset lugs to avoid chopping the sensors/solenoids up on the cars to make it work. a quick label on the plug does avoid confusion.


if you find a row of cars missing injector clips, i was probably there.