It seems like I had to on my 87 turbo, this for for an 89 turbo. Everything is disconnected under the hood and hanging over the fender. Both plugs are disconnected from the ECU.

I try to pull on the harness from the engine bay and it doesn't budge. Is there any other connectors, or some sort of plastic clip not letting me pull the harness out?

 

No you just have to "man" it out of there chuck norris style...Try prying on the rubber grommet with a screwdriver or something... It can be a real pain in the ***...

 

in other words roundhouse kick the **** out of it!!!

 

check for any more plugs and THEN begin to slowly use progressive force...

if you pop out the grommet there shouldn't be a whole lot of tension on the wires...there is only like 2 or three feet MAYBE between the grommet and the end of the engine harness

 

the rubber grommet is out, I grabbed the harness with both hands and let my body weight pull back on the harness, but it wouldn't budge. I tried pushing from the ecu side and it wouldn't move.

Its just the two plugs that goto the ecu on the dash side and that's it right?

 

I've changed engine/emissions harness without getting into the dash at all. Sounds like some thing is still plugged in or tied down. Tugging on these old harnesses is not the best idea, if you plan on reuseing it.

 

Don't use a whole lot of force or you may cause a few pulled plugs which will just compound your problem.

The harness is very easy to work with.
It's just the plugs like to get hung up on wiring under the dash.

As a oneman job it probably takes me 15-20 minutes to fully work it through.
From outside I feed a plug or two in at a time. Then go inside and pull from that side and push it towards the path I want through the dash harnesses.
Then repeat process.

 

I can't fit my body far enough under the dash, because of the carpet padding, to get a good look at what binding up. Someone told me there was like 3 more connectors behind the dash. From when I pulled my 87s that seems true, but that could have been the dash harness I am remembering.

 

really? we pulled my friends 87 na motor out and didn't have to remove the dash, just unhooked the ecu and pulled it on through the firewall.

 

there are at least two plugs back there besides the ECU plugs... most of the time when people pull the harness they pull those plugs out too and don't realize it... i've pulled both s4 and s5, and they both had it.... at least on of the plugs had to do with the ECU signal with the injectors and the car would not run without those plugged in

 

The plug I had the most trouble reaching is the engine-to-dash connector.

It's high, on the right side (above & right of the passengers right foot)

 

There are more than the two plugs to the ECU on that end of the EMISSIONS harness. You have two more plugs going to the FRONT harness from the EMISSIONS harness.

The ENGINE harnes is on the left side of the engine bay.

 

Those two connectors ate my lunch....huge PITA.

James

 

As I recall on my 88 TII there are six connectors inside the car (the manual only shows five). Close to the grommet is the knock sensor module that requires removal to disconnect the connector which plugs in from the top and therefore cannot be disengaged without removing the 6mm fastener. Don't continue pulling on the harness until all connectors are disengaged.

 

Alright, in case anyone looks up this thread for future reference, here is the crude way I removed the engine harness.

I took a knife and cut the insulation that was over the edge of the hole. Then I took some tin snips and made the hole a little bigger. Then I used a pry bar and a flash light to see were the two other connectors were fastened to the wall and snapped it off. I had to be careful to break the fastener and not the connectors. Then I used the pry bar to shove another harness back in the hole that was in the way. Now I was able to pull the harness far enough out of the hole that I could disconnect the last two connection, shove it back down and pull the ecu plugs and ground wire out.

That may sound like botched job, but a haltech is going in its place. I'll clean up the wiring hole when I install that.

 

There are two plugs other than the ones connected to the ecu. They are behind the blower housing. I was able to get to them by removing the blower housing from under the dash.

 

Definately the hardest... Then if you have a S4 model, you'll need to disconnect the knock box, which can be a pain in the *** to do without damaging the box itself...