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Help! How to remove engine wiring harness?

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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 10:26 AM
  #1  
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From: Indianapolis Indiana
Help! How to remove engine wiring harness?

hey guys by no means am i a noobie here i have done a few supra engine swaps and what not but this is my first rotary engine pull i have an 89 turbo II that is ready to come out but i can't figure out how to get the wiring harness off the engine completely i have most of it unhooked but on the driver side behind the p.s pump the harness is tucked in behind that stupid bracket HOW DO I GET IT OFF!? can't get to all the bolts to remove bracket sooo what do i do ...also should i have just unplugged the harness from the ecu? if so i know its on the passenger floorboard but where exactly thank ou everyone for any help you can give me
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 10:46 AM
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From: Carberry MB Canada
You want to unplug it from the ecu. Just take off the nessisary trim to pull up the carpet. There is a metal plate covering the ecu, unbolt it and pull it out. You need to disconnect the plug from the ecu along with two yellow ones further up and a white one as well. Now this is for a s4 na, i don't know what the differences between that and what your working on are. Just unplug everying that is attached to your wiring harness and pull it out carefully, its very brittle. Hope this helps you, good luck.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 02:14 PM
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the engine comes out with the engine harness attached. You do not remove the engine without the harness.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 02:23 PM
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start taking the engine part and finding out
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 02:57 PM
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I have done it both ways.

Removing the engine with the harness is (obviously) the easiest way, but sometimes the harness has to be left in the car.

If you can remove it as one peice, all you have to do is gain access to the ECU (passenger footwell), and disconnct it. Its a TII so there are a few more connectors you have to deal with in the footwell area. Then just feed it through the firewall.. Easy!
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 02:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Icemark
the engine comes out with the engine harness attached. You do not remove the engine without the harness.

Why do you say that?
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 04:35 PM
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From: Rohnert Park CA
Originally Posted by J-Rat
Why do you say that?
Because it is a pain to disassmble everything just to get to a couple of plugs.

It is night and day easier, just to unplug a couple of plugs, push the harness through the firewall and lift the whole thing out.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 05:50 PM
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I agree. To remove the harness only with the engine in the car requires almost stripping the engine to near shortblock form. Plus, you still have to work around it by removing small connectors here and there. Its easier to have the engine out for this.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 06:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Icemark
Because it is a pain to disassmble everything just to get to a couple of plugs.

It is night and day easier, just to unplug a couple of plugs, push the harness through the firewall and lift the whole thing out.

I definately agree.. But if you dont have another motor w. harness ready to go in, its pretty much gonna happen anyways.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 09:20 PM
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From: Rohnert Park CA
Originally Posted by J-Rat
I definately agree.. But if you dont have another motor w. harness ready to go in, its pretty much gonna happen anyways.
But it is 1000 times easier to remove the parts needed to remove the harness with the engine out than in the car.

Not to mention about re-assembly and re-installation.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 12:00 AM
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I've never removed the EMISSIONS harness with the engine, ever. If I take a engine out....it's to dismantle the thing and rebuild it. The car makes a good engine stand. It's called *Mechanical Ability*.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 12:01 AM
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I've never removed the EMISSIONS harness with the engine, ever. If I take a engine out....it's to dismantle the thing and rebuild it. The car makes a good engine stand. It's called *Mechanical Ability* or *Mechanical Aptitude*.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 12:03 AM
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there should be one or 2 plugs above the ecu like on the ouside wall that need to be unplugged but there are like 5 plus all together in order to pull the harness out of the firewall. it is VERY easy to do.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 12:53 AM
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From: Rohnert Park CA
Originally Posted by HAILERS
I've never removed the EMISSIONS harness with the engine, ever. If I take a engine out....it's to dismantle the thing and rebuild it. The car makes a good engine stand. It's called *Mechanical Ability* or *Mechanical Aptitude*.
Or being too short...

I must be not short enough, because I hate bending over that far and taking everything off the motor in the car. Too easy to take it all off with the motor in the cherry picker or engine stand.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 01:39 AM
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From: FORT WORTH, TEXAS,USA
Just kidding. Go to sleep, it's one thirty am.

Actually I know quite a bit about the Emissions harness. I spliced two seperate ones to make one harness, just about in the area of the right strut tower. Something like b/t thirty to forty wires (I'm a cheapskate). One harness was burnt up in a engine fire and the other out of a wrecking yard where they cut the emissions harness at the strut tower to remove the engine. Gone.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 02:29 AM
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Well, I guess its personal preference.. If I am removing and replacing a motor ("R square" in military speak), and there is no new harness, I disconnect the harness with the motor in the car.
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 02:46 PM
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From: Minneapolis
Okay, I have a question now. I don't need a new motor (yet), and I have a lunched wiring harness. When I go to put the new one in, is it more work to pull the engine to do it, or should I just try to snake it around the compartment with the engine in?

I'm looking to do whatever will be fastest and easiest. I love driving my 7, but hate working on it.

~Brave Blue Mice
86 GXL - Home Depot Speed Shop
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 03:34 PM
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if your just replacing the wiring harness just keep the engine it. but if you are pulling the motor its easier to take the wiring harness with it.
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Old Dec 19, 2004 | 12:17 AM
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From: Indianapolis Indiana
thanks everyone for your help unfortunatley it will be a few days before i am able to work on the car again but i will see if i can't figure it out...btw i have been told by more than one person there are a few connectors splitiing the different harnesses right at the firewall is this !00% true if so are these connectors in the car or in the engine bay thanks again everyone it really means a lot thanks!!
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