Cleaning electrical corrosion, or why I love Mormons.

[estrada42]

So I have had a serious fuel injection problem the last three weeks, as noted here. http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=26900&highlight=fuel+injector

Well, a day after I found the connector and found that I couldn't pop it loose, I broke my right pointer finger in the door of my wifes car. My wife is a Mormon. That's important in a minute.

I can't work on my car at all. I broke the last bone in the finger tip and the risk of infection is very high, so no dirty work for me. Plus my finger guard gets caught on everything.

Mormon Parisheners came by to see my wife, and she wasn't home. There whole thing is to help people, so when they asked me if I needed any help around the house, I let them go to town on my car. So now I have two young men in black slacks, white dress shirts and ties working on my car. Good times great memories.

We (they) managed to pop it loose and I found that it was stuck closed because three of the seven pins are very corroded. Now, whats the best method to clean the pins and the connector? I know with a battery you use baking soda, water and a wire brush. Is this the same for here? Or will using water short something out?

Cliffnotes - Mormons helped me do the hard work on my car, now how do I clean corrosion on a connector/harness?

[colo525i]

You can get a can of contact cleaner spray at the auto parts store. It has helped me a ton on salty connectors on my motorcycles. I'd avoid anything with water in it, as more water means more corrosion. Failing that, brake cleaner seems to work pretty well. Combine that with a wire brush or pipe cleaner. Let it dry and give it another try.

[winfred]

i came real close to driving over one once when he jerked infront of me on his bike, ****er would of been street pizza had i not seen him down the street and had been watching for exactly the stupid manuver he pulled

[pingu]

Oil and a brass wire brush would give the pins and sockets a good scrub. Clearly water is getting into the connector - you need to stop water from getting in. A good idea would be to pack the pins and sockets with petroleum jelly before re-assembly.

[632 Regal]

I would use small metal brushes to get the corrosion off then use something like stabilant 22 to treat them all with. That stabilant 22 is magic.
http://www.stabilant.com/

[Alexlind123]

So I have had a serious fuel injection problem the last three weeks, as noted here. http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=26900&highlight=fuel+injector

Well, a day after I found the connector and found that I couldn't pop it loose, I broke my right pointer finger in the door of my wifes car. My wife is a Mormon. That's important in a minute.

I can't work on my car at all. I broke the last bone in the finger tip and the risk of infection is very high, so no dirty work for me. Plus my finger guard gets caught on everything.

Mormon Parisheners came by to see my wife, and she wasn't home. There whole thing is to help people, so when they asked me if I needed any help around the house, I let them go to town on my car. So now I have two young men in black slacks, white dress shirts and ties working on my car. Good times great memories.

We (they) managed to pop it loose and I found that it was stuck closed because three of the seven pins are very corroded. Now, whats the best method to clean the pins and the connector? I know with a battery you use baking soda, water and a wire brush. Is this the same for here? Or will using water short something out?

Cliffnotes - Mormons helped me do the hard work on my car, now how do I clean corrosion on a connector/harness?

LOL! thats awesome! =D

[Jon K]

wtf Mormons?

[Airborne001]

Mormons helped me do the hard work on my car, now how do I clean corrosion on a connector/harness?

I wanna know how you got the mormons clean.

[estrada42]

Well, I would have let them use my sink, but they refused to be a burden and pedaled there way off.

I cleaned as much of the corrosion as I could, put some dieelectirc grease in the connector, and still no start on the car. Even re-charged the battery. Car just wont start now.

[Ross]

You need to check resistance between both sides of that connector, I'll bet it's still the problem. Sorry about you finger, sounds painful.

[Chris'91'525i]

I cleaned as much of the corrosion as I could, put some dieelectirc grease in the connector, and still no start on the car. Even re-charged the battery. Car just wont start now.

It's not a good idea to use Die-electric grease on the metal in the electrical connectors, especially on the low voltage FI wiring ,as it is an insulator. It works well on the rubber gaskets that seal the connector plugs though.
The Stabilant-22 as 632 Regal mentions would be better product to use on the metal parts of connector.

Snap-on makes a nice little wire brush set for electrical contact cleaning. Kind of pricey, but works well.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=65320&group_ID=18213&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Or a Dremel tool with the tiny wire brushes work well too.

[estrada42]

I'm thinking the grease might be just more resistance. I'm going to take it apart and clean all that out in the morning and see what happens.

[attack eagle]

So I have had a serious fuel injection problem the last three weeks, as noted here. http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=26900&highlight=fuel+injector

Well, a day after I found the connector and found that I couldn't pop it loose, I broke my right pointer finger in the door of my wifes car. My wife is a Mormon. That's important in a minute.

I can't work on my car at all. I broke the last bone in the finger tip and the risk of infection is very high, so no dirty work for me. Plus my finger guard gets caught on everything.

Mormon Parisheners came by to see my wife, and she wasn't home. There whole thing is to help people, so when they asked me if I needed any help around the house, I let them go to town on my car. So now I have two young men in black slacks, white dress shirts and ties working on my car. Good times great memories.

We (they) managed to pop it loose and I found that it was stuck closed because three of the seven pins are very corroded. Now, whats the best method to clean the pins and the connector? I know with a battery you use baking soda, water and a wire brush. Is this the same for here? Or will using water short something out?

Cliffnotes - Mormons helped me do the hard work on my car, now how do I clean corrosion on a connector/harness?
Ask them to pray that it will be cleansed...

Seriously small brush, contact cleaner then coat it with some dielectric grease

[estrada42]

Ask them to pray that it will be cleansed...

Seriously small brush, contact cleaner then coat it with some dielectric grease

I'm at my wit's end with this car. I did that. Went form starting on three cylinders to not starting at all. Cleaned out the grease and tried again. Still won't start. All I've done is make it worse. This car is seriously atarting to piss me off.

[632 Regal]

spray the connector out with brake cleaner or something to get every bit of grease off it. Did I mention Stabilant 22?

[attack eagle]

how did you clean the grease?

WIth denatured alcohol? or by wiping?