CAN BUS Connector clean

[jinkazama]

Hi,

Water damage in the front footwell has damaged my CAN connectors, after taking out front carpet, seat, lifting rear carpet, removing rear seat and drying, I am finally foiled by the CAN connectors, quite clearly you can see the damage to the terminals but how do I get them out of the block without damaging them.

Also, once they are out I was going to follow this advice I found on cleaning them but I need to obviously figure how to get them out first so advice on that appreciated thanks.

1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Remove the carpet of the driver side
3. Open up the cable tray. There are 3 bus connector junctions, White. Brown and Black.
4. Make a solution of vinegar and salt.
5. Make a solution of distilled water and baking soda
6. Label the cables position on the connectors since if there is a problem it can help trace it.
7. With the connectors removed place it in the vinegar solution for about 15 mins. You can do it in batches so you don't spill the solution on the paint something you must avoid.
8. After 15 mins remove it from the vinegar solution and place in the water with baking soda for about 3 mins.
9. After removing it from the baking soda solution place it in acetone or any similar dissolver just for 1 min.

 

[Ted]

They don’t look bad at all.
Personally I would give them a good clean with IPA and a stiff paintbrush with the bristles cut off half way down.

 

[jinkazama]

Thanks Ted, the female connectors are worse with some corrosion on the other blocks so I wanted to fully remove the pins from the blocks and clean them with vinegar etc, I just cannot figure out how to get them out, tried a small screwdriver to lift the plastic holding the connector in and they still don't budge.

 

[grober]

The vinegar [ acetic acid] and salt solution= mildly acidic, is going to etch clean the contacts and the baking soda [ sodium bicarbonate] solution mildly alkaline is going to neutralise it afterwards. I would hesitate to employ acetone as a low residue displacement solvent as it could react with the plastic connectors/wiring insulation. You might be better with a proprietary electronic contact cleaner for this last stage.
This assumes you intending to clean the entire connector by immersion and not by the removal of individual connectors which can involve a world of pain of wrongly placed or broken connectors.
Can't speak for MB but these connectors are usually held in place by small plastic tangs in the plastic plug body itself or metal tangs on the pins themselves and these have to be removed by depressing the tang whereby the connector then slides out. the tang may have to be depressed from front or from back and the connector may slide out backwards or forwards depending on the connector/plug body design. There are probably special tools for the job but sometimes improvised tools will do?
Mercedes Benz SLK Forum - View Single Post - SmartTop Roof module Install for the R171

 

[jinkazama]

Thanks Grober, trying to remove the connectors doesn't seem an option so I'll have to go with immersion

 

[richard]

Theres a special 3 pin tool for this that releases the two barbs on the side of the metal connector (that you can't see) and the locking tab that is part of the shell that you can see.

BTW, those are not CANbus, they are the general connectors used all over the car for any purpose.

The connectors in the picture have SLK contacts. I can find the two pin version for doing just the barbs but not the 3 pin version (using google)

Richard

 

[richard]

This is the tool: Removal tool - 0713558343

 

[grober]

This thread may also help
Connector terminal removal help...

They don't make it easy!
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w21...e-micro-connector-repair-mercedes-method.html

 

[jinkazama]

Thanks everyone, that's amazing help.

 

[Larkone]

Try this stuff CAIG DEOXIT D5 CONTACT CLEANER SPRAY | BEWARE OF GREY IMPORTED CANS | eBay

Used by the hifi world but I have used it very successfully on cars as it leaves a protective coat which stops further corrosion that seems to work.

 

[jinkazama]

So I gave this all a good clean with contact cleaner and vinegar etc and guess what, after connecting it all back up car started ;o).

Slightly worrying that the drive authorisation seems to run through these two connections ( white and black connectors in 1st post above ) - because if anything happens again, I'd need to remove the seat to access these connectors. FYI when hooked up to STAR prior to cable clean the 1st time this happened it said key not authorised to start system and then loads of CANBUS messages so I guess STAR was correct.

Anyway, everything is good now, I have my car back, .......except passenger rear quarter doesn't want to go the last few cms on auto close so I wondered if anyone knows if those connectors that run down the passenger side have anything to do with the passenger windows, I'm guessing yes. Had no problems with it prior to this water issue, that doesn't mean of course that the rear quarter components could have failed seperately to this issue, I will check the wiring in the driver side doors etc but I may need someone to hook it up to STAR for me.

 

[grober]

Well done for persevering! Glad you got a result.