W245 B170 wiring loom chewed by rats!

[AdamE]

My mates B170 suddenly stalled when putting in gear, ran rough etc. I popped my cheapo OBDII on it and it moaned about cylinder 2 etc... so I got my nephew who has a SnapOn kit to come over to it today and read all the 'real' faults...

It pointed to Injector 2 having a wiring fault, plus MILLIONS of other issues! Anyway he looked under the inlet manifold to find this:

Some little critter has chewed the bloody injector cable off! GRRR

The car is throwing all sorts of error codes as well .... pretty sure it's all caused by this.

My question is how difficult is it to swap the loom? I found one on eBay for £55 which seems in good nick. The other option is - swap in a new plug (if it hasn;t chewed elsewhere of course - won;t know till i get the inlet off) - and if it's possible, what plug type would it be? I am fine with soldering and shrink sleeving if that is an option.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Smart320]

Buy some rodent killer at the same time

 

[grober]

POST your Vin no.

 

[AdamE]

POST your Vin no.

WDD2452322J299722

 

[AdamE]

Sorry for late reply - I didn't get alert for some reason!

 

[grober]

CHASSIS MERCEDES B-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

ENGINE CABLE HARNESS MERCEDES B-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

 

[AdamE]

CHASSIS MERCEDES B-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

ENGINE CABLE HARNESS MERCEDES B-KLASSE [Car] [CHASSIS] (EUROPA)

Thanks for that.. super helpful... the one I found on eBay is

A2661500633​

So I think that is the oldest version that fits bit I guess that's fine. I am also guessing you have to take off all the inlet manifold etc (all the plastic top parts) over the engine to get to everything? I assume its an easy enough swap if I follow the old one and do one plug at a time?

Thanks again!

 

[grober]

you may still have to swap over the odd plug/connector but most should fit ok. its temping to just replace/rewire the visible damage but with rodent damage its difficult to say the extent of damage. draw lots of diagrams-take lots of photos - label old and new while doing the substitution/swap

 

[AdamE]

you may still have to swap over the odd plug/connector but most should fit ok. its temping to just replace/rewire the visible damage but with rodent damage its difficult to say the extent of damage. draw lots of diagrams-take lots of photos - label old and new while doing the substitution/swap

Will do - thanks for your help - I am hoping the little bugger got a shock and didn't eat any more! It is manifold off etc yes? I looked at getting a Haynes manual but they're online only now and £25!

 

[grober]

HOWS YOUR RUSSIAN!

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[AdamE]

HOWS YOUR RUSSIAN!

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Terrible but it has pictures LOL - thanks!

 

[AdamE]

Sorry another question which I wont start another thread for as it is related to this... I need to get his car to my place. I checked the manual and it says OK to tow it up to 30mph for up to 50 miles (it;s not that far!) - It's an auto so I just wanted to check if i take it easy this will be OK? I am guessing in neutral?

 

[grober]

Sorry another question which I wont start another thread for as it is related to this... I need to get his car to my place. I checked the manual and it says OK to tow it up to 30mph for up to 50 miles (it;s not that far!) - It's an auto so I just wanted to check if i take it easy this will be OK? I am guessing in neutral?

best to trailer it or tow with the driven wheels off the ground

 

[AdamE]

best to trailer it or tow with the driven wheels off the ground

Unfortunately not an option - my mate has breakdown but I think as it is broken down outside his flat I don't think they'll tow it to the garage - I guess I could tow it a little way from his then call them LOL

 

[AdamE]

Hi All - so weather has been awful so not had a chance to actually do my mates car yet - Got the loom - it's nice and clean now too... and I've been watching videos for inlet manifold removal, however I think it's possible (just) if I leave the manifold in place and get my hands underneath into the space?

What do people think? The injector plugs need to be unlocked with a screwdriver under the grey pull up bit, but other than that all the plugs look fairly easy to pull off... Do you think it's possible as it would make things SO much easier!

Thanks in advance...

 

[Bellow]

Knowing which way the clips have to be pushed/pulled is 90% of it. Give it a go. At worst, you end up having to remove the manifold.

 

[AdamE]

Knowing which way the clips have to be pushed/pulled is 90% of it. Give it a go. At worst, you end up having to remove the manifold.

True - I'll report back if it's possible or not!

 

[AdamE]

Well today I gave it a go... I can report that without removing the manifold it's 'just' possible to remove all of the connectors on the injectors/coils side of the loom. You can access the gearbox sensors connectors (but I couldn't get the lower plug past a gap that was a tiny bit too small! GRRR). There are also some connectors towards the rear of the engine that go under the bodywork that are inaccessible!

However I am pleased to say that I did manage to find the only chewed parts....

1. Injector 2 wiring completely chewed through just before the connector (will need replacing as wire is too short at connector end)
2. Injector 3 wiring very slight chew but not through the copper wire (I'll use my 'liquid electrical tape' on that!)
3. Lower gearbox sensor wiring - one of the wires chewed through and 2" vanished! (will splice in a replacement cable slightly longer to reroute it)

As this was nowhere near as bad as it could have been I decided, before going further, to reconnect the broken wires using chocolate blocks (a very temporary fix), and seal them with electrical tape, to see if the car would start better and run more smoothly, and most importantly drive!

So I did just that, popped all the connectors back into their respective plugs, and turned the key... IMMEDIATELY he started, ran smooth as normal, and allowed all gears to be entered. Plus he moved forward and back just fine. Obviously the engine light was still on as I didn't clear the fault codes, but that's a job for once it's all sorted).

So tomorrow we will drive the car the couple of miles to my place (rather that outside my mates block of flats in East London!), and I will splice, solder and shrink wrap the offending wiring, replacing parts where necessary. Fingers crossed he'll be up and running again by the end of the day.

 

[AdamE]

Well I bit the bullet and cut off the slightly chewed injector connector and replaced that too. Everything soldered and shrink wrapped. I also extended the gearbox sensor wire a bit to make it easier to solder and connect.

Fired him up and woohoo - error gone. My Nephew will pop over today with his SnapOn kit to reset all the historic erros and then we'll see if anything else needs sorting at some point.

I also took the dodgy wing mirror apart, and sure enough it was one of the wires to the indicator unit that was snapped - so that was soldered, shrink wrapped and re-wrapped in tape... works a treat now too!

 

[Bellow]

Result! Nice work, and good to hear I'm not the only one who had to get stuck in with a soldering iron - flakey crimp connector masquerading as an earth wire on my fuel pump pigtail.