Well, if it's just stripped back it should still be doing its job.
The fact that it's the black one is interesting. That's earth, and apparently there are four earth pins in the black connector. I don't know if there are four black wires matching those, but I see two on some diagrams. How many do you have, and are they all stripped?
Bearing in mind that I guessed bad earth I can't help wondering if someone else thought the same and was trying to improve it.
Also apparently, one black should go to an earth point in the seat box, and be joined there by a black coming from the OBD socket. The other goes to the EGR modulator.
I don't think this is much help in diagnosing but does possibly show that this has been an ongoing problem.