Oil tracking though harness

KarlKulture · Thursday at 17:46

Hey all,

New to the forum and to fender life had the old girl around 3 months..

Issue started 6 days ago, when under load sounded like it was dropping a cylinder - clutch in pop of revs and it stopping and sounded fine

3 days ago... well was fine for around 10 mins driving then it lost 3/5 cylinders and eventually all, got it pulled over, sat for a bit would start eventually it got going - sounded rough as ****, left it for 5 mins and it corrected itself and all on 5 again

Long story short got worse and worse till it would pull any power atall - had it recovered and we got a new injector loom put in today.

although better its still got nothing over 2k revs and starts losing cylinder 5 (keeps going out of range) im assuming the main engine harness is going to tracked full of oil which is why its having trouble, im cleaning the red plug with elec cleaner and unplugging and facing down.

just wondering if anyone has any tips for helping the oil track out quicker?

driving it is a nightmare haha but i think this is the only way to get the oil out without removing and hanging it up or replacing.

look forward to spedning some time on here

miktdish · Thursday at 17:59

Sounds like you have a TD5 ?
Early 2000 ?
You've not given us any details so it's pure guesswork really ....

KarlKulture · Thursday at 18:04

miktdish said:
Sounds like you have a TD5 ?
Early 2000 ?
You've not given us any details so it's pure guesswork really ....

Sorry, yeah got caught up on the story rather than the needed details haha

Yup you are spot on - TD5 and 2003

Stone56 · Thursday at 18:32

Have you got oil inside the ECU was there much in the red plug ?

KarlKulture · Thursday at 18:38

Stone56 said:
Have you got oil inside the ECU was there much in the red plug ?

Yeah a decent amount - Reg plug side, cleaned and blown out, took the lid of the ECU

It was actually not bad atall, gave it a blast anyway and air lined it off

Legit think there is just that much in the engine harness, took it for a drive and shows the injector signal going out of range under anything more than 2k revs.

Took it for a 5 min drive, came back and was already signs of oil on the plug again

D1Nut · Friday at 06:26

Not a td5 owner but still follow the various threads.

Is it not an option to make a hole in the harness so that any oil being fed into it from the cylinder head can drip out instead of being pushed up and into the ecu ?

kermit_rr · Friday at 06:34

D1Nut said:
Not a td5 owner but still follow the various threads.

Is it not an option to make a hole in the harness so that any oil being fed into it from the cylinder head can drip out instead of being pushed up and into the ecu ?

No idea if that would work, but you don't want oil ending up on the exhaust or on the road. It will likely collect to some critical mass then drip a load.
Better to fix the leak if possible

Stone56 · Friday at 09:05

D1Nut said:
Not a td5 owner but still follow the various threads.

Is it not an option to make a hole in the harness so that any oil being fed into it from the cylinder head can drip out instead of being pushed up and into the ecu ?

I believe it travels down the wire between the copper and the plastic insulation if it was just the harness it would be a easy fix ?

KarlKulture · Friday at 15:07

Stone56 said:
I believe it travels down the wire between the copper and the plastic insulation if it was just the harness it would be a easy fix ?

Yeah, Because the injector loom is in the head it ends up working its way down to the ECU actually in the wiring itself.

Takes a long time but eventually gets that clogged up that the ECU cant freely tell it when to fire, its under load where it becomes a problem as the ECU is pinging signals quicker and quicker and the oil restricts the signal.

I think it will end up being a engine harness replacement honestly, im unplugging the Red plug whenever its not being driven and facing it down, as its the lowest point on the car it will eventually work its way through.

Just depends on how long that process will take, didnt know if anyone had tips with it in place to help, if i have to remove it ill replace it, thanks for the answers so far - going to give it a week of cleaning red plug and leaving unplugged to see if it helps, if not then replacement time

Stone56 · Friday at 16:05

a lot of defender td5 owners Chang the harness when doing a service a lot cheaper than a new ECU if still available, mine is a 2005 and never been a problem luck of the draw !

backinblack · Friday at 16:10

Had to do one on my TD5 Disco, assume a defender is just as easy.

Anaconda · Friday at 16:26

backinblack said:
Had to do one on my TD5 Disco, assume a defender is just as easy.

Yes.

Anaconda · Friday at 16:28

If you fill the top of the multiplug on the harness (with sealer) inside the rocker cover, it helps with oil tracking down the loom. Seems to have worked on mine and my son's TD5.

kermit_rr · Friday at 19:06

Land rover must smoke some seriously good stuff when they dream these 'advances' up!! Loom inside the oily bit.. that's actually genius!!

Anaconda · Friday at 19:14

kermit_rr said:
Land rover must smoke some seriously good stuff when they dream these 'advances' up!! Loom inside the oily bit.. that's actually genius!!

Glad you said that, it seems ridiculous to me also.

Stone56 · Friday at 19:19

Anaconda said:
Glad you said that, it seems ridiculous to me also.

To me also, just another problem waiting to happen

backinblack · Friday at 19:34

kermit_rr said:
Land rover must smoke some seriously good stuff when they dream these 'advances' up!! Loom inside the oily bit.. that's actually genius!!

The oil makes the electron flow more smoothly

lynall · Friday at 19:40

kermit_rr said:
Land rover must smoke some seriously good stuff when they dream these 'advances' up!! Loom inside the oily bit.. that's actually genius!!

Sadly lots of modern trucks are just the same, injectors and jake brakes being prime examples.

Tim4x4 · Friday at 20:05

Steve from your favourite blue box supplier explaining the problem.

KarlKulture · Friday at 23:16

backinblack said:
The oil makes the electron flow more smoothly

Yeah i was thinking if anything it should run better with the electrics being nice and lubed

Ill give it a couple more days of cleaning out the red plug and small drives locally to see if its trying to improve (this is purely out of stubborness) then ill get one ordered mid next week to change over at the weekend

Oil tracking though harness

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