Lean Burn Cable Damaged By Air-Con Fan. Fixed

[Konrad C]

As the title says, the cable for the lean burn sensor was damaged when I switched on my air con.

The first I new something was wrong was a few seconds later when the EML illuminated.

When I looked under the bonnet, I saw that the cable had somehow shifted towards the right hand fan.

The cable outer sheath was shredded, and the black heat cable was cut. The other three cables were fine, though the white signal cable had slight insulation damage, not broken.

Luckily I had my old sensor as a guide to how the disassemble. Simply pull the white plastic centre of the plug, then using a small fat blade screw driver to release and push the pins. I basically crimped the broken wire back together with insulated crimps, then using heat resistant insulation tape to further protect the join.

I insulated the signal cable, then using earthing sheath wrapped in heat resistant tape to protect the whole cable, from the damaged sheath to the plug. The wires were re-inserted into the plug.

After re-assembling the plug, the sensor was put back on the exhaust. The slightly stiffer cable will stay put and (hopefully) not get caught again.

The thing that puzzles me is that the sensor was installed over 5 years ago, so it is a mystery to how the cable ended up in the fan. May be a mouse or cat got into the engine bay, or a bump or engine movement was the cause. In the area I live Nuxley Road, Belvedere, there is a big bump where the council raised the road at the junction, and I did ground the front bottom of the car at slow speed the night before.

Everything is fine now, but it could have been expensive if I took it to a garage!!!

[t-spiritpete]

Nice job Konrad! ;) .

Pete.