Bullet connector replacement

[Mossberg]

So my learning curve continues, this time into electrics.

I have a couple of faults (rear fog light and rear wiper) and when starting to look for the problem I have uncovered the mass of connectors that is the rear part of the harness. 

One thing that has become apparent is the connectors are tired. I suppose this is to be expected with a 30 year old vehicle. Some are loose, some look as though they are corroded and some where the wire looks to be braking at the connector.

The connectors are the bullet type and I wondered if there is a thread on how to replace them. I have tried a search but you can imagine the results list!

Where is a good place to get decent replacements or is there a better alternative?

Thanks for your help. 

Mick

[Anderzander]

You can get crimp on bullet connectors or solder on ones. So I think if you searched for either of those it would take you to something appropriate. 

You could also look on one of the automotive suppliers like 12volt plant, vehicle wiring products, or polevolt.

The bullets are good because they are small, original, easily assembled / disassembled and neat for connecting  single lines.

The issue for me with those kind of bullets though is that they are open at both ends to dirt and moisture, which corrodes the connector. You can get around that by keeping them packed with Vaseline though. 

You could also looks at the type of bullets they fit on motorcycles though, which come with a flexible male and female cover and are very water proof - you’d find them by searching for Japanese bullet connectors.

If you fancied something totally different and more modern - there are a few waterproof block connectors - and a search of this forum will reveal a few that are recommended.

[monkie]

I went through this thought process when I rewired my 110. I came to the conclusion there are 3 things to consider:

1. Quality bullet connectors are obviously not that bad if they have made it through 30 years of being rattled about in a land rover and had a few owners fiddling about with them. 

2. There are alternatives that might be considered more modern such as econoseal,  superseal and then deutsch connectors.  They are resistant to water and lock together,  but they took the bulk of my rewire budget. You can get them from places such as autosparks or RS components.  Beware of cheap versions on eBay. 

3. Why even bother with a connector?  I was very skeptical of this view, but if I were to do another rewire project,  I would only use connectors where absolutely necessary. They are only there to aid manufacture, they are in fact a weak point in your wiring. If you do need to remove something down the line, you could cut the wire then and add in a quality connector. 

EDIT: another bonus to point 3... To do a proper job with connectors,  you need to use proper crimping tools designed for the connector you choose for best results. Option 3 eliminates this consideration and saves you even more money. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by monkie

[Anderzander]

^ good points

[Mossberg]

Thanks folks, I appreciate your replies. 

I will have a look at the suppliers mentioned. The bullets seem to connect multiple wires to one circuit whereas some of the connectors available look to be multiples of single wire joints.

I agree that a fixed soldered connection would be best, but as many of these are for lights, and looking at the state of the fog light I have just replaced, I can see further replacements due in the future. I also need to replace my outrigger shortly and may have to remove the loom to do that.

Thanks for your help. 

Mick 

[monkie]

The first job if not done already is to familiarise yourself with the land rover (based on lucas) wiring colour codes. Black is earth,  brown is unfused permanent live, white is unfused live with ignition on, green is fused live with ignition on (from a fuse fed from a white wire), a coloured stripe indicates  the wire is from a switch/relay to an accessory. etc.

The wiring scheme if understood is really helpful. I'll use the lefthand turn signal as an example: Your indicators will work only with the ignition on, and you know there is a fuse somewhere in the circuit. Working backwards from the left hand light indicator light...

• Green with red stripe wire goes from the left hand indicator lights to the switch on the steering column. (switched, fused, live with ignition on)
• Green wire goes from the steering column switch to the fusebox. (fused, live with ignition on)
• White wire goes from the otherside of the fuse box to the ignition switch. (unfused, live with ignition on)
• Brown wire goes from the igntion switch to the main postive bus on the starter motor solenoid. (unfused, permanent live)
• Thick red wire goes from the main positive bus to the positive terminal on the battery. (Main positive feed)

I think this takes the wiring colours from a confusing mess of colours to order that makes perfect sense when fault finding.

I'd take the opportunity to spend your money on new lights rather than connectors. One of the best things you can do to improve land rover electrics is to ensure the earth circuits are in top form. Tackle the connector issue when you are forced to by another project such as the rear crossmember replacement would be my advice. 

[Mossberg]

Thanks monkie, that's really helpful and useful information.  I will try to digest what you have written and try to understand it.

The reason I have had to look at some of the connectors is I have changed the fog light and one of the connectors just dropped out. Obviously unless addressed that will be an ongoing intermittent fault.

Also I need to replace the RH outrigger and some advise taking the loom out, and I really don't want to damage it in the chassis when welding. My thoughts were to try and understand the wiring before I attempt that.

I am trying to understand the earth's too. As a bad earth is the cause of many electrical problems, I am trying to understand where they are located (main earth points) and also where earth wires are fixed to (from lights etc).

Thanks for your help, anything like this helps tremendously!

[FridgeFreezer]

• Any good quality connector properly crimped should be relaible
• A poor quality connector / badly crimped will fail
• Same applies to solder joints before the internet argument starts
• Glue-lined heat-shrink is your friend
• LR skimp on fuses, it's worth fusing a couple of those big brown wires before they go inside.

I've used econoseal connectors around both my trucks, they're nice and pretty universal and not that expensive. I tend to use spade connectors on other bits as those always seemed slightly better than bullets.

Both my trucks I've re-wired some or all at least once and written it up - check the members vehicles forum.

Almost every connector I've bought from eBay has been cheap junk, even from reputable sellers for decent bullets/spades you want genuine AMP/Tyco from the likes of RS / Farnell / CPC but it will be a bag of 100 minimum and probably 3x the price of eBay.

[monkie]

44 minutes ago, Mossberg said:

Thanks monkie, that's really helpful and useful information.  I will try to digest what you have written and try to understand it.

The reason I have had to look at some of the connectors is I have changed the fog light and one of the connectors just dropped out. Obviously unless addressed that will be an ongoing intermittent fault.

Also I need to replace the RH outrigger and some advise taking the loom out, and I really don't want to damage it in the chassis when welding. My thoughts were to try and understand the wiring before I attempt that.

I am trying to understand the earth's too. As a bad earth is the cause of many electrical problems, I am trying to understand where they are located (main earth points) and also where earth wires are fixed to (from lights etc).

Thanks for your help, anything like this helps tremendously!

Bad earths are a pain made worse though electrolytic corrosion between the aluminium body and steel chassis/bulkhead.  To sort them out is relatively straight forward. On a basic level you can take 4 nice thick black wires (stick to the LR wiring colours to avoid confusion later down the line) from the main earth point from the negative battery terminal.  1 of each of the 4 thick black wires should go to a convenient point in each corner of the vehicle on a bus bar (get one online) or simply a bolt.  Connect each earth from the accessories such as lights etc to the nearest earth point you have just made. You now have a nice route straight to the battery negative terminal independant to 30 year old connectors and slowly corroding land rover body panels. This is the best mod I have ever done on my 110.

 

I made 5 earth points,  the 5th being on the bulkhead to earth the relays and gauges etc to from the dash. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by monkie

[FridgeFreezer]

Many vehicles feature nice multi-pin earth point connectors - Freelanders and Iveco trucks are two I've found that feature a pressed plate that bolts to an M6 bolt and have 6 or 8 x 6.3mm blade connections in a plastic housing that mates with either regular spades, or the 6/8-way plugs that VWP et al sell.

I run all my earths back to the battery in a similar way to what Monkie describes.

Multi-pin earth connector visible in bottom left here:

 

[Mossberg]

Thanks Fridge - I think dedicated earth multi point units wired back to the battery is a good idea. I just need to find myself some relevant colour wire now.

[western]

I just use the blue sleeved male bullet connectors that most car spares places sell &  the black rubber cased female connectors in either single or common double variety. They work fine when crimped with a decent ratchet crimp tool. 

Autosparks sell the plain or dual colour wiring in various sizes in 1 metre lengths. 

[simonr]

If you're going to use crimp terminals, I recommend you use glue-filled, heat shrink type, of a decent brand (some on eBay / Amazon are shocking!).

Once you've shrunk the sleeve, it largely waterproofs the crimp and gives some strain relief.  I've had very good long term results with them.

https://gtse.co.uk/blue-heat-shrink-male-bullet

You need a specific crimp tool for them, which doesn't damage the sleeving.  I bought one from https://gtse.co.uk/heat-shrink-terminal-crimping-tool and it's pretty good!

[monkie]

2 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Many vehicles feature nice multi-pin earth point connectors - Freelanders and Iveco trucks are two I've found that feature a pressed plate that bolts to an M6 bolt and have 6 or 8 x 6.3mm blade connections in a plastic housing that mates with either regular spades, or the 6/8-way plugs that VWP et al sell.

I run all my earths back to the battery in a similar way to what Monkie describes.

Multi-pin earth connector visible in bottom left here:

 

I like the look of those 

[FridgeFreezer]

The site Simon linked shows the difference between good terminals and cheap ones - good (insulated) ones have 2 deformable parts (1 & 4 in the diagram - similar on others like spades), whereas the cheap ones are stamped from a single piece of tin and rely on that to hold the wires (not a great start)... then of course it's cheaper to use thinner tin, so then you have a bad design made from the wrong material and they give a weak crimp that either pulls straight out or just gets hotter and hotter over time

To quote TSD - everyone wants a good crimp, no-one's willing to pull on the wire to check it.

Always give your crimps a tug!

[simonr]

16 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Always give your crimps a tug!

It's worth doing a destructive test.  The wire should break before the crimp lets go!