Difficult to find Engine Stumble - Set Timing Connector 1995

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Busted Knuckle

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As part of the complete tune I did a while ago, I discovered that the "set timing" connector under the dash was corroded and intermittent. The connection must be solid for "Run" and open for "Set Timing".
I ended up jockeying the harness around until I could do surgery on it, and lengthened the wire by 8". After this mod, I used a wire nut to close the contact, and tie-wrapped it up onto the harness.
Now its easy to work with if I ever reset the timing. 1995 454TBI 4deg BTDC

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Schurkey

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Wire nuts have NO place on a vehicle. They're a corroded connection waiting to happen, and they don't take kindly to vibration. They seem to work OK in house wiring, houses don't generally shake a lot, nor are they typically subjected to G-forces aside from normal gravity.

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https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-454-Wing-Nut-Wire-Connector-Blue-100-Bag-30-654/306332292

Fortunately, I don't see any "wire nuts" in your photo. I do see a pair of cheap crimp-connectors. They're not weather sealed, so the splice is still in danger of corrosion.

When I splice wires, I crimp and then solder, and cover with heat-shrink tubing. I use the heat-shrink tube that has adhesive inside--like hot-melt glue.

A proper crimp connection will be so tight as to "weld" the wires together, without being so tight as to work-harden them and make 'em brittle. The solder could probably be eliminated--but I solder anyway. And of course the heat-shrink and adhesive prevents moisture entry, so no corrosion.

I've never played with a TBI 7.4L, but I'd expect a proper one-wire Weatherpack connector somewhere near the distributor. Disconnect it, set timing, re-connect. Again, a weatherproof solution so the connection doesn't corrode.
 
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alpinecrick

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When I splice wires, I crimp and then solder, and cover with heat-shrink tubing. I use the heat-shrink tube that has adhesive inside--like hot-melt glue.

You the man.
My neighbor down the road is a refrigeration tech. If he sees any of my old butt connectors on any of my vehicles I hear about it for weeks.......

He showed me how to properly solder connections a few years ago.
 

thinger2

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Just make sure thoses connections are rock solid.
Loosing distributor reference while driving is bad.
Like on the freeway in the rain in the middle of the night bad
Trust me, it sucks
 

stutaeng

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Yeah, wire nuts are not a good idea on our trucks. I was cutting the split loom on my K3500 '00 chasing a "no brake lights" and accidentally cut 2 wires.

I spliced them back and soldered and my fuel guage didn't come back on. Huh ?
Didnt havetime to dig further, as I had to haul 7 yards of flex base for house addition. Fast forward 6 months later, I was looking at something else and discovered the purple splice was "broken!" The "NASA"-approved connection had failed from inception, lol.

I stripped it and and just spliced it back together, and, wham! Fuel guage worked!

Been driving it like that. Maybe I should at least wrap connection with electrical tape, or, "a wire nut!"
 

Erik the Awful

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Busted Knuckle

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I'm an Electrical Engineer with 40+ years of experience. The wire nut is absolutely fine. Alternatively, just solder it and cut it off fresh every time its needed. There is no reason whatsoever to use a whether-pak connector. This is why I added 8" of wire. Fresh cut and nutted or soldered wire is better than a connector. All the solder joints are done correctly with bare butt connectors and covered with 3X glue wall shrink tube. In this case, a short is required to operate properly so no insulation is needed, its just best practice.
 

Busted Knuckle

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I think I'll solder it tomorrow just so everyone can rest at ease. This was used when I changed the entire ignition system including the distributor, which was an absolute ***** to stab. The 454 TBI gets 4 deg BTDC and you won't need to check it for years. I used a long 1/4"extension and MAC swivel 1/4 drive socket (9/16 if I recall) to secure the bolt hold-down. Easy

For reference, the dist assy I used is posted below, but I swapped the ign module and rotor to ACDelco, Cap Borg Warner Select, wires are Bosch and plugs Bosch Pt. Used Arctic Cooling MX-4 as the heat sink compound for the ign module. Runs fantastic.
The rotor must have an ESD bleed compound and most of the cheap ones do not.

This is the same distributor Summit Racing sells with ball bearings if you are going to see 10,000 RPM. This budget one uses std sleeve bearings. A stock dist is only good for ~100K miles and then you will see spark scatter and troublesome corrosion. My 2 cents.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1130208&cc=1302624&jsn=459&jsn=459
 

Schurkey

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I'll be more blunt this time.

DOES YOUR TRUCK not have a Weatherpack one-wire connector by the distributor? The one specifically intended to be disconnected when verifying the ignition timing?
 
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