Repairing Broken Wires to the ECU plug

[Marc Boucher]

Anyone have any suggestions on repairing the wires that feed into the 25-pin plug of the Ignition Control Unit (part of the ECU).

I've been wrestling with some ECU issues and I've discussed them before on this board.  The problem turned out to be a burnt out path on the circuit board of the ECU that left some pins without ground.  I repaired this unit with a careful solder job, and at the same time ordered and received a replacement unit.

The car starts and runs fine.  But on moving the ECU around a bit, or moving the wires where they feed into the plug, the car stalls.  It does this with both the replacement ECU and the original, repaired ECU, so I'd have to conclude it's the wires leading into the plug (as opposed to a hairline fracture in a solder on a board).

I'm wondering what the options are for repairing this.  Does the plug disassemble in some way to reveal the wires going into it?  If that were the case, then that would be the simplest option -- to disassemble the plug and check all the wires and connections and repair it.

If the plug doesn't disassemble, then an alternative would be to perform "surgery" on the plug, cutting open the back of the plastic plug, and after repairs, patching it back together with electrical tape.

Thanks for any suggestions

MC