Disconecting 300tdi engine harness

[Musher]

I started to remove the engine from my 95 300tdi Disco this evening to renew the clutch. Both the RAVE and Haynes Manual say to disconnect the two engine harness plugs behind the lower fascia in the drivers footwell and then feed them out the bulkhead. My harness doesn't go to these plugs one branch of the harness disappears left behind the dash, another goes straight to multi function unit and a third seems to go straight up to the instruments.

Does this mean I've got to disconnect everything at the engine end? Has anyone else had this problem?

[MadDan]

The one off to the left goes off to the 'spider' but should unplug from memory,the other goes off to the egr ecu,which you dont need and have probably done away with already? If not follow it across and you will find it goes into a black box with egr control written on it,usually in the kick panel beside the accelerator pedal(although I have seen them located in different places??)

[Musher]

The one that goes off to the left just disappears behind the main dasboard and is cable-tied as far in as I can see. The main 2 connectors (as shown in the manuals) connect budles of wires coming from the direction of the instrument binnacle and connect to wires in a sort of trunking that carries them across the back of the area behind the drop down panel into the multi function unit. There just doesn't seem to be any convenient connectors to break the harness so that I can get it out through the bulkhead.

While I was down there I noticed an OBD2 type plug just by the hinge of the drop panel, I didn't think the 300tdi had an ECU?

[MadDan]

Like I said,I cant really remember.The one off to the left winds its way across and is a bit of a pain to get out but can be removed without chopping wires.I think I ended up removing the stereo/heater controls/facia panel.Mine was a '96.I have pulled loads of motors out and not had too much trouble.
Will have a look at one tomorrow,see if it refreshes my memory!

[stabinthedark]

I started to remove the engine from my 95 300tdi Disco this evening to renew the clutch. Both the RAVE and Haynes Manual say to disconnect the two engine harness plugs behind the lower fascia in the drivers footwell and then feed them out the bulkhead. My harness doesn't go to these plugs one branch of the harness disappears left behind the dash, another goes straight to multi function unit and a third seems to go straight up to the instruments.

Does this mean I've got to disconnect everything at the engine end? Has anyone else had this problem?

If I were doing this job (I have done other vehicles but not Land Rovers) I would photograph all the connections onto the engine and then disconect them. I would not disconect the harnesses at source unless it was very easy.

[Musher]

Yeah by the time I've removed half the dashboard I could have disconnected the various wires at the engine end, it's just a time consuming pain when I should be able to detach two plugs.

If I remember correctly when I changed my 110 Defender's engine from a Turbo to a Disco 200tdi engine I had to disconnect each wire at the engine component, but that was a case of mix & match to get the two types to marry up!

Anyone know what the serial type diagnostics plug just under the drop down panel is? I've not tried to plug an OBD2 reader into it yet but it looks smaller, wasn't there a forerunner to it?

[bananahead]

Ive took out 300tdi and put back in twice in the last 4 weeks (two different cars), and i just disconnected everything and draped all the wiring up on the windscreen. You have to undo injectors to get it out but its not hard. As for photographing there isnt really that much there... when you get it all back in place you will just be able to see where its meant to be.... I would say when i got engine back in it took about an hour max to connect all the wiring back up. And thats just plodding along slow not in any particular rush.
good luck.

[Musher]

Cheers Bananahead, that's what I was planning to do. It's just a pain when others are wired so that you can do the job in seconds rather than hours.

[bananahead]

with the amount of time the job takes i find the wiring not really an issue, i mean i had to wait for my dad to bring a tractor home (is what i used to lift in/out)... the most horrible part i think are the nuts on bellhousing.... thats the part i dread most!

[Musher]

Defenders might be noisy but undoing the top bellhousing nuts from inside whilst sitting in the passenger seat sure beats lying under a Disco and groping in the dark !

[Sandy M.]

....While I was down there I noticed an OBD2 type plug just by the hinge of the drop panel, I didn't think the 300tdi had an ECU?

It's the connection for the Testbook/laptop/techy download thing that clever people use to tell you your SRS/EGR/Gearbox modules are not working properly :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Musher]

Cheers Sandy, mine's a manual no SRS or ABS and the EGR is just about to be blanked off so bascically it's just an ornament!

[bananahead]

not quite you need it to program a two button fob. And maybe for other things :p