I tackled the weather packs first. If you have basic wiring knowledge it's pretty simple. I pulled the headlamp bulbs out, then closed the lights as the wires are easier to reach from behind. Write down which wire from the LMC headlamps is connected to which wire on the car so you don't accidentally mic them up. Then I pulled all the electrical tape off from last year and was left with this. The 2 bare terminals are the wiring from the LMC headlamps, the plug is the OE connector.
I cut the ends off both. I left enough wire on the OE connector to be able to reconnect it in the future if need be, then packed them away to put in storage. I then wagged the lengths I wanted on the new weatherpacks and trimmed their wires down to leave me with a harness a little longer than stock. There is plenty of open space under the headlamp when it is closed, and a little extra wire will allow me to pull the headlamp housing out completely to get at the plug for future bulb changes. Just check your clearances to make sure it avoids the hinge when you close the headlamps. I then used weather proof butt splices to tie it all together, then wrapped the harness in electrical tape to keep it as dry as possible.
OE plug vs Weatherpack
Then just repeat across the board.
Next was the bad connector on the motor assembly. For this you 100% want to remove the headlamp assembly. You can look a few posts back to see how to do that.
****DISCONNECT THE BATTERY for this, you will be working with leads that are hot all the time****
Here is the suspect plug, I tracked down the part number and hunted down new ones on Ebay. They come in a package of 5 for around $20.00. This is a bit more complex than your typical cut and splice job as it is just the connector and does not come as a pig tail. To get the old one apart there is a black clip on the back you need to seperate from the grey connector. It slides straight back.
Once it is out you can tug gently on the back and see if the wires happen to be loose, they should not be. I had 2 that came right out, which lead me to examine those wires closely as clearly the terminal was bad. The terminals have small tabs that lock them into the plug. You can see their location on the new terminals in the kit with the plug. You use are terminal removal tool, or a precision screwdriver, to push the tab down and the terminal and rubber boot should slide out the back of the plug. I did one wire at a time to make it easy to keep them in order, but you can also write it down or take a pic. Once I got them out it was clear which wire was the issue. The yellow wire was burnt to a crisp (I think it's the 12V lead but didn't look it up)
I had to chase the wire back about 18" to find the end of the burn, then spliced a new wire in from a junk harness I had lying around.
I'll apologize now I don't have pics on how to reassemble the connector because ti was a 2 hand job. I tried a few times but it is pretty precision work and I just couldn't hold all the pieces with one hand and get pics, but I'll do my best to describe it to you. I'll try and remember to get some pics of the pieces for reference and hang them up here. If I forget and you need it for a job just lmk. When you get the kit it comes with the plug, terminals, and rubber boots.
1: Cut the original terminal off as close to the terminal as possible. Strip about a 1/4 inch of wire from the end and check the wire. If it is clean copper you are gtg, if it is burnt or damaged keep stripping it back and clipping it until you reach good copper. You may need to put a splice in depending on how much cancer you have to cut out.
2:Once the wire is stripped, slide one of the rubber boots in the kit onto it. The smaller side goes into the connector so make sure it is on right
3: To install the terminal it has 2 sets of tabs on the car end of it. The first set you use to connect the terminal to the INSULATION on the wire. Line it up so the exposed wire sits directly underneath the second set of tabs. Use a set of crimps, or small needle nose if you are careful but I don't suggest it, and crimp the terminal first to the insulation, then crimp the second set of tabs onto the bare wire. Make sure both crimps are tight and you can't slide the wire out.
4: Slide the wire into the correct slot in the plug until you feel a small "click". That's the lock engaging in the plug. Pull out GENTLY on the wire and it should not move. If it comes out check the locking tab and try it again until it works.
5: Once it's locked, push the rubber grommet into the plug behind it until it is tight.
6: Repeat for the other 4 wires
7: Install the new black clip on the backside. If you had to cut back into the harness to fix wires make sure you tape up the connector and reinstall any wire loom you had to remove,
That's it!
For this post:
Parts
Headlamp motor connector (Male) GM 12084891: $20.00 for a pack of 5
Highrocks 2 wire weather pack connectors: $8.00 for pack of 5
Total Cost for This post: $28.00
Total Cost Overall: $7683.00
Labor this Post: 2 hours
Total Labor: 109 hours
