Connector for gearbox backup light switch

[bmw-slangen]

I recently installed a spare gearbox into my E30.

But this spare gearbox has the new style of backup light
switch with only two terminals (here in Sweden/Switzerland
we had an oddball with three terminals on older E30), so my
connector does not fit anymore.

No, swapping the switch does not work (the spare gearbox
uses M12 while the one I want uses M14).


I thought it was the standard 6.3 mm spade connectors.
But no....

It seems to be around 6.6 mm connectors spade connectors (and they are not standard and can't find that anywhere).



Does anyone have any suggestions what connectors would fit onto this switch?

[varg]

Are off-the-shelf crimp on connectors not available to fit that in Sweden? The width isn't terribly important as long as they grip tightly. You won't even have to mess with the wiring if you zap a few tenths of a millimeter off of the terminals on the switch with a grinder or file.

[e30davie]

Does your engine use the 3rd connector?

The early cars have a switch in the gbox that connects to a vacuum switch in the distributor vacuum line, when when you are in 4th and 5th gear (i think) it activates the vacuum switch and advances the timing more? supposed to give better fuel economy on cruise i think.

I personally have an L-Jet m20b23 (australian 323i) with this crazy system and i removed the wiring from the solenoid when i converted to manual using a late manual box, and i haven't noticed any major effects on fuel economy (average of 11L/100km), but i never drove it with the crazy system working so perhaps you could get better economy with the system working as it is supposed to.

[Madhatter]

just file down the pins to fit the crimp connectors you can get over there.

[bmw-slangen]

Thanks for answers! Haven't been able to reply until now :oops:

The standard sizes are 4.8mm and 6.3mm - I bet you guys in North America is using something completely different as usual :-)

So basically everyone selling generic electrical components will go for the standard sizes, since that is what everyone uses.

I've browsed through some of Europe's biggest electrical component supplier (like Elfa and Conrad) but they don't have that size.



@varg and @Madhatter : Yeah, I agree - I will most probably just file down thw width if the connectors somewhat. Quick, easy and fully acceptable solution.



@e30davie : It used to use it - but not anymore! :-)

You're spot on!

But it's there to reduce the emissions, not to lower the fuel consumption.

I did quite a lot of research on this for many years ago, and there are a couple of thread where I put that info in. Here is one of them explaining the weird stuff we in Sweden and Switzerland and you Aussie guys got:
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...filter-(M20B23)

Here are some more threads (sorry some are in Swedish) about the rest of the weird stuff we got in these engines - I ripped out more or less everything of that:

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1223820-Hose-problems-in-a-M20B23-engine

http://www.autopower.se/forum/topic.asp?id=282623

And in my application, fuel economy is not a concern :-)

The engine works just as good without all these extra stuff, and I have managed to do two light shakedowns since I rebuilt the entire engine and car together.

This is from the second shake down, I'm taking it somewhat easy but it's hard sometimes :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPiD-UVnakg

[bmw-slangen]

Turned out I found a simple solution.

When I was dismantling my E34 535i I saved good-to-have cables/connectors and found a cable with connectors I was looking for (because there are quite a lot of connectors on a E34 having 6.3 mm spade connectors).

So I simply took that cable from the E34 535i, cut to appropriate length and added two standard male 6.3 spade connectors (that is connected into the main harness).