What is this part called?

Peter B

Member
:
2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3
Ok
I hope this is ok to ask here. My buddy is having some issues with is 2000 Cavalier. It seems to stall randomly, and sometimes will start fine, other times not at all. When it stalls/wont start none of the electronics in the cabin work, but headlights, breaklights, etc still do. ITS NOT THE IGNITION SWITCH, he already replaced that :D.

Anyhow he seems to have it narrowed down to the part in the photos. He noticed that if he jiggles it a bit the car stalls, and sometimes wont start until he plays with it a bit more. We searched the interweb, and couldn't find a name for this part, let alone any help. He found a leak in his window washer line slightly above this, we suspect it might have dripped down and gotten inside causing corrosion.

So Im asking you guys what its called. I would call it the main wiring harness, or something like that. All the wires coming out of that lead through the firewall and up into the dash. Also, how do you open it? We released the little tabs on each side, and tugged, and pulled and pried... and nothing. Looks like it might have been sealed/plastic welded shut at the factory. On the back there are some marks that lead us to believe this, although based on the look of it, it would seem the gray part unclips and unplugs from the main part.

I assume most cars have a bit like this? I have never really looked before. And I know this isn't a mazda ... but Im trying to avoid joining yet another forum... God knows I can't keep track as it is. Im already part of 4, and thats just for my car. Start adding in my other hobbies and it gets overwhelming.

As always, thanks upfront for the help.
-Pete
 

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the connector is corroded. That is a pinout connector, just rewire it to completely bypass the connector. be sure to clean the wires up, and use proper electrical splice connectors, be sure to seal it as well.
 
that connector is there so there doens't have to be mile-long wires going from here to there in the car. it helps keep some cost down when having to fix/diagnose things. i wouldn't disconnect and start splicing the same colors back together, cuz you might mix some up. just cuz it's purple with gray stripes on one side doesn't mean it goes to the same color wire on the other.

the best way to do it would be leaving it connected, and taking out one set of opposing wires at a time. you might have to just add some extra length of wire in case you need some slack. then you just cut the wire back until you don't find corrosion, solder the new wire, and i would use heat shrink instead of all electrical tape. it would end up looking a little neater and may help a little more.
 
Pinout connector. Man we came across a million names on the web but that wasn't one of them, thank you its good to know what it is called. Even came across someone talking about a 'harmonica plug', which we thought might be it.

Anyhow before we try and bypass it, I think he wants to try and open it up. We did spray a whole bunch of contact cleaner in there and it did seem to help. We would like to get it opened up however so we can really check the connections inside. This thing does open right?
 
It does open, but it is likely corroded so much that it's grown together. usually on a cavalier it sits under the battery box, which is where all the crud comes from.
 

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