During general servicing its not a bad idea to check those common issues that can occur and hopefully prevent a breakdown at a later date, last week during a routing service in the workshop the air flow meter connection was removed for inspection / clean, this was despite any running issues or fault codes.

 

As you can see in the picture one of the terminals had started to corrode and had a very different look to the others, a quick clean and all was the same. Prevention been a better route than just assuming all is well, these connection issues can actually be the cause item failure, a case in point is the ptu which suffers from corrosion of the lower set of pins, this can eventually leads to internal damage due to the larger current passage through the unit as a result of the bad connection, often mistaken for heat from the engine.

 

Note: The series 1 ptu has a bad rep, however a good percentage of zeds are still running perfectly well on them 20 years on, our own dealings with series 2 ptu`s is their faiure rate is slightly higher than the earlier ones as most them fail are less than 3 years old. I have concluded this to be the same issue, corrosion of the terminals leading to high current draw, the smaller later unit is even less tolerant to this and power spikes than the earlier unit, so when changing to later one the connections must be super clean and check them as a parts of the service schedule.

 

Back to the afm connector you will note that this zed had a standard airbox was low mileage and a 97 model so can happen to any zed really, so boring I know but keep on top of those bad connections hopefully before they get too bad.

 

 

Jeff TT

 

 

What's the most efficient way to actually clean them! I have tried. Vinegar and a small file but it's not brilliant, can you recommend somthing that will get rid of the green gunk completely

Not boring Jeff, always good to be reminded of simple maintenance tasks that are easily ignored.

Jeff will di-electrical grease prevent this from happening?

What's the most efficient way to actually clean them! I have tried. Vinegar and a small file but it's not brilliant, can you recommend somthing that will get rid of the green gunk completely

 

I have just been around my whole engine bay and cleaned every connection possible with a blast of contact cleaner spray and then a rub back to fresh metal with one of these followed by another spray to clear any residue out then fill the connection with di-electrical grease.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fibre-Fiber-Pen-Fibreglass-Abrasive-Circuit-Contact-Cleaning-Pen-5-Refills-/130715069990?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item1e6f39ae26

 

Very effective but wear gloves as the fibre glass splinters are painful! Anything I couldn't get to with this pen I used the spray and a small round file I could put into the connection gently and turn. AFM and PTU connections are the easiest to clean as they are so big, some of the others are real pigs