While replacing my 02 sensors on a '05 Honda Odyssey the connector on the engine wiring harness broke off. I could not get the pins back in the connector and needless to say the van ran terrible. I took it to a shop who said they could fix the pins in the connector but were unable to get the pins inserted. They said they could order a connector online with the "transistor" and that would fix the issue. After ordering several connectors from different suppliers they were unable to get the pins inserted. At this point, I needed the van running, so they hard wired the O2 sensor to the engine harness and the check engine light will not go out. There are at least 2 wires not hard-wired. I guess I need to know if this is my only option (hard-wired) opposed to going to a salvage yard and trying to pull an entire engine wiring harness which is also not ideal.
We have had this van for 10+ years, done tone of DIY repairs and a transmission a year ago so we want to keep it running if possible.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
FrankP
Since the check engine light is on what code(s) did you find when you scanned it?
Assuming you're talking about one of the upstream sensors (there are 2), those have 8-pin connectors with one pin not present. (This suggests wide-band sensors.) It should be possible to wire in any suitable connector using a wiring diagram as a guide. Here is a diagram showing the connector pinouts, and wiring diagrams can be found here.
I just rescanned the van and get codes P2631 and P0141.
Those are both O2 sensor codes being triggered most likely due to incorrect wiring.
You can clear the codes but the check engine light comes back on immediately as they said because it's had-wired.
That's because the underlying problem has not been fixed.
the shop said I needed a connector with a "transistor" whereas the connector that came apart from the engine wiring harness was just a plain plastic connector,
I've never seen an O2 sensor connector with a "transistor" in it. The wiring diagram for the O2 sensor would show it if present.
If the O2 sensor was hard-wired correctly according to the wiring and pinout diagrams it should work, though of course it would be nice to have a connector in there for future sensor replacement. It should be possible to obtain an OEM connector from Honda or an online supplier of Honda parts.
I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your insight. I guess I will look for another shop, but the real issue was not getting the replacement connector, it was not being able to get all of the pins to seat properly. This saga continues...
Thanks again,
Frank
The point is that whatever was done, that O2 sensor is not wired up correctly. Whether you wind up with it hard-wired or install a new connector the wiring has to be right for it to work properly.
I just rescanned the van and get codes P2631 and P0141. You can clear the codes but the check engine light comes back on immediately as they said because it's had-wired. The shop hard wired the upper front O2 and may have hard wired the bottom middle O2 as well. The thing I don't understand is that the shop said I needed a connector with a "transistor" whereas the connector that came apart from the engine wiring harness was just a plain plastic connector, so I don't know anything about a replacement connector with a transistor. I could get the pins inserted in the old connector but I could not get them to seat and stay in and I most likely had them in the wrong order anyway.
Very frustrating...
FrankP
The shop ordered at least 2 connectors online but told me they could not get the pins to seat so that is why they hard-wired them.