Have purchased a new 8 pin plug and socket, for the bonnet/hood part number C16921. Trouble was:
Plastic sheathing was brittle and cracked and holes were seen in the cracks. Before even opening the plastic bag.
Replaced that with what I had from the wiring conduit. Which was soft and flexible. So that part of the problem solved…
Assembled now wires to the socket and piug connector pins.
Trouble now was that it would not connect, only some mm together.
First was the rubber protection too hard and had no flexibility. I cut som of it away and made the socket go a little further in into the rubber plug. However only 3-4 mm connected. Which is not enough to keep it together.
Now problem was the actual pins, they seem too tight so everything stops. And far away from as far in as the should have gone originally.
However contact was made and wires good.
When I should take it apart again the plug disintegrated and fell out of the the plug metal/rubber cover.
Reason was that the male and female pins was stuck and metal to hold it all in place was not strong enough.
So am I just the unlucky guy? Vendor said they had sold 1000 in one year, this was the last one and I was the only to complain. Rubbers cover and sheathing are really too hard and just is of too poor quality. Maybe stored incorrectly? Or much older than they say…
Metal holder and male and female pins are just too poorly made.
So my question is; what do you guys purchase this for this bonnet connection and who supply good ones. Today the old is in better shape than the new one, but wires are all soldered to the pins. At the socket and the plug side. Rubber plug on the old one is rotten though…
So please help me out, part is not expensive, but really important that it works properly.
Did you replace both halves of the connector, male and female? I wouldn’t be too surprised if the reproduction won’t mate with the original part.
I personally soldered my wires on the new one. The grub screws had a way of loosing contact causing my headlights to suddenly go out, always on the darkest of streets.
Ok, so in addition to my earlier reply (which I don’t see yet on this thread??) if I were to do it again I would rewire the original plug. I am familar with the problems you’re having, except the “falling apart” piece. The plug I got was quite robust but the pins were tight, the screws could NOT hold the wires and I ended up, like Erica, soldering the wires in place. However, the tiny grub screws are also used to hold the pins in place so that when you want to take it apart, you don’t pull the whole lot apart! Result was that during the solder process, I put some grease into the threaded holes so the solder wouldn’t get in there, then when all had cooled I locitied the tine scrws back in place.
In my opinion, this new version isn’t a great piece of engineering (and told the supplier so) and why they decided to reinvent a wheel that had been successful for 50 years, is beyond me!!! Just make new ones exactly like the originals!
Would like to see pics of yours to see if it’s the same as mine…sounds like it is.
Moss Europe has another, but of same better construction, maybe too quickly I will try that out too.
They all look the same at the web, but some are coming in pieces, like the Moss Europe do, which I believe is better than the one which is assembled and one has to bend the metal cover and unscrew everything before fitting the wires and the sleeve.
If that is also poor, I will overhaul the old system and try to get the protection rubber of the plug loose. My original one is rotten, internals fairly good though.
Reason why I change is that my entire wiring is replaced. And here the complete wire harness vendors could really have built it complete…
Really silly, it should at least have been an option.
Technically one could use a modern type, but that does not look nice…
Hi, here it is one assembled and one dissasembled. They are coming from two places. First, the assembled, unknown manufacturing place which is really rubbish. Avoid.
The plug and socket comes not assembled though. Probably because it does not work…
Then for instance from Moss Europe coming in pieces, from Auto Sparks. So they say.
Hopefully better. SNG Barratt Ltd also advertise with the same looking one in pieces, but are out of stock until April. They w
ill tell me their vendor. Most likely Auto Sparks, based on the pics.
My final attempt wil be to splice the old wires with some modern soldering splice sleeve. And then get some really thick shrink sleeve to seal it away. And use the original ones…
I rarely have complaints about SNG Barrett parts and they are my go to supplier. That said, I bought a bonnet plug from them and, like you, found that the pins were too big to insert more than about 25% into the provided female sockets. The ends of the pins were slotted a short distance which allowed them to compress but no way they would fully insert. I made up a collar to hold everything together. The tiny grub screws were a challange but doable. I did refer a complaint to the vendor. They all need to kick this part to the curb. Unfortunately, my original plug was too far gone to salvage.
I too thought this would be an easy project. My old harness was pretty shot so I ordered a new one. Thought I could just wire in the new harness and connect it to the recepticle in the bonnet NO WAY, pins would not line up. Had to also replace the male part in the bonnet so everything would go together. I did feel the new harness and connector from SNG Barratt was superior in quality from the original.
I looked long and hard at my old bonnet plug when replacing the harness. As a retired EE I am good with electrical stuff and soldering. I could have saved it but… opted instead for trailer connectors. Screw connections (I did solder the wire ends before install), high current and cheap. There is a latch so they can’t wiggle loose. Very happy with the result. And I get 7 pins so I can run a BIG power lead to my headlight relays that I added in the bonnet.
Have called Autosparks. Their version comes from the US and are sold directly by themselves and Moss Europe. They should also check if the male and female pins were too tight.
I have also checked with SNG Barratt, my contact there, they promised to check if their stuff simply was too poorly made.
So maybe here for the future is to replace this half way replica with a modern contact that is 100% new inside out. They are there for sure, one just need to find them.
I really doubt a towbar plug is good enough for the location near the front wheel as it is, but maybe there are tow bar plug and sockets that work? Examples with pictures and eventually vendors would be good.
