TCM Connector - Preventative Maintenance

[Maximus Gladius]

I had read on Facebook, a tech described corrosion can enter this connector (same type of connector like the one we undo when taking off our front doors) and when water/mud breaches the seal, it creates a whole host of dash lights, warnings, transmission and shifting issues, perhaps failed power steering pump etc that immobilizes the truck and takes it out of commission. Then….we all think the battery’s are dead etc.

Today, I thought why wait for an issue from this connector, just get at it, open it up, clean it and spray an electrical connector protector on the pins and apply dielectric grease on the pins.

The connector is just behind the passenger wheel well, next to the aux battery and if you do any muddy fording, it’ll go under water.

I also found the seal in my connector had been breached but no issues had come of it….yet. I fixed the seal and put it back in place, cleaned it all up and put it all back together. So glad I did.

There’s other plugs there too like an oxygen sensor.

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[Volt0]

That connector should be IP67 rated or IP68 rated, correct?

 

[Mojave20]

I had read on Facebook, a tech described corrosion can enter this connector (same type of connector like the one we undo when taking off our front doors) and when water/mud breaches the seal, it creates a whole host of dash lights, warnings, transmission and shifting issues, perhaps failed power steering pump etc that immobilizes the truck and takes it out of commission. Then….we all think the battery’s are dead etc.

Today, I thought why wait for an issue from this connector, just get at it, open it up, clean it and spray an electrical connector protector on the pins and apply dielectric grease on the pins.

The connector is just behind the passenger wheel well, next to the aux battery and if you do any muddy fording, it’ll go under water.

I also found the seal in my connector had been breached but no issues had come of it….yet. I fixed the seal and put it back in place, cleaned it all up and put it all back together. So glad I did.

There’s other plugs there too like an oxygen sensor.

DeoxIt is great stuff. I spray some of their gold G5 on connectors anytime I need to take them apart.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

That connector should be IP67 rated or IP68 rated, correct?

It should be but as I saw with the green seal at the back, there was a small portion of it that was distorted and I had to use a long thin pick tool to try and get it back in it’s track that it’s supposed to sit in. I did a pretty good job of it but there was still a slight distortion to it. I ended up also putting a very small amount of silicone grease just on the edge of the matting connector in hopes it would assist in creating a barrier.

 

[ZeeJay]

Water ingress can happen on any connector exposed to road spray or submersion. The photos with dirt inside the inner edge of module isn’t an issue. There is a silicon seal on receptacle side of module that interfaces with pin side of module. As long as no moisture is present on the the pins and receptacle face it’s fine. The sill seals around wire entering the shell now those are a different story, having back end of that sealed would have been preferable especially considering location. Wires can have water ingress through sill seal and no way to know until it shorts. Corrosion is established and then it’s pin to pin shorts in that 100K ohm or less range and shit gets weird, worse case scenario a core corrosion occurs and wire fails off terminal. Either way only fix is new harness or repin existing harness. My advice is cover it, make a shield. Use tool box liner, cut a piece of radiator hose(like a taco), something. The goal is create a shield to keep direct saturation off of it. That cam lock, cover that in tape just to keep dirt from imbedding itself into the release.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Water ingress can happen on any connector exposed to road spray or submersion. The photos with dirt inside the inner edge of module isn’t an issue. There is a silicon seal on receptacle side of module that interfaces with pin side of module. As long as no moisture is present on the the pins and receptacle face it’s fine. The sill seals around wire entering the shell now those are a different story, having back end of that sealed would have been preferable especially considering location. Wires can have water ingress through sill seal and no way to know until it shorts. Corrosion is established and then it’s pin to pin shorts in that 100K ohm or less range and shit gets weird, worse case scenario a core corrosion occurs and wire fails off terminal. Either way only fix is new harness or repin existing harness. My advice is cover it, make a shield. Use tool box liner, cut a piece of radiator hose(like a taco), something. The goal is create a shield to keep direct saturation off of it. That cam lock, cover that in tape just to keep dirt from imbedding itself into the release.

What are the dash warnings one would see from water ingress and pin corrosion in this connector?

From what the tech on Facebook mentioned is that he typically saw dealerships would just throw parts at this but to no avail and fail to address the connector issue…no one is looking. It was like, for him, it was as if he just took a stab at looking at the connector and he stumbled on what the issue was which, for his repair, was pin corrosion.

We, the community, trying to “best guess” someone’s problem who’s dash lights have lit up pointing to transmission issues, blame the aux battery or fuses or bad gas when it’s this connector which we all need to take some preventative maintenance action to cover it as you’ve pointed out.

 

[ZeeJay]

What are the dash warnings one would see from water ingress and pin corrosion in this connector?

From what the tech on Facebook mentioned is that he typically saw dealerships would just throw parts at this but to no avail and fail to address the connector issue…no one is looking. It was like, for him, it was as if he just took a stab at looking at the connector and he stumbled on what the issue was which, for his repair, was pin corrosion.

We, the community, trying to “best guess” someone’s problem who’s dash lights have lit up pointing to transmission issues, blame the aux battery or fuses or bad gas when it’s this connector which we all need to take some preventative maintenance action to cover it as you’ve pointed out.

As to what particular faults would latch I can’t answer only because I’ve never experienced any of them and not sure what that harness supports. Looking at a print (if can find one)would reveal what that harness supports. Based off wire count it doesn’t support much, maybe B+ and grounds, signal and some sensor returns(grounds) possibly a data link hiding in also, this is just an educated guess, could be anything really.
To the tech saying wiring is overlooked and most jump to parts as a failure mode that’s true, sadly very true. Some professional advice always suspect wiring first, to me it’s guilty until proven innocent. Always check it over, look for water, failed terminals, spread terminals, do a pull test on wires. See if harness has rubbed against anything. Small pin head sized area of a signal wire up against metal can short that circuit low source, Billy Ray the friendly Jeep dealer tech will just assume sensor failed and send you on your way. What’s worse a harness issue can lead progressive damage to a sensor or even an ECM channel, so now it’s compounding failures, those are seldom found on the first run though and usually rather rare. And ALWAYS check grounds, especially any global grounds on chassis. Point is just assume wiring has failed first and then escalate it, from an automotive standpoint it is not as common as industrial but it still can fail. Wiring is always the weak link, and worse most auto manufacturers, really all manufacturers including industrial do a really shitty job and securing it.

Here is recent example recently of a troubleshoot I performed about week ago just as an idea of what an unexpected thing can do what:
Atlas Copco PV230 drill, has a QSK23 common rail Tier IV engine, customer complaint engine derate and operator inducement fault. Find fault for dosing valve open/low source. Use a meter, find voltage drop @ dosing valve connector across the ground source from ECM for dosing valve control. Follow it back through machine harness to engine, we’re talking 20ft of harness with 5 different connection points. Removed the OEM connector from ECM and there it was…..a bent pin on the ECM side. As the engine warmed and the heat migrated into ECM, the pin expanded and touched another pin and I mean barely touched it. When engine and ECM cooled pin would retract. For every one cat that troubleshot the harness, three would have throw a dosing valve at, guaranteed.

Moral is always put eyes on the harness

 

[Maximus Gladius]

DeoxIt is great stuff. I spray some of their gold G5 on connectors anytime I need to take them apart.

I needed to pick up more of the DeoxIT and I drove over to pick more up and I saw they have a new product I haven’t seen and this stuff is for electrical connectors that are susceptible to “…severe environments (humid, salts, pollutants, etc)”. So any connections outside the vehicle like the TCM etc, can be treated with this.

 

[jayo84]

Currently having this issue. I jiggled this connector and it was OK for a couple days and started again. There's 51k miles on it so I wonder if I need to clean it? I'd think a bad crimp would show up sooner? How can people tell if it's a bad crimp?

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Currently having this issue. I jiggled this connector and it was OK for a couple days and started again. There's 51k miles on it so I wonder if I need to clean it? I'd think a bad crimp would show up sooner? How can people tell if it's a bad crimp?

First address the issue through warranty if you still have it. I don’t have warranty but taken all these large multi pin connectors apart and cleaned them with the DeoxIT spray. No issues using this. The spray also lubricates the pins so mating the connector back together is very easy.

 

[jayo84]

First address the issue through warranty if you still have it. I don’t have warranty but taken all these large multi pin connectors apart and cleaned them with the DeoxIT spray. No issues using this. The spray also lubricates the pins so mating the connector back together is very easy.

Okay. I tried once to pull it apart but its rather tight? Should the white lever flip a certain degree?

 

[jayo84]

First address the issue through warranty if you still have it. I don’t have warranty but taken all these large multi pin connectors apart and cleaned them with the DeoxIT spray. No issues using this. The spray also lubricates the pins so mating the connector back together is very easy.

I was able to get it. Was difficult. The very top right pin and socket had some buildup of some kind. Its the small pin. cleaned and put some grease on. Working at the moment!

 

[jayo84]

2 weeks later and still no issue. I believe this saved me!!

 

[Buster345]

I am hoping you guys can help me. I have been having a lot of issues with the TCM module connection and the only thing that would reset it is if i disconnected and reconnected the plug mentioned in this forum. However, in my last attempt the green portion in the the connector keeps pushing out and I assume this severs the connection of the pins from the female side. I keep trying the reset and push back the green portion with the white tab in the middle but it resets once I push the connection back together. Has anyone had the same issue.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I am hoping you guys can help me. I have been having a lot of issues with the TCM module connection and the only thing that would reset it is if i disconnected and reconnected the plug mentioned in this forum. However, in my last attempt the green portion in the the connector keeps pushing out and I assume this severs the connection of the pins from the female side. I keep trying the reset and push back the green portion with the white tab in the middle but it resets once I push the connection back together. Has anyone had the same issue.

First post from the Cayman Islands, welcome. More information is needed. What year, trim level and milage do you have and… do the RPM’s ever go above 2000? Do you walk to work or drive it 3 minutes to get there?

I’d like to know what your issues are you mentioned having and you also said “I keep trying the reset…” please explain with different words and/or photos.

The only thing I’m imagining that would cause the connectors to not come together is a blockage of some sort, perhaps the seal around the inside has pulled out and twisted in there ??

If might want to come have a look but this repair sounds like a 2 or 3 week fix, maybe more…

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