Coil pack wiring connectors

Tiny
JC-842
  • MEMBER
  • 2007 DODGE CALIBER
  • 2.0L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 148,000 MILES
Hello, can someone help me with the wiring connectors
going to the coil pack? There is a short in the harness close to coils.
I opened up the harness in this area and made the mistake of not taking photos of the wires now what I'm up against is this. Each connector has two wires with a three-prong female end. There are all different colors no two are the same color. So, A cylinder or number 1 has power when using a test light. None of the other cylinders have power. I cut the wires because I had intentions of replacing all the connectors using a kit. Sold for $70.00
Here's the thing there is one brown wire which is hot. If I take one wire from each of the other three connectors 2, 3, 4, and touch them to a bare spot on this brown wire which by the way was already bare except there was glue I scraped off the other connectors become hot, and the car runs. Problem in is I feel this not the way these wires should be. But I see no corresponding wires of the same color as the ones coming out on of the connectors. That is further down the harness so I could splice new wires together. The brown wire that's live goes to number 1 cylinder. Do all the other connectors get power from this one wire?
Thanks. JC
Sunday, December 26th, 2021 AT 9:57 AM

26 Replies

Tiny
AL514
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Hello, that brown/gray wire does power all the coils, as well as the Fuel Injectors. It comes from Fuse # 23 (15Amp) in the fuse panel in the engine compartment. The diagram below will show you there is a splice pack to check. Where the wire comes together and goes out to the Capacitor. Thats where you need to check and see if there is an issue with corrosion or other broken wires, even a small pin hole is a wire can cause a lot of corrosion inside a wire. It can infect feet of a wire like an infection. It can end up being all green and corroded inside. So, if the wire had some glue on there, someone else would have been in there trying to fix something and didn't do it correctly. I'll post the wiring diagrams below for you, if you find more corrosion and/or broken wires, the best thing is to fix them correctly, so this doesn't happen again. If you have to replace a section of wire. Buy the heat shrink connectors, these connectors when heated will shrink around the wire and prevent any moisture from getting inside. I will post a picture of them in just a minute.
These yellow ones are for a bit larger wire size, you will probably need the blue ones. After you use these to connect wires together, heat them lightly, don't overheat them, just enough so you see them seal around the wire. A heat gun is best, but you can get away with just using a lighter if you go easy on them.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-wiring

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-car-electrical-system-works
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Sunday, December 26th, 2021 AT 2:43 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Thanks, great information. Where is this capacitor located? What does it look like?
And the splice pack? I have to figure out how to get three different wires spliced back to one little wire. Do you have any good suggestions on how to do that? I'm going to try and send you some photos tomorrow when it's daylight. There is one brown wire that I can't figure out where it goes, it has no power going to it. I'm thinking I may be better off just replacing the whole harness. What's your opinion on that?
The salvage yards are full of Dodge calibers. Thanks, Al, for your help and the diagrams are priceless. JC
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Sunday, December 26th, 2021 AT 10:13 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Hello AL514, is there a junction where the 4 coil wires tie into the brown, grey hot wire? I'm not sure how to reconnect these wires all back together there's one hot wire per coil
Do they all connect together at the same spot on the brown wire? That doesn't seem right. JC
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 4:44 AM
Tiny
AL514
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Yes, they all tie together at the point where the Ignition Coil Capacitor meets up. The capacitor is that little square looking thing that is bolted to the ignition coil pack. It's a one wire device. No I wouldn't replace the whole harness, you'll be there forever doing that. I will go out and take a picture of my capacitor on my truck and post it in a minute for you. Can you follow the wiring diagram, okay?

Here's the splice, its S104 circled in purple. Thats where the 4 wires for the coils meet up.
All of these brown/grey wires are on the same circuit. The dotted line just means they're attached together.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 8:36 AM
Tiny
JC-842
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Hey Al, is s a little box mounted at top of the thermostat housing? If that's it mine only has two wires and the plug. I'm trying really hard to do this right. I just can't come up with a plan on the hot wire for each coil. I'm almost to the point of jumper wires to ign. Acc.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 10:54 AM
Tiny
JC-842
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I don't know if you got my last message but are we talking about the caliber SE? And is the capacitor the little box with a one wire connector? Back side engine. Driver's side. Above the thermostat housing? If so I don't get it. There's only one wire connecting
To that box. I have run new wires for all the grounds see if I can get you a picture of what I'm talking about. I sent you 3 photos.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 11:15 AM
Tiny
JC-842
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Okay, can see the X marks the spot, but what's there what am I looking for?
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 11:29 AM
Tiny
AL514
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Do you have the brown/grey wire? What I circled is where the splice is for those brown/grey wires. It branches off there to each coil and to the coil capacitor. What exactly did you take apart? Where I circled in purple is the wiring harness, it will be wrapped up in a plastic shielding. Inside of that is where these wires splice together. There's no need to run wires from anywhere else. That wire powers the Fuel Injectors and Ignition Coils. If you can take a picture of what you have going on there so I can get a better idea of what you're asking. I'm not sure what you really did to begin with.
I didn't get any photos. You should be able to post pictures here.

Okay, so someone before you may have replaced the coil power feeds is what you're saying. I went back to your original post. But yes, that wire that feeds the #1 coil also feeds the other 3. It will be the same wire on each connector for the coils as the #1 coil. The other wire on each coil is a different color because that is the control wire for that coil going back to the ECM.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 12:06 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Okay, sorry about that. It's just that the diagram has a lot of black and it's hard to define anything. You have every numbered arrows and the description. I have a feeling I'm looking for something that's not there. Like I never did definitely not figure out if I found the capacitor. I sent two messages and three pictures of it. So, I'm going to try the pics again. In another message.
I'll take them and send them from the library instead of directly via camera.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 1:27 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Photos from JC.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 1:31 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Sorry the picture of the engine was to give a general idea of the location of the splice. In your first picture it looks like someone has made a mess of the wiring harness. The third picture does look like the Capacitor.
So, the brown/grey wire that is powering the first coil, you can power the rest off of that wire. The Capacitor is on the same power wire as the Ignition Coils because it cuts down the noise on the circuit. The Ignition coils produce thousands of volts of electricity, so the capacitor absorbs a lot of the electrical noise that is produced on that circuit, without it you would hear the coils firing through the vehicles' electrical system and through the radio. It could also send high frequency signals that could distort signals from other sensors that the engine computer is monitoring. So that's the purpose of the Capacitor. Is your concern about how to splice the wires together? I can see it looks like quite a mess there.
I fear someone else has changed all the ignition coil plugs, is that what you think happened here?
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 2:07 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Yes. And with the engine running you can grab the harness feeding anyone of the coils and it causes the engine to misfire. So now that I have the concept
Of what needs to be done. I think first I need to buy four new harness connectors. Do you agree? Secondly, I need to know what's the best method to splice these new connectors? I'm Mainly interested in the hot wire on each connector because all of pulsating wires are all easy to locate and reconnect. My main issue is in this one brown wire and tying four coils into that one wire. What's best here? Cut the brown wire at different spots and connect the hot wire of each connector to the brown wire? That's a lot of cuts in wire that's only approximately 2 ft. In length. Any input is greatly appreciated. I'm not good at electrical issues but I'm slowly understanding. This car has never run without a misfire on number 4 cylinder since I bought it a year ago. It comes and goes. But it's gotten worse.
Thanks AL. JC
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 2:51 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Well, whatever that glued spot was on that wire is not the correct way to fix a wire and my concern would be corrosion building up inside the feed wire for those coils. All it takes is a pin hole in a wire and after 6months to a year you will have green corrosion inside that wire, and it just keeps going up right inside the wire. You are smart to replace part of that feed wire. I will put together a small example really quick to show you how I would fix this. It would be difficult to splice 5 wires together especially in that case they should be soldered together, then heat shrink wrapped. give me just a minute.

This connector is the one I showed you in the first picture up top. Notice on these connectors when the heat is applied the connector end shrinks down around the wire, and if you can see it, there is glue that comes out as well. These insulate the wires from weather and moisture. The yellow ones are the larger size, these are made by Dorman and I got them at my local AutoZone. I think without soldering this is the best way to repair the wiring you need to. You may want to replace the wire from the 1st coil where you have power but make sure the Capacitor is included in the circuit before the coils. I know you have a mess of wiring there, but just do your best to sort it out and be sure you only connect to that one Brown/Grey wire and run to the other coils from there.
the fourth coil looks like the end of the line for that power feed. Just be careful before cutting any other wires or anything. Be sure of what you're doing first. But making sure those wires are protected from moisture is extremely important or you will just run into more problems down the road. (No pun intended)
If you have any other questions just ask. Obviously if you were able to check for 12volts on that wire, you should be ok with this repair. The Capacitor should have the same color wire Brown/Grey running to it too hopefully, it's on the same circuit.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-an-ignition-system
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 3:27 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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I totally agree.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 4:12 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Where can you buy those? What's the manufacturer's name? I have never seen a connector like that, but I like it very much. Thanks. JC
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 4:34 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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AL, if I trace the capacitor wire do you think it's going to lead back to the number one coil pack? I'm going to replace all of the connectors. I asked that question because I'm going to use a new wire for the one brown wire that's supplying the power for the coils. Just cut the end of that plugs into the capacitor and reattach it to the new wire and run it alongside the harness
This will make it easier to attach the other coil leads to that wire. It will include new connectors. What do you think? Will that work? JC
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 4:47 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Sounds like it should, just make sure the Capacitor is before the coils in the circuit. Make the #4 coil last. Keep to the original design as much as possible. But your plan sounds okay.
You may not need to replace all the connectors, are all the power feeds to the coil's different colors? The only coil wires that should be different colors are the ones that control the coils going back to the ECM.
The connectors are heat shrink butt connectors, AutoZone or Advanced auto has them. Or your local parts store, just ask, tell them that's what you need.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 5:45 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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Yes, they are all mixed up there, not the original connectors for sure. But all of the pulse wires are easy to find and connect. I'm just going to start with coil A#1 and trace that brown wire to the end. I'll find out if it is the wire connecting to the capacitor. But Regardless I'll use that wire on number one to tie the rest of the other three coil wires into it. It's the inside wire on all the connectors. But using the color code is not fool proof on this harness
But anyway, I'll keep you updated.
Thanks for all the help. Say hello to Joe for me if you happen to talk with him. Thanks again. I hope you have a Happy New Year. JC.
(I'll go to Auto Zone and buy those neat connectors.)
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 6:46 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Okay, if it's the inside wire, the power wire is same on all the coil connectors.
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Monday, December 27th, 2021 AT 8:22 PM
Tiny
JC-842
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That's correct brown/grey.
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Tuesday, December 28th, 2021 AT 5:07 AM

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