Mystery Connector

[Goose57]

Hi all, I’m trying to figure out where this connector goes (2nd pic.) I labeled most of the wiring before I took everything apart last year but not this one. Could it be the connector to the missing 4x4 actuator? Somebody before me installed a cable set up. The white connector ( I marked that one) seems to go into the differential it only using 2 of the 3 wires going to it. Somebody has been messing with the wires going to the switch going to the transfer case. I’m having a little trouble finding the wiring diagram for this circuit in our online manuals. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Glagulator]

That conn. is for the updated actuator. The PO must have updated before going mechanical.
Does your K3500 have a Borg Warner transfer case?

 

[Goose57]

Thanks Glagulator, yes I do have the Borg Warner transfer case 4401. I couldn’t find that connector in the 95’ electrical schematic. What is a PO? Like I said in my earlier post somebody’s been doing a little wiring in that circuit. They spliced 1 wire all the way down at the transfer case switch on the brown wire, up to the the mystery conn. Very confusing. So I believe I only need that white connector hooked up. I guess I’ll leave that splice somebody put in there in case it powers something else. I appreciate the info. That helped me out a lot.

That conn. is for the updated actuator. The PO must have updated before going mechanical.
Does your K3500 have a Borg Warner transfer case?

 

[jrsavoie]

Thanks Glagulator, yes I do have the Borg Warner transfer case 4401. I couldn’t find that connector in the 95’ electrical schematic. What is a PO? Like I said in my earlier post somebody’s been doing a little wiring in that circuit. They spliced 1 wire all the way down at the transfer case switch on the brown wire, up to the the mystery conn. Very confusing. So I believe I only need that white connector hooked up. I guess I’ll leave that splice somebody put in there in case it powers something else. I appreciate the info. That helped me out a lot.

That Spliced wire was part of the instructions for installing the newer actuator and connector

PO - Previous Owner

 

[Glagulator]

Previous Owner = PO.
Your 95 did not come with that 5 pin connector.
That is part of the actuator upgrade harness.
There is no telling what was done.
The cable actuator usually indicates they could not
get the wiring correct or working.
Your 4401 transfer case also has a synchronizer circuit.
That is probably not working either.

 

[jrsavoie]

Previous Owner = PO.
Your 95 did not come with that 5 pin connector.
That is part of the actuator upgrade harness.
There is no telling what was done.
The cable actuator usually indicates they could not
get the wiring correct or working.
Your 4401 transfer case also has a synchronizer circuit.
That is probably not working either.

I was very tempted to go with the cable on our 1998 Suburban.
It would not go into 4wd unless the front wheels turned just a little. Once you were stuck, unless you could rock it enough for the front wheels to turn, it would stay in 2wd.

 

[Glagulator]

I had the same problem with my 96 Burb, sometimes.
It had the old thermal actuator.

 

[WarWagon]

I was very tempted to go with the cable on our 1998 Suburban.
It would not go into 4wd unless the front wheels turned just a little. Once you were stuck, unless you could rock it enough for the front wheels to turn, it would stay in 2wd.

Cable won't solve that problem. Gears are not able to mesh until they move and align is what's hanging the motor or thermal actuator up. It will hang a cable as well.

 

[jrsavoie]

Cable won't solve that problem. Gears are not able to mesh until they move and align is what's hanging the motor or thermal actuator up. It will hang a cable as well.

Never had that issue with the 1976 Ford short bed with lock outs.

Mostly noticed on the 1998.
Other than the trucks, it's what I drove the most. The Tahoe was supposed to be my run around vehicle. I probably only put maybe 20,000 out of the 300,000 miles it had on it. If that.

 

[Goose57]

That Spliced wire was part of the instructions for installing the newer actuator and connector

PO - Previous Owner

Thanks. Well they didn’t do a good job. No insulation on the wire just wrapped the wire down at the transfer case with tape. So that connector was used at some time? It doesn’t show up on the electrical schematics. I wasted time fixing the splice and insulated the wire. Oh well. Thanks jrsavole

 

[Goose57]

Previous Owner = PO.
Your 95 did not come with that 5 pin connector.
That is part of the actuator upgrade harness.
There is no telling what was done.
The cable actuator usually indicates they could not
get the wiring correct or working.
Your 4401 transfer case also has a synchronizer circuit.
That is probably not working either.

Thanks Glagulator, yes the guy before me must of put the cable on. When I was going through all the wiring and replacing the damaged wire looms , that circuit (the one with the 5 pin conn.) was a harness by itself in a loop. I also have two relays on the firewall that the harness was connected to. One of them is bad. Could that be the synchronizer circuit? Thanks again.

 

[Will L.]

I always prefer the cable to electrical. On this site I hear of people in snow having issues, but here it was in high heat we had issues. Then of course simply wearing out for people that went off roading very frequently they wouldn’t last.
They had to get replaced under warranty- imo anything that wears out during warranty time frame tells me it is not built to last so manual connection isnthe way to go imo.

The one time in my life I was happy to have had electric shifting was when my wife was stuck in a snow storm and only exer drove in snow twice in her life before that, and one of those times I was with her and had to switch to me driving.
In our 2001 suburban we had -She called me and asked what to do- “See the button to the left of the steering wheel that says 4Hi… push it and tell me if the light comes on.” Yes. Ok now drive as if it is a really bad rainstorm.
If she had to pull cables, flip switches, or anything else she would have felt overwhelmed and waited until I came and got her. That was around 2002/3 iirc,
Once she was home watching the baby Inwas running all over the place with the Hummer draggin folks out. I was in Boulder City, she was in Vegas and there was only two paved roads then (2.5) that connects them. One is through the national park where Lake Mead is and they closed both- until I showed up at the park. I knew one of the Rangers and he let me go through if I promised not to take the road if it got risky, and call him if it had cleared up where the snow was bad.
I just did a few u-turns and kept smashing down the snow to where regular rigs could drive it easy enough. Then called him and went along my way to drop off the friend of ours who was baby sitting our kid in Vegas and go get my wife our kid- telling her to take that rarely used way is how to get home. That was also one of the four times I wished I had fixed the front heater core in the hummer - the rear heater is really tiny and the main heater core was bad when I bought it- still is. Thats on my “one of these days” lists. Can you guys imagine: a 6.5 rig that can’t put out good heat into the truck? Haha!
Sorry for the sidetrack- just the way my mind wanders…

 

[Glagulator]

That "relay" #12182086 is not a normal relay and will not work like a normal relay.
It is only used with the 5 pin updated actuator and a Borg Warner transfer case.
It is a solid start controller. Check on the cost of a replacement for a shocker!
When the actuator upgrade kit is used on a Borg Warner setup then the old
"normal" synchronizer relay that the truck came with is still used along with the
new "special" relay. Without the 5 pin actuator you do not need the "special"
relay to get the synchronizer to work.

 

[Goose57]

Looks like I can clean up (eliminate) a lot of wiring that goes down the rear of the engine on the passenger side. It’s tough to run any wires or hoses (anything that can’t get hot) down that side near the crossover and down pipe. I still need to run trans. hoses in that area. Any body have a pics of that area that shows how they ran trans. lines or wiring so I can get some ideas? Thanks guys.

 

[Glagulator]

This is all you need to get the sync working.

 

[Goose57]

This is all you need to get the sync working.

Thanks Glagulator. What manual is this one from ? I have the red gm c/k service manual and there is not any electrical schematics in it. Does GM have a separate electrical one? Thanks.

 

[Glagulator]

That drawing is my own.
The electrical schematics are in a separate 95 FSM.
There are 5 or 6 in the set.
It has DRIVABILITY, EMISSIONS, AND ELECTRICAL DIAGNOSIS on the front.
You can download it on the other 6.5 site.