Renix-Era Fuse Box Terminal Replacement

Hey all, I had the dreaded terrible PO who let the slave leak all over the fuse box, and just finished replacing ALL the damn terminals in the POS box. I could find barely ANYTHING on the internet, so I'm gonna do a write up for anyone who has this similar problem, as it can all be done in the car and isnt a terrible job, probably a 8.5/10 on the pain in the ass scale. Will take pictures and everything tomorrow.

that would be nice!!

Alright here we are. So flash back a few years, the PO had a leaky slave cylinder, and it dripped over the floor and fuse box. Cleaned up everything and replaced slave cylinder, and all is good, right? Wrong. Now that I had the jeep, first trip I had offroading, my radio would cut out over bumps. I thought I had a loose ground or whatever, and I ignored it. However, after replacing my radio later on down the road(it eventually stayed off and wouldn't turn back on), I realized the new one would do the same thing. A few months have gone by, and now my turn signals would cut out, as well as my clock and all interior lights. I looked to the fuse box for my next problem, and noticed a bunch of terminals were corroded, and some of them were missing! I didn't take a picture of the fuse box before shot, but here are a couple pictures of the condition of the terminals I had were in:


So you can totally see why the fuses weren't making a good connection, and everything was cutting out. So fastforward hours of trouble shooting and trying to figure out how screwed I was, I came across a similar problem online, and got enough help to just figure I'd tackle this problem myself. I found out what terminals they were, then placed an order and in came new shiny terminals in both single terminals:

and bus terminals:

Now keep in mind, there are a few terminal posts that only require two or three of the terminals, so I just used tin snips to cut them down to size.

So the first of my issues was how the hell to get these terminals out of the fuse box. Initially I was using a screwdriver that I grinded down to size, but then I quickly grew tired, and found a specialty tool, that you can order at O'reillys for around 50 bucks:



This tool didn't work the best, but it was definitely easier for removing the single terminals from the box, and just required a little wiggling and pulling:

After the terminal was out (sorry, all of these pictures were taken after the fact, so I don't have any in-action shots), you then cut off the old one, and crimp the new one on using a crimper tool:


I recommend a ratcheting one, as this one didn't work to well, but here's a link to it regardless:http://www.ebay.com/itm/252702166737?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

When removing the bus bar terminals, I recommend using tin snips or dikes or some kind of clipper, as they're incredibly difficult to get out without cutting them:


Now onto the connectors. I ordered these connectors:
829-12004568 These are the 4 bus 12 gauge terminals, and I ordered 6.
100-00382 These are the 4 bus 16-14 gauge terminals, and I ordered 6.
829-12020400 These are the 12 gauge terminal connectors.
829-12020321 These are the 14-16 gauge terminal connectors.
829-12020334 These are the 18-20 gauge terminal connectors.
All of these part numbers are Mouser P/N I believe, but if there is any trouble finding them I can post links. Also, for the last three, I ordered 10 of each. I don't have an exact number of how many you'd need, because I ordered extras in case I messed up, which I did many times. Also, Keep in mind this is for a Comanche, and an XJ may require more terminals, as a couple slots in my box were empty. After you have all your teminals and crimps in the mail, just remove them one at a time and crimp and replace! The bus bar ones are a bit harder to crimp, but with some ingenuity, it is all possible:


First crimp the wire in the connector using the circular openings on the crimping tool, then second:


Crimp the stripped part of the wire ( I know this shows the incorrect part), and make sure it's snug. If you've crimped it correctly it should look something like this:


Notice how the insides have folded over eachother, and will press into the wire, forming a tight solid connection. After the new end is crimped on, they just pop back into place and lock with two little tabs on the side. By the way, any old stripper will work for stripping wires, and I just used a Harbor Freight wire stripper:


After a few tedious hours of stripping and replacing, You should end up with your finished product:



Take note that I did remove my dash for this, as I was getting my floors sprayed with Line-X and replacing my heater core and evaporator core as well, but if you have the patience, you can just remove the bolt holding the fuse box to the engine harness and pull it a foot or so into the foot well and do all the replacing (or just the ones that are damaged) in the car with much less work. All in all, this whole repair probably took me 3-4 hours, not including getting the hang of crimping, or the hours it took to find the proper terminals for the jeeps, and then the waiting to get them here.

Good luck everyone, It is a sucky job to have to do, but it'll be worth it, and this repair should hopefully last the life of the Jeep.

Francesco said:

Alright here we are. So flash back a few years, the PO had a leaky slave cylinder, and it dripped over the floor and fuse box. Cleaned up everything and replaced slave cylinder, and all is good, right? Wrong. Now that I had the jeep, first trip I had offroading, my radio would cut out over bumps. I thought I had a loose ground or whatever, and I ignored it. However, after replacing my radio later on down the road(it eventually stayed off and wouldn't turn back on), I realized the new one would do the same thing. A few months have gone by, and now my turn signals would cut out, as well as my clock and all interior lights. I looked to the fuse box for my next problem, and noticed a bunch of terminals were corroded, and some of them were missing! I didn't take a picture of the fuse box before shot, but here are a couple pictures of the condition of the terminals I had were in:

So you can totally see why the fuses weren't making a good connection, and everything was cutting out. So fastforward hours of trouble shooting and trying to figure out how screwed I was, I came across a similar problem online, and got enough help to just figure I'd tackle this problem myself. I found out what terminals they were, then placed an order and in came new shiny terminals in both single terminals:

and bus terminals:

Now keep in mind, there are a few terminal posts that only require two or three of the terminals, so I just used tin snips to cut them down to size.

So the first of my issues was how the hell to get these terminals out of the fuse box. Initially I was using a screwdriver that I grinded down to size, but then I quickly grew tired, and found a specialty tool, that you can order at O'reillys for around 50 bucks:

This tool didn't work the best, but it was definitely easier for removing the single terminals from the box, and just required a little wiggling and pulling:

After the terminal was out (sorry, all of these pictures were taken after the fact, so I don't have any in-action shots), you then cut off the old one, and crimp the new one on using a crimper tool:

I recommend a ratcheting one, as this one didn't work to well, but here's a link to it regardless:http://www.ebay.com/itm/252702166737?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

When removing the bus bar terminals, I recommend using tin snips or dikes or some kind of clipper, as they're incredibly difficult to get out without cutting them:

Now onto the connectors. I ordered these connectors:
829-12004568 These are the 4 bus 12 gauge terminals, and I ordered 6.
100-00382 These are the 4 bus 16-14 gauge terminals, and I ordered 6.
829-12020400 These are the 12 gauge terminal connectors.
829-12020321 These are the 14-16 gauge terminal connectors.
829-12020334 These are the 18-20 gauge terminal connectors.
All of these part numbers are Mouser P/N I believe, but if there is any trouble finding them I can post links. Also, for the last three, I ordered 10 of each. I don't have an exact number of how many you'd need, because I ordered extras in case I messed up, which I did many times. Also, Keep in mind this is for a Comanche, and an XJ may require more terminals, as a couple slots in my box were empty. After you have all your teminals and crimps in the mail, just remove them one at a time and crimp and replace! The bus bar ones are a bit harder to crimp, but with some ingenuity, it is all possible:

First crimp the wire in the connector using the circular openings on the crimping tool, then second:

Crimp the stripped part of the wire ( I know this shows the incorrect part), and make sure it's snug. If you've crimped it correctly it should look something like this:

Notice how the insides have folded over eachother, and will press into the wire, forming a tight solid connection. After the new end is crimped on, they just pop back into place and lock with two little tabs on the side. By the way, any old stripper will work for stripping wires, and I just used a Harbor Freight wire stripper:

After a few tedious hours of stripping and replacing, You should end up with your finished product:

Take note that I did remove my dash for this, as I was getting my floors sprayed with Line-X and replacing my heater core and evaporator core as well, but if you have the patience, you can just remove the bolt holding the fuse box to the engine harness and pull it a foot or so into the foot well and do all the replacing (or just the ones that are damaged) in the car with much less work. All in all, this whole repair probably took me 3-4 hours, not including getting the hang of crimping, or the hours it took to find the proper terminals for the jeeps, and then the waiting to get them here.

Good luck everyone, It is a sucky job to have to do, but it'll be worth it, and this repair should hopefully last the life of the Jeep.

Click to expand...

You are one persistent son of a gun!!!

Should be a sticky. Also can you post the manufacturer and their part nos. of these terminals to help people find them if your mouser part nos. Die in the future

Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk

Mouser produced the four connectors starting in 829, and the other one was sold by EFI Connection. They are all Dephi Pack-Con III Connectors, however I couldn't find any manufacturing part number so to speak. It seems if they discontinue those connectors, we're all SOL, because they're the only ones I've found, in fact to find the bus bar terminals in anything other than 12 gauge(the EFI ones were what I wanted), it took me a few hours alone, and ended up finding them on google images!!

Francesco said:

Mouser produced the four connectors starting in 829, and the other one was sold by EFI Connection. They are all Dephi Pack-Con III Connectors, however I couldn't find any manufacturing part number so to speak. It seems if they discontinue those connectors, we're all SOL, because they're the only ones I've found, in fact to find the bus bar terminals in anything other than 12 gauge(the EFI ones were what I wanted), it took me a few hours alone, and ended up finding them on google images!!

Click to expand...

Got it, I was thinking like this though

first number you listed I punch into Mouser's site

Mouser P/N: 829-12004568
Mfgr: Delphi Connection Systems
Mrgr. P/N: 12004568-L

That way if Mouser ever changes their part number you have enough info to find the part again easily. Mouser doesn't make anything, they're just a supply house like Grainger or McMaster. Not busting on you at all, this is great info, I've done stuff like this before (actually just had to look it up, I ran down the part numbers for the connectors for a Donnelly mirror that I installed in my '99 a few years ago because I didn't have a friendly junkyard I could steal a connector from - it ended up being about $5 with shipping so not even worth it considering you can have it delivered to your door)

And yes, when I found my old thread and went to look up the parts, the direct links to Digi-Key I'd posted no longer worked, but the parts were still available...

Alright, well I am not sure how to edit my post, so here are the manufacturer part numbers:
829-12004568 These are the 4 bus 12 gauge terminals, PN 12004568

100-00382 These are the 4 bus 16-14 gauge terminals, could not find a manufacturer part number for this one, only the one listed. It's probably not the original part like the others, as it's listed for use in an ATO fuse box, however on Mouser's website there is no listing for a bus bar terminal for anything other than 12 gauge.

829-12020400 These are the 12 gauge terminal connectors, PN 12020400-L

829-12020321 These are the 14-16 gauge terminal connectors, PN 12020321-L

829-12020334 These are the 18-20 gauge terminal connectors, PN 12020334-L

Hope this helps someone.