[Billfitz]

The gauge of the wire doesn't matter, since it handles practically no current. The insulation is absolute crap, half the diameter I'd like to see it, part of the industry wide push to keep weight down at every possible turn.

[jhnmdahl]

Originally Posted by dmanb2b

I ended up wasting money on a new NVLD and breather as well...It was definitely a wire, and looks like its a pretty common F3x issue. I ultimately took some time, removed the wheel and wheel well liner, and inspected the wiring inch by inch, from both sides. I'n some case you may need to start peeling away the insulation tape back to fin the break. Here is where mine had worn through and had the slightest bit of green tinge to it.

Break was in area circled red and you could barely see it. The wire is very thin. Hope this helps.

Dman was spot on. After trying to splice the area I thought was damaged and replacing the NVLD pump and breather, the P147E code still kept coming back. I cut out the whole wiring harness and spliced in new wiring from a few inches from the connector to about six inches from where the wires head into the trunk.

I used marine-grade tinned wire (Ancor 8 conductor 20ga from West Marine, pulling out three of the wires and twisting them together to form a new "cable"), heat shrink tubing from Amazon, and soldered the connections. Tinned wire should be less prone to corrosion, and the jacketing is a bit more robust than the factory wire. The wire is a bit thicker gauge than the original wiring, not because the electrical load needs it but because it's more work for the mice to chew through it again I also sprayed it with something called bitrex, which is absurdly bitter tasting with hopes I won't have to repeat this project again.

I then tucked the wire assembly in a 1/4" split loom from Amazon. After replacing fuse 104 (in the trunk) due to being a bit sloppy while installing the new harness, everything works great. There was clearly some additional damage to the wiring that I didn't see, most likely right about at the top of the wheel well where there appeared to be a bit of mouse damage to the wire I originally spliced.

Thanks again!

[dmanb2b]

Originally Posted by jhnmdahl

Thanks again!

Glad it worked out and thank you for sharing your solution!

[jonny4d]

Did you ever check the voltage of at the plug before searching for the damaged wires? I checked mine with the car power off and got 12v between the outermost pins. Once I knew what the ground was I tested that against the center pin and got 0v.
When I turn the car on the center goes to 3.4 constant.
I dont know if that is good or bad, but after replacing the NVLD module the error still comes back!

[Edhead]

@ jonny4d, did you ever figure it out? I'm getting the same problem. I have checked the continuity between the DME and that wire and it is good. I checked the V on the DME itself and I'm getting 3v not sure what is going on.