possibly found the culprit

[phil_long]

And yesterday, im scrubbed the ECM with a wire brush as good as i could with some vinegar.  that crap stinks. its been years since i've smelled vinegar.

You are obviously not from the Thunderbird wine generation.   Yep, wire nuts and some Monkeygrip tape will work wonders.

[charleslong]

Wow Mr. Wood, I disappear for a few minutes and I get clowned to no end. I cant lie, its super funny though. For the record Steve, I DO STILL OWN MY BUICK. lol New job, custody battle, new job, foster child, wife, and new job got me SUPER busy...... I miss you too Steve. lol 
I use to break half billion dollar jets, then I started breaking expensive C-17's as a higher grade mechanic. lol Glad someone had confidence in my ability, but I have gotten rusty being a IT Specialist Project/Program Mgr. 

[charleslong]

Ok, maybe I wasnt breaking them. 

[daveismissing]

Make sure you rinse what you scrubbed and get it really really dry. ( Hairdryer?)

especially the PCB

[Steve Wood]

Wow Mr. Wood, I disappear for a few minutes and I get clowned to no end. I cant lie, its super funny though. For the record Steve, I DO STILL OWN MY BUICK. lol New job, custody battle, new job, foster child, wife, and new job got me SUPER busy...... I miss you too Steve. lol 
I use to break half billion dollar jets, then I started breaking expensive C-17's as a higher grade mechanic. lol Glad someone had confidence in my ability, but I have gotten rusty being a IT Specialist Project/Program Mgr. 

Well, you are a lot more fun to clown than Zap when he goes missing and you are a lot better looking than he is if for no other reason than you are a couple of inches taller than him.  I am tired of getting threatening letters from little people lawyers saying they will sue if I don't put in smaller steps so he can come up on my porch and provide a step ladder so he can get into one of my chairs to sit down.

Given that a billion dollars is chump change these days, I am not impressed by your breaking of half billion buck air planes.  Those things probably could not get certification to fly if you pushed one off the Empire State Building into a 50 knot head wind.   I built a lot of rubber band airplanes when I was a kid and they never flew either.  Of course they are probably worth a couple billion today today and no one would get excited if I broke a few of them.

New wife, new kids, new job!?  You trying to out brag Wendy?  Clay will be in here shortly to tell you about his new boat, new dog, and the new boobs he bought his ex wife!

You need to quit acting like an adult and spend more time here at the asylum trying to help your cousin, Phil, sort out his car.  May be that some of those IT tools will help him install new pins on his ecm wiring so he can just install the connectors and avoid  breathing in lead fumes from that old roll of solder you gave him the last time you cleaned house while moving.  Otherwise, there is one kid on here that wants to help him install telephone coax wire on the car. 

[$1987 GN$]

I think he's sayin' the tape/heatshrink/butcons add girth and the wire bundle is now larger?

M'self -I imagine using heatshrink over solder is not so much more bulky

Now heatshrink is a good idea as well.  Def be a bit quicker.

Kapton rape is thinner and stronger. But you are the one that needs to be happy with the finished job. 

Dave I have used many thousands of feet of that stuff. No need for it here unless he was making a new harness.

AJ___

[TURBOPOWERED68]

And from my understanding, you are saying to solder OPPOSE to using connectors due to the larger gauge wire that the new harness uses?  Sorry if i seem slow

i Always solder and heat shrink like the picture shows.
i haven't worked on a Regal in a long time. So i don't remember how much space you have. If space is a concern plan a head for the increase in the size of the harness. Thats all.
I also switched out both ECM plugs and replaced a few pins, that wasn't so bad.
ALSO Caspers sells the bare pins if the wire is long enough you could just cut the old pin off and put a new pin on the wire with out adding wire or heat shrink.       

[SuperSix]

Do you need to fancy-dancy crimper he sells?

[phil_long]

You guys are super helpful!!!  I'm going to throw the ecm back in the car today just to see if what i did made a difference and give my findings.  I'm not too confident that the cleaning I did is going to remove ALL of the corrosion, but this is a start.  Thanks gents!!

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Do you need to fancy-dancy crimper he sells?

i used a good needle-nose pliers and soldered them afterwards.

[daveismissing]

Do you need to fancy-dancy crimper he sells?

A good crimp is better than soldering.
Soldering is better than a bad crimp.
That's the catch-22.

link to his crimp tool?

[SuperSix]

http://www.casperselectronics.com/store2/product_info.php?products_id=696

http://www.casperselectronics.com/store2/product_info.php?products_id=683

[daveismissing]

I don't recommend pliers.
The more expensive one prolly crimps the contact area and the strain relief at the same time vs doing it twice. Ratchet is nice to have. Thats actually very cheap is far as industrial grade crimpers go.

[TURBOPOWERED68]

A good crimp is better than soldering.
Soldering is better than a bad crimp.
That's the catch-22.

link to his crimp tool?

I learned something today.
Thanks.

BTW i'll still solder as it has never let me down. 

[$1987 GN$]

Do you need to fancy-dancy crimper he sells?

A good crimp is better than soldering.
Soldering is better than a bad crimp.
That's the catch-22.

link to his crimp tool?

This is not totally true.

A crimp with a soldered connection is the best possible connection.

Oh and if you want the best you want an exothermic connection but forget that in this case.

AJ___