Trooper, You are correct that one side of that pilot burner is not the same as the other.

I see what you mean about that comment in the Honeywell manual on the compression fitting. Am I correct that, if it does leak slightly now, it would only happen while the burners are firing and not while the furnace is off?

I realize now that I did NOT use soapy water to test for any leaks right at the pilot itself. Can that be tested with the burners running or do I need to remove that MV wire again and just have the pilot going during that test?

To take those pilot flame photos, I pulled the MV wire loose from its spade connector. That Honeywell S8600M has the top 3 wires (black, brown & purple in this photo) inside a plastic holder which makes it impossible to pull out the metal spade connector itself ---so the wire just comes loose and the spade connector stays inside the plastic holder. I've stuck the MV wire back into the spade connector and tried to squeeze it together with needle-nose pliers but it's now not too secure. I wanted to replace that entire wiring harness with those 3 wires but no one seems to have that part by itself. Or, maybe I could just do away with that white plastic holder?

 

... you busted it!

If you remove the white housing, and look very closely, you should see that the spade terminal has a very small metal 'tab' on it that is holding it into that housing. By carefully depressing that tab, you can release the terminal from the housing. If you don't get 'agressive' when depressing the tab, it should be re-usable and 'snap' back in. If you own a soldering iron (small, 25 watt), you should be able to solder the wire back in. Care must be taken though, you do not want any solder to flow down into the spade portion. OFTEN the material that those lugs are made of oxidizes badly and won't 'take' solder. If you can't solder it yourself, perhaps you have a skilled friend?

Those terminal are intended for using a 'proper' tool to crimp them in place. Needle nose pliers are not that proper tool. All you will succeed in doing is crushing the terminal, and the wire will still pull right out. A crimp tool is called for.

You don't need the housing, it's intent is to remove any possibility of placing the wrong terminals on the wrong tabs. Can you imagine what might happen if they were mixed up?

Yes. And as long as it's a TINY leak, probably no consequence... but I would strongly urge you to 'make it right'.

Take a look at this:

Rotatable view of pilot assembly

and try to do some body work with the needle nose to get it close to the way it's supposed to be. Or, if you would rather replace it, read on:

This should be your pilot assembly, but it has a NAT GAS orifice in it. I'm not sure why Honeywell's catalog doesn't list the 345 with the LP orifice already installed... but I believe it includes the proper compression fitting.

Patriot Supply - Q345A1313

Here is the BBR10 LP gas orifice:

Patriot Supply - 390686-1

Here are your replacement compression fittings, three sizes... I THINK the fitting is the same on both the gas valve and the pilot end. [verify this!]

Patriot Supply - 386449-*

Here is a 5' piece of 1/4" pilot tubing... more than you will ever need... verify that yours is in fact 1/4"... (probably is). You may have enough length on your existing to re-use, but your local supply may cut a piece for you. They may also have pre-packed with the compression fittings included.

Patriot Supply - AT-524A

If you do hit your local supply, you can go armed with Honeywell's part numbers (from the listings) and they may actually stock some of these parts. Your LP supplier should not be overlooked either... they may also have some parts available.

 

I think if you try putting soapy water around there with the burners running it's gonna evaporate pretty quick... but for now concentrate on trying to clean and straighten that pilot assembly.