How to DIY - wiring harness restoration 

Support d4a: driving-4-answers-shop.fourthwall.com/ Wiring harness tape that I used: amzn.to/2BmcgUO But connectors: amzn.to/2IXKNgg More butt connectors: amzn.to/2nXjQlC Crimping pliers: amzn.to/2oFDe7a Why not solder instead? : amzn.to/32qoW94

Another way in wrapping the harness with electrical tape is to wrap the tape sticky side out and then go back over it sticky side down. It adheres well to it self and it doesn't make the wires sticky.

Great video. I’ve got to upload a video one day on making a harness from scratch. I like rebuilding my engines in-house for my company, and when I do they got back “deleted” (diesels). What I do is buy all new plugs for what sensors are left on the engine, put them all in place, and run wiring from each sensor back to the ECM. I use fibreglass braided sheathing thats dipped in acrylic, I then place a 1 inch piece of shrinkable tubing half over the sheath and half over the wiring going into the plug. I use varying sizes of sheath as the harness grows in size. The great thing about the fibreglass braiding is it’ll take up to 500 degrees without melting (way higher than the wire will take). The result is a million mile harness, thats neat and free of extra plugs from sensors that are no longer in use.

I've done my fair share of wiring harnesses and I can tell you that adding vinyl non-stick tape to the harness, before you add the Tesa tape, does wonders for making sure the harness doesn't turn into a sticky mess after some heat cycles. I go Vinyl Tape > Kapton Tape > Tesa Tape. I use the Kapton Tape on areas that will see higher heat ranges as it's supposed to keep heat at bay. I wrap the harness in TechFlex sleeving and use marine grade heat shrink to keep it tight. Hmmm, I may do a video on this 🤔

I own a D350, glad I saw your video, started fixing relay today and decided to pull all the wiring harness and make it look good. Thanks

Excellent video. A useful tip somebody posted on RU-vid which I have since tried out for myself is to use a sewing stitch un-picker to remove the outer protective tape from the wiring loom. This cheap little tool is surprisingly effective.

This was incredibly satisfying to watch. Sorry about all the hate. I, too, prefer soldered connections, but I think you did a fine job here and the crimp connectors will work fine especially protected in a wrapped harness.

Great work on the very harness and on this video. In 40 odd years I’ve seen way to many dodgey jobs when it comes to wiring. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

it was not too bad for restore it completely... i hate those crimping connections.. i prefer to attach them by hand, solder them, and use heat shrink

Can't wait to get my MR2 out of storage and do this to the wiring harness. Please keep making videos you are the best!

Crimp away! Used crimp for my stereo it's golden!

You don't know how happy it makes me to see the tesa tape instead of cheap .99 electrical tape

It is important to start taping from branches into the trunk (with some overlap into the trunk as well) and then one continuous taping segment starting from a far branch through the trunk ending at another far branch and then caping that end with heat shrink. This way there won't be any chance of tape unraveling at the branches.

thank you man honestly i couldn’t find any videos like this

Soldering is so much fun, and just as quick...

good video m8.Some good comments to.I feel much more prepared than I did before.What looked like a nightmare job you made look fun.Looking forward to the renovation.1984 BMW K100 motorcycle cafe racer build.

In kenya we need people like you

Thanks alot this video is so nice👌helps in understanding small concepts related to wire harness

that's a good job, man .

I really like the heat shrink Connectors with solder in them. You get a crimp and when you heat the tube to close any openings it solders your connection

Perfect video my friend. i learned like 4 valuable things i didnt know.

This is my job since 2000 until now 2020.. make from cutting until finish good

Awesome video, would suggest getting a universal extraction tool to remove plugs and also, before removing the plug, I take a photo or my n note on a pad or something, just for the fact that if you get distracted for a brief second, you are covered

Looks Great!

great work man

If you're going to crimp repair a wire in a loom use crimps that have heat shrinkable casing on them. Stops water or moisture building up in the crimp causing the wire to break later on.

Great video, I'll more than likely be going through this process on my old Volvo. It's mostly the bullet connectors that are falling apart.

Bhai Man gaye wah ! Well Done bro !

Good work and job.

I like your videos! Keep up the good work!

Awesome work!

Play Button. Play Button I really like this post

Great video!

i just twist wires together real good with heat shrink tube. never had a problem

nice work .....................

Respect for the ambition

Smart job Very good!

Ha, I felt the need to step in and say great job, even if you are already enjoying the fruits of your labor and don't have to listen to keyboard warriors like me and others. I really appreciate your taking the time to do a little bit of research and choosing the right process and materials (Tesa is good stuff) for the job. While your work isn't exactly mil-spec, at least you're not soldering. Personally, I splice open wires by crimping the ends with thin copper tube, then the connection is covered with adhesive-lined heat shrink. My crimping tool is a vise grip, works fine for my motorcycle. Someday I'll make a wiring harness from scratch using proper materials like Raychem and crimp tooling that costs hundreds of dollars, but that's a long way off for us DIY guys.

good info.ty for sharing 😊

great job

Basically I do the same EXCEPT I use a sheet of ply wood about 30" wide by 6 feet long laid with a sheet of paper then pin the harness down using screws and aluminum wire... draw all connectors and terminals on the paper sheet with orientation of wires in the plugs, remove all plug ends and wash them in the dishwasher, clean terminal ends and coat with electrical joint compound. Fix all frayed wires using same gauge and color wire using soldered butt splices with shrink tube, then Rewrap with harness wrap and friction tape, replacing any attaching clips and etc.

Thank you 😄.. this is so fun

Amazing work! Thanks for posting!

I have a project car I bought and after watching this video I am not scared anymore to pull out the harness and repair lol. Or should I be. Thanks Bud.

Nice job, 👍

Good work

Amazing work! =D

Great work yaar

Thanks bro! Excellent! I have 2014 Lincoln MKZ in I have to replace the wiring harness at rear( the wiring harness for rear bumper sensors, the turn light indicators on the rear bumper valence). Can you help me find the connector which the rear wiring harness connects to? It's seems that connector is missing from the bumper been damaged from accident. Thank you.

Nice bro cute wiring

Amazimg video!! thank you for sharing

While trying to track down the cause of my endlessly failing fuel pumps in my AW11, I replaced the entire engine bay wiring harness. The previous owner had hacked it up. Fortunately, I found a complete harness that was in good shape at the junkyard. I pulled it out of the junker, cleaned it up, re-loomed it and put it in the MR2. Sadly, it didn't fix the fuel pump issue. That was why I was seriously considering using motorcycle carbs like you did...to eliminate the fuel injection headaches. This was around year 1999. Thank you for your videos! I am really enjoying the memories they are triggering. :D I have even looked for used MR2s...but I have a wonderful car already, an Infiniti i30t that is paid for...which is better for me nowadays because I also remember how spinecrushing the MR2 ride was with the race suspension in it. I'm getting old... lol!

Good rework

Thanks Nice Channel Video

2:18 Video Stop! Goodbye!

Seen so many stories of frailed engine harnesses, not sure why this one didn't use wire loom but at least the effort was made to clean it up.

I clean mine of all tape then throw the harness into my ultrasound cleaner Hit it with compressed air and hair blower if I can’t hang outside in the sun Then wrap with a great tape and put dielectric grease on all connections

My first thought when i saw the thumbnail! The least you could do is use shrink wrap type butt connectors or the heat shrink and solder in one type or good old solder and shrink wrap anything but the cheap open barrel type!

Thanks

That cloth/ glass fibre tape works amazing.. inside a car or housing..insulating and keeps vibration noise down..example motorcycle harness exposed elements .. gets dirty, wet almost instantly and you cannot clean it..basic pvc electrical tape.. what it was designed for ?? that is why my 10, 000$ Harley Davidson didn't come with cloth tape

very nice

oh it looks very tangled but you are very skilled

gotcha I've seen others where they tie and tuck it so wasn't sure it that was the way u did it

This is bad ass !!!

I use Raychem solder sleeves thay are kind of expensive but military grade and used in missiles wiring

thanks

Good video - where do you get the NEW connectors from?

Best tool for getting spade connectors out of connector is a dental pick. You can usually pick them up frorm a military surplus store. You won't know how you lived without one once you have used it! Slide the pick between the spade and the plastic, press the tab down, gently pull from the back and it will slide right out. Little harder when you have two tabs in the same block but still the best way to them out without destroying the plastic connector.

I've done this to a few harnesses. 60s chevy so simple but never did I use a but conector for a repair. if I find but connectors I remove them and solder the wire. I don't always heat shrink a single repair in a bundle can be taped then the harness wrapped I like heat shrink in situations that are not wrapped it looks cleaner.

Bravo.

what's a good online source to get the connectors and wire harness supplies? i.e. what's the mcmaster or digikey of wire harnesses?

I like the video,, thumbs up,,, do you know where buy vw jetta 00 - 05 thermo fan swicth plastic connector type 3???

Beside that wrapping, some cables need special heat protection. Those were the plastic ribbed pieces. Some of the cables i have are very near to the engine, like injector wires and glow plug wires, and some areas of the harness go over the turbo between the turbo (very hot) and the heat shield. And in those areas the factory harness has all sorts of insulations of plastic, even solid plastic in weird shapes to contour the specific place on the engine. Might be reusable. And I prefer solder joints over spliced and twisted wires and heatshrink over it. But depends of the area.. a butt joint must be done with the proper tools.. i don't trust the generic ones, and the top notch butt joint crimps have a lot more protection to prevent water and air in (lots of heatshrink and silicon gel or something to fill the gaps)

Nice

the fabric tape is best..wont start falling apart like electrical tape but TESA makes best tape for car audio repairs and installs for clean wiring.

Great video, though I solder the joins in my wiring harnesses, as the crimp connectors do work loose after a while, resulting in an intermittent issue.

The only thing I think might have worked a little better is to solder the broken wires and use heat shrink. Not sure what type of black tape was used but be carefull. after time with all the engine heat some black tape will become brittle and crack, split and allow moisture to seep in. good video.

Hows the tesa tape been holding up? I think the tape is for inside the vehicle use. I know theres another tesa product specifically for the engine bay. Not sure if it matters though :)

not sure if this was already mentioned however surgical tweezers help ease the process of removing the terminals from the connectors. alot better than those plastic tools.

Cutting connectors is faulty idea, simple clip or pin could solve the problem. BTW.: I worked in automotive company producing wires, we had special tools to remove wires, before that you had to unsecure connector (open blockade).

I’m trying to find those click terminal connectors. The ones that you were cutting apart with pliers. What exactly are they called?

Good job. But as I remember the soft tape is for interior. Under hood, you need use standard black insulating tape.

What about replacement wire rating? All. Different kinds for longevity and heat range etc? Whats the correctly rated high quality automotive wire for long term use in a harness? Where do you buy? reasonable price?

so what was the heatshrink for?

for me, I will just twist together both wires and put elctrical tape on it , that's it, it works for me all the time and never had experience something wrong with it.,

There must be hundreds of different types of vehicle harness multi pin connectors, so if you need to replace a connector, where do you buy them?

good

Nice job dude Im doing the same for 1ggeu

nice

I replaced a 2005 driver-side rear passenger door to a 2006 door. The internal wiring harnesses are different. The original 2005 has a 4-wire connector and the 2006 door has a 6-wire connector. How can I splice the 6-wire connector harness down to the 4-wire harness so it functions normal? Please help.

No, put it on the connector holder before you wrap it with tape, sometimes theirs a situations that youre going to have a tensioned wire when you put it back to the machine.

I recently tried to do my radio...And cut the harness off. Is there a replacement part for my oem dash harness i can buy? I have a 2004 nissan sentra gxe

Nice! To all the haters, I would not EVER solder under the engine bay. Uninsulated, seamless high quality butt connectors, crimped with good Snap-On or Klein pliers, then covered with Marine grade 3:1 heatshrink made by Temco, is far superior to any solder joint. Crimps do not crack, you don't have to worry about too much solder running down the wire and making it stiff and brittle, and you don't have to worry about "cold solder joints." I have seen plenty of failed solder points in electronis, including consoles and TV's, due to heat. The soft solder alloys used in electronics / wiring are rather weak, because joints are operating at a high temperature relative to their melting point. Depending on the amount of current running through the wire, heat may or may not be an issue. A proper crimp, forms a cold weld in which when cut through, looks like a solid piece of metal. Moisture can not penetrate, and therefore, corrosion never occurs. Once wrapped in adhesive heatshrink, the truck will rott to the ground before that joint ever fails. Crimping is also the advised option and the standard in Marine application. Look up ABYC standards. “Solder shall not be the sole means of mechanical connection in any circuit”. Further, crimping provides a solid mechanical connection resistant to “cold joints” breaking under fatigue, and removes strain. Lastly, in a enviroment where there will be large amounts of vibration (engine bay), solder is again, not recommended. Crimp away driving 4 answers!

i do that since 2002, and this harness was easy to repair. i use soldering iron, clips are not goods for me, maybe i do a video show how i do.

Hey duuud i have problem where is me key there behinde therea are 4 wayers red Green black and anathor One Can u tell me what i neēd to do to gey them to stick to the 4 somethink

Looks awesome! Great job! What type of tape did you use to wrap the wiring? Sorry if it was mentioned in the video and I missed it.

Bottom line is you did it! Okay now, I wouldn't have used a crimp butt connector, but they do work and even better all wrapped up. It greatly minimizes flexing. This video is years old now and I hope you have invested in connector depinning tools by now.

Yeah, soldered connections only other than that not bad

pentronix wire loom and weather pack connectors only way to go, just off from soldering shrink tape.

I paid a body shop to fix everything in the harness, at the ends their still colorful wire exposed by where they connect, is that normal?