Cleaning wires

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Tadams

Tadams
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Before I decide to purchase a new wiring harness I thought I would check the one ithat was in the car and an extra one I have. Anything I should know. Best way to clean ECT.
 
Before I decide to purchase a new wiring harness I thought I would check the one ithat was in the car and an extra one I have. Anything I should know. Best way to clean ECT.
I used purple power to clean the gunk off of mine and see if they were supple enough to re-use. plus I did re cover using harness tape to keep things looking new"ish" plus it removed most of the oxidation which surprised me.
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What you can’t see is the green and black oxidation inside the insulation on the copper. I would be careful and Remember just how old it is!

I wanted piece of mind after a close look and decided to replace every last harness. The ones I could not buy I had them made. Be safe!
 
Rubbing alcohol works best. Use a plastic pan for soaking.
Deoxit is best for contact cleaning. Use a cotton pipe cleaner if scrubbing contacts.
 
Well, knowing what I know about wire harnesses, I personally would never submerge my cars wiring harness in any liquid. Except maybe isopropyl alcohol, that has a tendency to flash off fast. Wire tends to act like a big sponge and will suck up the liquid and hold it for a long time (wicking). Most wire harnesses produced in industry are tested (insulation resistance, dielectric withstanding voltage) for that and other non-conformances before being put into service. Separating the wires and wiping the outside of the insulation with alcohol and a rag is the way to go. JMO.
 
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I have reused several harnesses. I take em outside and spray them with Spray 9, scrub em with a small brush, hose em off. Let them dry fully in the sun. Then I spray them with WD40. They usually look brand new. Mind you, these are harnesses with soft , supple coverings and I do check for green and black oxidation before I use em. I like to use the originals if I can.....
 
Well, knowing what I know about wire harnesses, I personally would never submerge my cars wiring harness in any liquid. Except maybe isopropyl alcohol, that has a tendency to flash off fast. Wire tends to act like a big sponge and will suck up the liquid and hold it for a long time (wicking). Most wire harnesses produced in industry are tested (insulation resistance, dielectric withstanding voltage) for that and other non-conformances before being put into service. Separating the wires and wiping the outside of the insulation with alcohol and a rag is the way to go. JMO.

Might as well drive the car off in a river. This is exactly why insurance companies total cars that have been submerged.
 
Thanks for everyone's advice and opinions. Just got the wires out. They are not hard which did surprise me. But on the down side some of the connectors appear rusty. Any advice.
 
Toothbrush, isopropyl alcohol, contact cleaner etc. Maybe a little tube wire brush. Reassemble connectors with dielectric grease. After cleaning up fuse blocks I may use a little silver conductive grease on the fuses.
 
Do not be fooled, find a piece you do not mind splicing and strip it back. You might be surprised. California and Arizona cars and areas with low humidity might be fine but for most of the rest of us it is suspect.
 
Do not be fooled, find a piece you do not mind splicing and strip it back. You might be surprised. California and Arizona cars and areas with low humidity might be fine but for most of the rest of us it is suspect.

I just cleaned mine with that cleaner (purple power)and after that it goes into a vacuum chamber to remove all the air with an A/C pump for 2 hours of vacuum. open and add Alcohol then Vacuum again then into pressure pot to insert Alcohol into wires to make sure they are clean. Air dry and done. I have never had any corrosion on any harness I have done that way in over 50 years of doing it that way. I still have the original harness in my 70 challenger that was done in 1990 and it looks as good on the ends and even at the darned fusible link area (that I blew out by not dodge having a tire piece on a passing semi get lodged under the car and short the battery cable to the headers) . I also have a 1950 firetruck that was cleaned the same way in 1966 and our family still uses it every fire season without any wiring problems. there is about 300+ connectors in that truck including the 6 pumps and valving. Yes I have cut it back in some areas to check and make upgrades in the Sterio and power option areas on the challenger to make sure I didn't introduce a corrosion substance. Now if the wires are brittle then I rebuild the harness. since I can pour my own connectors from plastic I can now choose what I want to keep and what I need to rebuild. 30 years ago I didn't have that option. so it was cleaner,alcohol, vacuum. dry pressure pot dry and done. I have even made me a special Wire Trace jig so I can paint the traces on the wires I buy to make it look correct now.
 
Might as well drive the car off in a river. This is exactly why insurance companies total cars that have been submerged.
My sister in-law works for an insurance firm and happens to tell me different. It AIN'T the wiring that causes the cars to get totaled, it's the hidden areas that never gets cleaned and the water/ corrosion get into everywhere ,seats and carpet trap water and mold, electronics get ruined and all the Seals in the windows,doors headlight,tailight and trunk area trap the moisture causing problem later on in the cars life , it's all about cost. if they had to replace everything that traps moisture they would be out even more that the (any) car was worth. if it was just about wiring they could have easily replaced the wiring and been done with it. fact in point during the 09 Atlanta flood a friend of mine had a 2000 F-150 that had some water damage, water went up to the rockers and never got any higher than that (flood damage in his garage walls showed the high water mark so we knew how high the water had risen) they totaled the truck not because of wiring or anything else but just because water had hit the rockers and gotten the carpet wet. cheaper to let him get a new truck than fix the rocker problems he would have had.
 
Pressure pot?
Vacuum pot to remove air (I use that one to do my Resin casting and the odd cleaning procedure) like this but not this one a 5 gallon one
https://www.amazon.com/Brand-Gallon-Vacuum-Chamber-Stage/dp/B01L0KKH0G
and the pressure pot to make bubble free castings and infuse wires and cables with lubricant or just clear out any water. again not this particular model but a 5 gallon one
2-1/2 gal. Air Pressure Paint Tank


works great for all my projects and is a multi-use tool for me
 
If soaking your harness in solvents/fluid has worked then that's great. I personally wouldn't do it. I think you'd be better off just soaking the connectors and such that are not covered by the plastic coating. The way I see it is by submerging the wires in fluid you create a capillary action on the wire sleeve. The capillary action increases with the smaller diameter "hole" and that diameter would be all the air void space between each strand of wire within the radius of the protective sleeve. Also, unless you have a tank where you can stretch each wire out flat along the bottom, there will be areas within the plastic wire coating where the fluid will not reach due to the head differences in the water. At best it seems the head difference and capillary action would be limited to maybe the first few feet of wire from each opening leaving the remaining wire untreated. I don't know how much pressure it would take to ensure the fluid would go through the entire wire or if would matter with a bundle of wires curved up in a 5 gallon bucket, but I wouldn't want fluid in my wires. It might weaken the plastic sheath too. Maybe on some wires the current would provide enough heat to dry them?. Possibly. How could you be sure there is zero condensation/fluid in the wire before it's put back into service? The prospect of driving around with water in your wires doesn't seem like a good idea to me and it may be much less trouble to just replace it for good insurance. IMO. But, if it works for you that's what matters.
 
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