I think its time to give in and buy a new wiring harness

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pishta said:
$950 for an aftermarket wiring harness? I AM in the right business (Telco repair) to start fixing these! I won't make it a hobby but it can be done for far less than 950. Even if you replaced every junction with the correct replacement socket, the wire is not usually the culprit, it's the splices and crimps that are at fault. 90% of your harness is probably A-OK, it's just the connectors that go bad. And you won't end up with a harness that does not follow the factory color codes. Some of you got the funds to just buy a new one, go for it. It will only save you time. And for some of us that is more valuable than money.
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The condition of the old harness really depends on a lot of things. I agree, it’s usually the connections and terminals that cause problems. But sometimes that leads to other issues, like a melted bulkhead connector, or melted wires.

On my Duster I had a horn relay go nuclear. I didn’t realize the amount of damage that it did until I pulled the old harness apart, but several wires inside the harness runs had melted together. So it ruined not only the horn wires, but others as well.

And then there’s the splicing thing. The original harnesses weren’t designed for many accessories, and a lot of folks run aftermarket accessories that need power. And over the course of 50 years that means things may have been spliced in and added in ways that damaged the original harness.

Yeah, $950 is a lot for a harness, totally agree. But the AA harness is high quality, better than the factory harness ever was even new. It has more fuses, so there’s less overlap and it’s easy to troubleshoot issues. And it has provisions for all kinds of accessories- electric fuel pumps, electric fans, radio, power windows, locks, etc. So if you wanted to add an electric fuel pump it’s super easy and it’s fused, no cutting and splicing. If you add electric fans, same deal. If you add EFI, all the fused battery and accessory power is available. Just a ton of options.

Is it right for a nut and bolt 100% accurate restoration? No, it’s not. But but after tearing my 48 year old factory wire harness down to the individual wires and seeing the damaged insulation, corroded wire and terminals, scabbed in mess from who knows what past owner, and even the stuff I added to run accessories and amperage the original harness was never designed for there’s no way I’d mess with modifying an original factory harness for any significant changes.
 
72bluNblu said:
... but after tearing my 48 year old factory wire harness down to the individual wires and seeing the damaged insulation, corroded wire and terminals, scabbed in mess from who knows what past owner, and even the stuff I added to run accessories and amperage the original harness was never designed....
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I hear that! I'm fixing 60-70...100 year old (!) 24-26g cable bundles with 220v hi-caps, 24-7-365 day -48v 'pressure' and can confirm that wire does go south but it's usually the insulation that breaks down in my case. Whatever you choose to use, just make sure the insulation is never compromised by running it through unprotected (no grommet) sheet metal holes or bare bullet splices that can short.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
What cleans brass? I'd try that 1st.
Jmo
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There's a few things that work pretty good. I like to use a glass bead blaster the best. If you don't have one, you can soak the connectors in some cheap white vinegar for a few hours, then rub/brush them in baking soda to remove corrosion and neutralize the vinegar. Same goes for lemon juice, they're both slightly acidic and will remove most corrosion and not hurt the plastic plugs. After soaking, neutralizing, and drying, spray some lithium grease on the connectors to help keep it from corroding again. I also like to squeeze some of the connectors a bit tighter before plugging them in again.
 
When my electrical problems added up to the point where the only reasonable solution was to pull the harness out of the car and inspect it, after inspection I decided to repair it instead of replace it. I wanted the experience, never did anything like this before. I puttered away at it a few hours here and there between work etc and had it removed, repaired and reinstalled in about 5 days.

Spliced a few wires, did about a dozen terminals, cleaned the connectors, taped it back up, reinstalled it. Lots of practice crimping and soldering and no electric issues for a few months knock on wood lol.

I remember posting in another thread not too long ago, if you take your time removing the interior harness is no more than a couple hours, especially with the front seat removed.

It was zen man.
 
A dash harness for our 67 FB was gonna be close to $800-900 delivered. I said f that....lots of work tho....
I had a spare harness to use as template. Still a work in progress.

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I didn't read anything here, just came to say, you need to say what you're doing with the car before you start asking what you should buy. Whether it's tires or interior, you should always be able to define that question before you try to decide what to buy.
Personally, I like factory-style replacements, and no, Chrysler was not historically deficient on their wiring. It's years of half-assery when it comes to 'techs', repairment, and cro-magnon dipshits dicking with it. If you've ever wondered why the wiring is so messed up, 90% of the time it's due to people before you.

With a factory harness, the diagrams are never very far away, and people here can help you. Ten years from now, unless you keep meticulous records, you won't remember what that red wire was for or why that yellow wire isn't powered when it should be.
 
cudamark said:
There's a few things that work pretty good. I like to use a glass bead blaster the best. If you don't have one, you can soak the connectors in some cheap white vinegar for a few hours, then rub/brush them in baking soda to remove corrosion and neutralize the vinegar. Same goes for lemon juice, they're both slightly acidic and will remove most corrosion and not hurt the plastic plugs. After soaking, neutralizing, and drying, spray some lithium grease on the connectors to help keep it from corroding again. I also like to squeeze some of the connectors a bit tighter before plugging them in again.
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Personally, I think this is some of the worst advice you can give. If you get it on the conductor portion of the wire, you will NEVER get that vinegar or lemon juice or whatever neutralized where it's wicked up inside those wires. Never.

And even if you did, any moisture, whether acidic, basic, or neutral, is never good inside a plastic-insulated wire, whether multistrand or single strand. Once it's in there, it ain't coming out. It might take 1 year or ten, but it will end up corroded internally, and that's the worst kind.
 
OP - So I think that the question you should ask yourself is do I want to replace my wiring in kind in a matter of a few hours and be able to use the factory wiring diagrams to diagnose future issues, OR do I want to spend days wiring a car from scratch for which there will be no wiring diagram. I know one thing, I would NEVER buy a car that had a non-stock replacement harness installed in it.
 
jos51700 said:
Personally, I think this is some of the worst advice you can give. If you get it on the conductor portion of the wire, you will NEVER get that vinegar or lemon juice or whatever neutralized where it's wicked up inside those wires. Never.

And even if you did, any moisture, whether acidic, basic, or neutral, is never good inside a plastic-insulated wire, whether multistrand or single strand. Once it's in there, it ain't coming out. It might take 1 year or ten, but it will end up corroded internally, and that's the worst kind.
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I didn't say to dunk the whole harness. Just the terminal(s) that need it. You're not going to get much "wicking" that way. If that was a major problem, you couldn't drive your car in the rain. Like I first mentioned, my preferred method is bead blasting.
 
str12-340 said:
OP - So I think that the question you should ask yourself is do I want to replace my wiring in kind in a matter of a few hours and be able to use the factory wiring diagrams to diagnose future issues, OR do I want to spend days wiring a car from scratch for which there will be no wiring diagram. I know one thing, I would NEVER buy a car that had a non-stock replacement harness installed in it.
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Clearly you’ve never installed an American Autowire harness. It’s not wiring the car from scratch. The diagrams you get with the harness are better than the factory wiring diagrams. And, should you lose the diagrams and find yourself unable to download the published AA diagrams from the internet, literally every wire in the harness has its function printed right on the insulation.

If you wanna run harnesses that weren’t designed to handle more than 60 amps, have at it. My electric fans can pull that by themselves, so, I’m going to run a harness that was actually designed to handle the load and accessories I run in my car.
 
cudamark said:
I didn't say to dunk the whole harness. Just the terminal(s) that need it. You're not going to get much "wicking" that way. If that was a major problem, you couldn't drive your car in the rain. Like I first mentioned, my preferred method is bead blasting.
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Sorry, my reply is not well worded. Cleaning contacts, I see no issue, but I'd rather use mechanical means than risk getting that solution inside the insulator. I was trying to say it was bad advice to be unclear about not getting it on the wires themselves, not that the concept was bad. My apologies.
 
I went with original style harnesses, VM and 60 amp alternator here's why: no plans for a/c or stereo. Will not be a daily driver. I bought my firewall forward and under dash harnesses from Mr.Moparts, they've got a local presence and prices seemed competitive. I used to know their source but can't recall now, maybe it's American? Im very please with the harnesses, literally plug and play with all connectors and wire colors as they should be. Here's a pic of current pricing on a few under dash harnesses.

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hotrod swinger said:
When my electrical problems added up to the point where the only reasonable solution was to pull the harness out of the car and inspect it, after inspection I decided to repair it instead of replace it. I wanted the experience, never did anything like this before. I puttered away at it a few hours here and there between work etc and had it removed, repaired and reinstalled in about 5 days.

Spliced a few wires, did about a dozen terminals, cleaned the connectors, taped it back up, reinstalled it. Lots of practice crimping and soldering and no electric issues for a few months knock on wood lol.

I remember posting in another thread not too long ago, if you take your time removing the interior harness is no more than a couple hours, especially with the front seat removed.

It was zen man.
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That's great! Sounds like you did a really nice job.
 
Yes it turned out nice, learned a lot in the process too. It looked pretty daunting at first with the wires all melted together in three places. I just took my time and did one wire at a time and taped it all back up. Gave me the opportunity to get all of the gauges working again as well. So far so good.
 
@Neal Zimmerman hasn't chimed in lately. I was going to ask him the same question I always ask. How comfortable are you with wiring? If you are good at it, then a more generic harness (that might be very good) would be OK. You would be able to figure out problems they occurred. If you did not feel really comfortable with wiring, a factory duplicate harness might be best. That way all wire colors wand connectors would match.
 
I just wouldnt take a loom out of a car. did it once and regretted every minute after.
unless something has shorted out and melted huge chunks of it, the issues are with the last 6 inches of wire and the connectors.
the areas exposed to oil, heat, damp, their own weight, or road salt get brittle and tired.

if you have ever unwrapped a large portion of a 50+ year old chrylser loom you will find perfectly good cable 2 inches back from the end of the wrap, in a rainbow of vibrant colours, like it was put there yesturday.


crimp tool, non adhesive cling style wire wrap, heat shrink, soldering iron and an ability to do a linemans splice

having an ebay tool set for removing connectors from plastic modular plugs is handy or just make your own from ground down hacksaw blade and a bit of dowel.

find problem wire, cut back to bright copper, splice in new wire, solder and cover in heat shrink put on boot or crimp on new connector and put connector in plastic plug. when a section is done cling wrap again start with 3 rounds angle and carry on. end with 3 ot 4 rounds or slip over large heat shrink and shrink it on as a pistive physical end to the wrap.

Next

then clean the fuse box and fuses
bulkhead connector
re do earth staps and the power leads to the starter solenoid with new spiky washers
if using non standard battery clamps that bolt on to the cables get new solder on ones or unbolt them from the cable ends and clean up the green gunge you find. battery fumes migrate up into the clamp to wire junction and corrode it.

car will run better than it ever has

remove stupid addons as you find em, and re insulate with cling tape, don't be afraid to cut a wire and slide on heat shrink to fix bad scotchlock chewing.

the worst you will find is the odd "friday afternoon" job hidden in the depths of the loom a red wire in at one end a red wire out at the other, but a short lenght of something else hidden in the middle under the wrap where they thought you'd never see.... "last loom of the shift can't be botherd to get a new spool of red from the stores".... spliced in with solder just like your repairs

this is an area of old car hobby where lots of time and money is wasted replacing 100% when only 10% was at fault.

wireing in big fans and electric pump...
new fuse box
relay to stwich it on off the key switch
power from battery
do the ammeter bypass
master fuse or breaker
new wires for all your new stuff



Dave
 
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Considering how many electrical problems you can have, a new harness may be money well spent. However if you have time & patience, you can repair one. I bought all the M&H from Yearone. It worked out well. They have sales for 30% off from time to time
 
I love wiring and rebuilding automatic transmissions... People make this sound like some kind of rocket science and its 75 year-old technology.. (or more)...
Again I paid $84 for the entire wiring harness with enough wire to wire a long bed extra cab truck with left over.. that means no bulkheads for shorts or endless reconnection of wires... That also are looking for problems in the future.. directly connected wires to every connection is the only way I would do it for my own stuff.... You can almost guarantee that I'll be ordering another wire kit come Black Friday for my duster so I can finally throw that 50-year-old garbage out...
 
700 to 900 to $1,000 plus $150 for the tools to put it in... I do the American Auto wire for customers all the time that have the money but I don't.. The sound of them being plug and play gives my customers that warm cozy feeling.. funny thing is though I'm the one putting it in...
 
I rewired my 85 D150. I modified it slightly in the process. My original harness was so badly butchered I had no choice but to find another harness to start with. The alternator "hot" changed color and gauge size 3x in the length of the/6 valve cover. Just twisted and crudely taped at each one. No wire nut, no scotch lock, no crimp nothing. 1/2 of the fusible links were blown. Just lots of butchery.
I found a decent replacement at the local junkyard from an 84 d350 that had had a 360 in it and I "lost" lean burn in the process too. That harness had more "bad spots" from age than anything.
So I walked the yard and looked at under hood fuse boxes from all kinds of cars and trucks. I didn't want anything too big and balky. But I wanted plenty of "maxi" fuses. I found what I wanted from a square body ranger, I believe around 90-92ish. Everything that used to be wired thru a fusible link is now thru a maxi fuse.
 
4spdragtop said:
Looks good! Man that's an assload of wiring kudos to you! What type of crimper?:thumbsup:
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Solder filled shrink wrap but connections on most of it. I use some generic shrink wrap crimp connections and in a lot of cases I did the solder filled shrink wrap connections to the factory light connections...
 
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