May I rant a moment?

[bobcostas]

WHAT IS UP WITH P.O's AND ELECTRICAL TAPE??

I just spent 2 hrs chasing down an electrical gremlin that would have otherwise been ten minutes. And now I'm all sticky. Good Lord. Wire nuts and zip ties are not that hard to come by.

That is all

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by bobcostas

Wire nuts and zip ties are not that hard to come by.

Wire nuts? I hope you aren't serious. DC current and wire nuts are not a good mix. If your cleaning up the PO's wiring mess, please use crimp connectors or better yet, solder and shrink tube any splices you can.

[Captainfab]

I agree.....wire nuts are for house wiring. I'm usually ranting whenever I get into vehicle wiring and a bunch of wire nuts have been used

I don't like excessive electrical tape either......or duct tape on wiring

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Wire nuts? I hope you aren't serious. DC current and wire nuts are not a good mix. If your cleaning up the PO's wiring mess, please use crimp connectors or better yet, solder and shrink tube any splices you can.

[Bugeyev8]

Harbor Freight has electrical tape so cheap...could be the reason, he bought it and had to use it some place

[TopFuel1966]

Originally Posted by bobcostas

WHAT IS UP WITH P.O's AND ELECTRICAL TAPE??

I just spent 2 hrs chasing down an electrical gremlin that would have otherwise been ten minutes. And now I'm all sticky. Good Lord. Wire nuts and zip ties are not that hard to come by.

That is all

Wire nuts in a 12V DC electrical system?

[bubba327]

Ever try soldered connections and heat shrink? It beats wire nuts and scotch locks for a permanent connection.
How about this mess? I think it was 28 splices between the taillights after the plug-in at the rear bumper. I forgot how many different colors..

[63rexC10]

Originally Posted by bubba327

Ever try soldered connections and heat shrink? It beats wire nuts and scotch locks for a permanent connection.
How about this mess? I think it was 28 splices between the taillights after the plug-in at the rear bumper. I forgot how many different colors..
Attachment 616026

Sorry, but that is the most ridiculous wiring I have ever seen!

[nomrlz]

that harness is just one reason i don't like electrical problems

solder irons must be expensive

[bubba327]

You know the crazy thing was the lights worked .... they were kinda dim and un-reliable but they worked until I pulled the bed and found the mess!!!

[shrunken66stroker]

Speaking of dim and unreliable. I didn't have much tape, but I did have a short before I tore mine apart. At night when the lights were on(and dim) I could turn the key off and the truck would still run. The engine would only shut off if I turned the lights off. If I kicked the brights on sometimes it would shut the lights off all together, which is fun at 65 on the freeway. I decided the only remedy was to do a frame off resto. When I tore the harness out there were quite a few things melted together. I'm just glad I didn't burn it down.

[markeb01]

I had an electrical adventure in a 57 Chevy 1/2 ton, right after I bought it decades ago. Turned out there was a bare wire about a foot long going from the ignition switch to somewhere I can't remember. Hard acceleration through an intersection caused it to swing around and short on the dash, instantly filling the cab with blinding smoke. I snapped off the key, locked up the brakes, yanked on the emergency brake and we bailed out. Fortunately, once the smoke cleared out I found the wire had burned itself in two killing the power before the truck caught on fire. I seem to remember a lot of electrical tape in that rig as well. Like bobcostas said up front, makes you wonder about previous owners.....

[andyh1956]

i bought a truck the p/o said was "jinky". when you made a turn to the right it would stop running & he couldn't figure out what was wrong. long story short his son had skint the ign wire back & had alligator clips on it to another bare wire with gator clips for his ace stereo install. when making the turn the gator clip would ground out & short the ing. when stopped it would fire right up. when i returned the clips to the p/o he left post haste to find his son & kick his a$$!
andy

[fryer1979]

"wire nuts" are a great way to create an electrical gremlin in your ride. I'm not really a fan of the crimp connectors either, but I have used them to make a temporary or removable junction. My prefered method of connection has always been solder and heat shrink, but I will use electrical tape if the heat shrink is simply not an option. Only enough tape to cover the exposed connection, and I only keep the 3M super 33+ tape on hand (over $7 per roll here). I am also a big fan of zip ties for keeping wiring neat, never understood the desire to cover an entire harness in tape, just gross.

[astrochimp]

My Po just wrapped the bare wires together and used lots of cheap tape.

I had a wire running from the bat + all the way around the engine bay back to the bat +.
It had 4-5 splices in it.

Also have a solid 12g wire ran from engine bay to rear frame for a ground. It had 18g ran from it to the tail lamp sockets.

[tantrumpipeline]

ez wire, $250 full labelled harness with 21pin fuse block/flashers/etc, not even going to try and play with wiring that's 42 years old and has been tampered with by multiple owners, under my dash there were bare wires and tape all over, surprised it never lit up in flames driving it on and off the trailer, I don't get what goes through someones mind when leaving a bare electrical wire in the cab of a truck, especially one with a fancy fuel tank behind the seat hahahaha

[ed70]

electrical tape+stereos+p.o= always an issue

[edflores]

Originally Posted by ed70

electrical tape+stereos+p.o= always an issue

HAA. So true...
And what are wire nuts?
I use for Crimped connections for everything. Never had an issue with anything I have done.

[murdoc]

whys everyone hating on wire nuts!? Ive read the whole thread and haven't seen one good reason why not to use them. I use them a lot and have never had any issue with them.

[shrunken66stroker]

Are there more PO rant threads out there? I love these stories. I think the alligator clips takes it.

[protrash64]

Originally Posted by shrunken66stroker

Are there more PO rant threads out there? I love these stories. I think the alligator clips takes it.

Really?......I like the 'headlites to turn off the engine'!!

[Ghostwhite]

One of the last times I drove my truck before I left, the radio burst into flames! It was a junked out tape player probably from the 80s. I know the wiring was the culprit, it is crazy under the dash and will get torn out.

I did some work to get the lights working and the turnsignal switch assembly is a nightmare with wires spliced to hell and going everywhere, also out back there was about 4 different sections of wire from the rear wheel to the taillight housings.

[raycow]

I also prefer soldered connections, with crimped a distant second. However, if I had to choose between wirenuts and tape, I would pick the wirenuts every time, because you don't get any compression on the splice with tape and I hate the sticky gunk that tape leaves.

Contrary to what some might believe, there is no problem with using wirenuts on 12V DC. The problem with wirenuts is that they just don't work very well with stranded wire.

Ray

[bubba327]

Originally Posted by raycow

The problem with wirenuts is that they just don't work very well with stranded wire.

Ray

Speaking as a licensed master journeyman electrician , I have found that wirenuts work extremely well on stranded wire if properly installed.(in commercial and residential applications)
For automotive use --solder and heat shrink rules the options

[edflores]

I never knew what wire nuts were called. Had to look it up. What is the problem with them? I have used them from time to time, but I will use a crimped union, or crimp on male and female spades, with the female side being insulated if I need them to ever come apart. My boss uses wire nuts for a lot of wiring he does. I'd like to know what the problem is, because he hasn't told me of any issues.

[jocko]

I'm no electricican, but have to agree that wire nuts may not be the connection of choice for automotive environment. They DO work, but they can also vibe loose if you drive much, no guarantee there's not exposed wiring at the base of the nut unless you're careful, etc - bottom line, they aren't exactly the best connection for a permanent type connection.

Having said that, I have normally used crimp connectors + soldering. But I don't exactly like the look of the colored crimp pipes - so I normally pull the plastic coloring off, then crimp and solder the metal part - then slide the heat shrink over and seal it around the whole thing (hopefully I remember to put the heat shrink up the line BEFORE I solder....)

Lately, however, I've started to use weather-pak connectors. By far the most secure and convenient. Not much more work than crimping - and it's handy in the case where a disconnect is desired (like all your dash wiring consolidated to a few connectors so it's easy to yank the dash - or for a tachometer quick-disconnect). Anyway, still use the crimp+solder+heat shrink for permanent connections, but in the case where a quick-disconnect might be nice AND it's out of sight (because wx-paks don't exactly look vintage...) - I use weather-pak connectors. They work great and you can purchase a pretty small starter kit that will get you going, then buy the specific connections you need. If you go this route, I do recommend the wx-pak specific ratcheting crimper, it makes quick work of the whole process.

My 2 cents. If I had any wire nuts left in my garage, I'd mail them to anyone that wanted them - but I do think they were primarily designed for house wiring and very heavy gauge wire twisting, not necessarily ideal for thin gauge automotive wiring.

jocko