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was wondering if I should replace my wire harness with a new one, original one seems ok, just wondering if it's worth it
If it works, why replace it? I did go through my electrical wiring by removing the tape holding the wires together, replaced or refurbished some of the connectors, and made sure everything had a good ground. The wires going to the back of the truck were a mess. I found a lot of shotty electrical work where someone spliced in wires or fixed tears. I like knowing as much of the old wire as possible is still there. And by going through it all I figured out whats what and now know how it all works.
I would keep the original if possible, however, new wiring does have its advantages. Old wire is usually quite oxidized and can be more difficult to solder. It may require spreading the wire flat and sanding or scraping it in order to get a good solder joint. Old wire also creates a lot more resistance than new wire.
All the individual harnesses are removable and most are fixable. If you have the skills to rewire you can fix the old ones. Granted some stuff is beyond repair. But I agree with Oliver you will be more knowledgeable for what's going on. The price of education is priceless, you will learn something.
...even though I mentioned, the advantage of non-oxidized, new wiring, I did the same as you mentioned. Just take care in repairing any damaged or spliced wiring. Suggestions....clean the wire well, solder and heat shrink all connections before re-wrapping, solder any terminal ends, crimp and heat shrink the junction. Avoid the red and blue crimp-on connectors at all...unless you take the metal piece out of them and solder it on...
I'd have to say yes.
They are consistently sized, no matter what their amp rating.
Smaller size lets more fit into a smaller package.
All amp ratings readily available still, as opposed to trying to source odd ratings and small sizes locally. All the old ones are still available, but you have to look for them sometimes.
Visible color codings indicate amp rating at a glance.
Tighter fitting contact points.
They don't usually rust, or build up much of a corrosion/oxidation layer over time.
That tighter fit comes without worrying about broken glass.
A 22 caliper bullet does NOT fit in place of a fuse!
Might be a few more reasons, but that's all I've got. Nothing "wrong" with the old style. Or at least nothing that a new style can't fix.
I read through your post earlier and wasn’t going to comment, however after the thread continued I figured why not, I rewired my slick with a harness from American Autowire. I thought it was going to be a huge undertaking because I had never performed such a task but it was simple and I am very happy with the harness and the ability it gives me in the future as I choose to add additional items. I could have patched mine up as well but dove in head first and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Just my two cents here, good luck with yours.
So I took the modified approach on this. When I redid my interior I kept the original dash harness. I looked for issues, cleaned it, installed new connectors if needed and applied new tape to certain areas. Everything is working fine, but I will say that the harness was a jungle and very brittle to work with. To do over I might have gone with new? When I redid my engine bay I went with new harnesses. The original ones were far too brittle and grease filled to work with. Those harnesses were not overly expensive and very easy to install. In addition, I am now confident that all my connections are tight and the grounds properly anchored.
so I'm installing my original harness back into my truck some of the harness was disconnected when I received the truck. this harness goes to coil and the white and red stripe wire goes to oil pressure sending unit and red & white stripe wire goes to temp sending unit correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks James
I am replacing my entire harness, it was a mess to begin with. I have the EZ wire 12 circuit harness and there is a lot to sort out, but if you map it out circuit by circuit you can do it. The nice thing about the newer harness is each wire is marked and easy to read for each circuit. From this And this And this To this
