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Embarrassed wiring harness

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PeterK

PeterK

Yoda
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What would you do if someone replaced the wiring harness before you bought a car and made it entirely from red wire. Everything seems to work fine, the gauge of the wire is oversize too. But if I have a visit from the Prince, troubleshooting an all-red harness would be a pain.
So what would you do? Leave it - it works?
 
I guess I'd leave it for now, but Expect to replace it if you ever start to have problems.
I can't see how they got everything hooked up right with all the wires the same color!
That's insane.
That was obviously done by someone who wasen't thinking very far ahead.
Did they really save that much money?
 
Been in an aircraft harness lately? They're all white.
Of course, they're also numbered. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
You didn't say what kind of car, Peter, but new harnesses for most of our stuff aren't all that expensive, should you decide to replace it.
Jeff
 
[ QUOTE ]
Been in an aircraft harness lately? They're all white.
Of course, they're also numbered...

[/ QUOTE ]

Have a friend who was an electrician in the Navy. Then tried to get a job with the phone company -- found out he was colorblind. Needless to say, they couldn't use him.

I would be tempted to replace it with a proper harness -- it is such a pleasure to have a car with the correct harness after years of the spaghetti-bowl of wire patchwork created by POs. Pick a week when you don't need the car, really pretty easy, especially if everything is owrking fine going into it.
 
Hello Peter,

I'm assuming everything works so it is connected correctly. Use the circuit diagram if you have problems but be sure to mark any wire you disconnect otherwise it is no problem.

Alec
 
I learned long ago the wisdom passed on by a professional mechanic: If it ain't broke, don't fix it....

Unless its a complete mess don't mess with it and leave well enough alone.

If an individual problem develops you should be able to use the wiring diagrams and simple tests to determine what's wrong with individual circuits as mentioned earlier. It won't be as easy as if everything was uniquely recognizable, but its far less trouble than changing the whole.

Of course, if problems arise while rushing your wife to the hospital on a dark, wet, cold night miles out in the boondocks surrounded by ravenous wolves... colors would be nice.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Well, this is on my wife's TR3A. It's signal red (now) so maybe the PO was doing a red thing. He wrapped electrical number tags on some wires but not all. It's neat, well done, proper wire size, etc. so I can't really see paying $300 for a new "correct" harness. I was thinking of putting colored shrink tube on the ends of the wires under the hood. But behind the dash might convince me to replace the red.
Thanks for the help everyone.
 
Mine was red, white & blue (3 colors and probably over 100 splices)
Now imagine that no one sells a harness for your car. Then compound that by not being able to find a diagram anywhere.

The best way was to yank it all and start from scratch. I based my colors off the MGA and it took me 3 months.

After that I rewired a TVR vixen from scratch for my Lil' Bro. You get on to it after a while and its kind of cool

My vote....Buy a harness & rewire it. You will learn a lot along the way if you have never done it before.
 
99% of the time I'd agree with the "if it ain't broke...." philosophy. But this definitely is the other 1%, IMO.

Whatever's in there might look "neat" and "well done"...but you've really no way of knowing that until you're fumbling for the fire extinguisher or ripping off your good sportcoat and using it to try to smother the flames.

If it were my car, I'd be ordering the correct wire harness (and by correct I mean color codes; whether or not you want to be painfully correct and order one with the lacquered, cloth-covered wires and cloth wrap or go with the more "modern" type...or upgrade to a Dan Masters-style installation is up to you) and making sure I had the correct wiring diagram for my car. Then I'd simply block out a weekend and get the job done. That's my concept of insurance, as opposed to the kind that hopefully reimburses you for the fire damage.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Whatever's in there might look "neat" and "well done"...but you've really no way of knowing that until you're fumbling for the fire extinguisher or ripping off your good sportcoat and using it to try to smother the flames.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like the voice of experience there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
If you have the time and are so inclined, I would replace it. Given the way wires sneak in and out of nooks and crannies and with all the road vibration these cars get with old suspensions, shorts are inevitable. I can't imagine doing any trouble-shooting without properly color-coded wires. Made identifying and fixing a problem a very simple exercise several times in the five months I've had my 250. Good luck!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Whatever's in there might look "neat" and "well done"...but you've really no way of knowing that until you're fumbling for the fire extinguisher or ripping off your good sportcoat and using it to try to smother the flames.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like the voice of experience there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

[/ QUOTE ]Uh, yeah, at least twice over the years. Neither experience proved fatal to anything except wiring, fortunately!
 
I vote with Andy, get a new harness and be ready for the day this rats-nest blows smoke(cant be far off)....
Since you have an early 3a you likely have screw fittings on your gages.My advise is to soldier the ends of these wires so as to prevent splitting and fraying. Where two wires use the connector as a junction, soldier these together before putting the gage in.Good luck!!
MD(mad dog)
 
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