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BACK Automotive Wiring Repair
Automotive Electrical Systems are the source of great pains for
the Do-it-Yourselfer and Professional Technicians alike. The vast
majority of pain comes from correct diagnosis of the failure causing
issue. In my experience as a Professional Technician and while
employed in the Service Divisions of General Motors and Delphi
Automotive, more than half of electrical system failures are a
result of wiring and connection system failures as apposed to the
actual component failing. While diagnosing these issues is not the
intent of this article, I want to explore the proper way to repair
Automotive Wiring so you do not create an issue for yourself or your
customer down the road.
The most secure and durable
way to splice two wires together is to solder them. Period. Use
nothing but 60-40 rosin-core solder intended for electrical wiring
which you can get from Radio Shack or your local hardware store.
You'll also need some good quality Epoxy Lined shrink tube to finish
the repair. Automotive quality shrink tubing is a little harder
commodity to come by as most auto parts stores will only carry PCV
shrink tubing and it really just id not up to the task for
automotive repairs. MCR carries the right stuff here if you need
some. Finally, if you're not an old hand at soldering, practice for
a dozen or so joints before you try to do it under the dash with hot
solder dripping down your arm.
To do the repair right:
1. Strip 1/2 inch of insulation
off both wires to be joined, taking care not to cut any strands of
copper during the stripping operation. Cutting strands of copper
will decrease the current carrying capability of the wire and will
be an issue in a high current circuit such as the Blower Motor
circuit.
2. Slide a 1 to 1.5 inch piece of the shrink
tubing onto one of the wires and then mechanically join the wires
together by twisting them lengthwise onto each other as shown in
picture #2
3. Heat the joint with a
soldering iron or pencil from underneath. Apply solder to the top
until molten solder wicks into the joint. Let this cool undisturbed
to avoid a "cold" solder joint.
4. Slide the shrink tube over the solder joint and heat with a
heat gun to shrink the tubing onto the repair until a small amount
of the epoxy runs out of each end of the shrink tubing.
5. Secure the wiring back into the harness by tucking it back
into the conduit or by using electrical tape to secure it to the
surrounding harness, making sure it is secure and will not come in
contact with anything hot or sharp during operation.
Here is the Summary of this lesson. To repair or perform
installation automotive aftermarket components,
"ALL SPLICES AND CONNECTIONS MUST BE SOLDIERED AND SEALED WITH
QUALITY SHRINK TUBE - PERIOD". Doing anything less than this
will be a substandard repair that will at some point in the future
come back to bite you.
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