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It will still work, but what I would do is cut where you want to splice, put on shrink tube that will cover the 3-way, solder the connection, then pull the shrink tube over your soldered connection and shrink it. That's the better way.

 

Thank y'all @loginfailed & @BartMaster1234 & @Beretta4x4 !! I was overthinking this as per my MO.

 

I've soldered connections for 30 years. Never experienced what you are suggesting. I'd never use a butt connector under the hood, especially behind the grill directly in line of wet spray from the rain. Not going to argue about it. Y'all do what you want.

 

For someone that is not so familiar with wiring I would just use crimp connectors. Far easier than soldering.

Although I do use solder when repairing wiring harnesses. I manufacturer automotive wiring harnesses and I exclusively use heat shrink butt connectors.

 

Either is fine. When I repair harnesses on a vehicle I solder. I generally only solder thin gauge wires, up to 16 GA. Anything below that I use crimps.

 

So that is the thing that boggles my mind. When I lost my horns, I traced the problem to the corroded wires and plugs that I'm now replacing. There was ZERO protection against the elements where the wire entered the plug. Blew my mind.

 

I've seen it happen, but I only use solder as a glue for automotive wiring. I basically weave the wires to each other, solder to help with connection and then heat shrink.

 

Nothing wrong with crimp connectors. The hot melt/heat shrink butt connectors are better than just normal heat shrink over a solder joint IMO, water penetration wise. The insulation shrinks to size and melts an adhesive that bonds to the wire.

 

You can get big shrink tube to put over the back side of the connectors and use some dielectric grease to seal the connection

 

Makes sense.

 

I use them when required by my employer, but I disagree with the practice. I discussed this with one of the engineers and was basically told unofficially that not everyone can be trusted with a soldering iron.

 

All right guys, again, thank you. I'm going to work on this so I can have horns again. Y'all have been extremely helpful!

 

Do you trust me with a soldering iron?

Do I trust me with a soldering iron?

WE ARE ABOUT TO FIND OUT.

 

There’s other people in this thread who have been doing automotive wiring longer than I have been alive. I only use butt connectors on my harnesses because I’m bonding fairly heavy gauge
wires together. I used to solder all my connections, but since these are such large gauge wires they took too long. butt connectors are easy and simple for large guage wires.

Again, either is fine. For what he wants to do I would personally use a crimp connector since he’s joining two wires at a common point.

When I repaired the water temperature sensor on my engine block, I soldered simply because using crimp connectors on such a thin gauge of wire would be overkill.

 

I'm going to test my horns by honking as I repeatedly drive by your house. 'Cause I love you.

 

At the end of the day they do the exact same thing. Pick your poison.

 

Make sure your car insurance is paid up!

The only wires on my truck that are crimped are ring terminals, such as for grounds. But after I crimp them, I solder them as well.

 

I had to replace the HIDs that the original owner retrofitted because the ballast caught fire in the engine bay. Chew on that.

Bought new headlights and did the crashnburn80 ultimate headlight mod. Best lighting mod I've ever done. Simply amazing.

 

I've got the bulbs and pigtails for the same headlight mod, but haven't yet gotten around to the install yet. Good to hear you like the results.

 

Hell ya I won a winch at that Tacoma Beach party. Over 60 trucks.