craigslist welder smoked my main wiring harness

Just stick some bubble gum on it and it'll be good as new.

 

If it's covered by insurance, why not use it and have it done properly?

 

Yup. One at a time, cut, solder, heat shrink. Might be a good time to learn a new skill. Set a weekend aside, take your time and enjoy taking care of your baby. It's really not a big deal, especially since there no breaks and u can still tell the colors apart.

 

Dat $1000 deductible

 

That's true. Especially on newer cars. I'd find out if he has liability insurance. Don't know what he charged, but it looks like my plasma cutter was a lot cheaper.

 

You also left out the added expense of all the other things you're going to break and need to replace in the process of getting that whole harness in and out.

Splice it, it's fine.

 

Insurance claim may show up on your vehicle history, something general like "electrical harness repair" or something misleading. Not 100% but others will chime in and verify, just something I thought about

I'd definitely just cut affected wires, order a small spool of correct gauge and color wire for all you need to redo, and solder/heat shrink/replace the stuff on a Saturday afternoon and leave everyone else out of it.

Sorry it happened but at least you have options and everything was operational for the time being

EDIT: dont forget to disconnect the negative battery terminal if you decide to do it on your own

 

Whatever you do, just don't hire a craigslist "electrician" to fix it.

 

But then he could hire another person to fix that mistake, think of the economy

 

You have to cut the wires to get heatshrink on anyway so you might as well just fix it properly.

I once did an entire main wiring harness for a friend who needed it extended. Just go a few wires at a time that don't have the same color and match everything up and good to go. You can get more split loom and then electrical tape around it all. Should be fine.

 

What it the length of the burned out section? Inches or feet?

If you're going to replace sections yourself, make sure you can match the wire colors, which might be difficult. If you aren't adept at wiring, it's not going to be an easy job. Even more so if you are working underneath the truck, looking up and trying to cut, splice, solder and then slide the heat shrink on. BTW, it's important to remember that you have to put the heat shrink tubing in place FIRST, then splice and solder. Otherwise, you're going to have to start all over again.

Ask me how I learned THAT lesson!

 

On my '06 Tundra with the non JBL "premium" sound system I had to build a harness around the amplifier that was buried under the rear seat. It took me a few hours to get everything routed correctly, spliced, soldered, and then slide the heat shrink into place.

Good point about buying split loom and tape. I'd also advise the OP to guy more of each color than he might think he needs. You can always cut wires that are too short, but you can't stretch them.

 

Well yeah you will want to get more wire and completely cut out the damaged parts. Just match the gauge. If you heatshrink it, get the marine stuff as it has a glue on the inside that makes the whole thing waterproof. Your bundle will end up a little bigger due to all the heatshrink, so you'll need a bigger wire loom for that section, but who cares?

 

Junkyard harness from about 2' in front of damage all the way back. Splice it in as others have described. Work out the existing section of harness and replace with the new. Not easy peasy, but doable with patience, minimal tools and maybe a little help from a friend.

Save any adult beverages for after the job, not during.

 

THIS

Just did my own first welding on my truck. Had to relocate the hanger tabs for the remote resivores to clear some rubbing

 

Those are some scary lookin welds.

 

I would just cut out the damaged section, use "weatherpack" sealing butt connectors, and do each wire at a time, DONT CUT ALL OF THEM AT ONCE, and first and foremost, disconnect the battery. I make repairs like this at work nearly every single day, and have yet to have any of them fail.

 

Or, solder in new. I wouldn't just cover it up.

 

^ This. Good advice here.

 

If it were me:

Look around on craigslist for part outs, and in junkyards for a replacement harness. Buy it.

Assess how difficult it would be to remove the entire harness and replace it with the used one entirely.

If it doesn't look too bad, use a label maker or paint pen to mark each connection on both sides with the same number, and take a pic of each one. Do the swap.

If it looks like a bitch to get the wire harness in/out (likely), then use your donor harness to replace the the damaged section with the same color and gauge wire using the solder and quality heat shrink method.

I'd have no issue with soldered wires and quality heat shrink with split loom over it. It would really be whichever seems like the least effort to me between those two.

I'd stay away from any kind of crimp connectors.

Even with the option of replacing just that section of the harness I'd look for an actual donor so I had the same gauge, color, and quality of wire as the original.