How would an expert repair a door harness?

[Zenonb]

Hello All,

I have at least two broken wires in the front driver's door harness. One is the power to the power windows and is broken in two places. I need to push a new wire through the door to repair it. Are there any tricks for doing this? I do not want to do a hack job. What kind of wire should i use that will not break? How would an expert do this so it stays fixed for good?

Thanks,

ZB

2000 XLT 4.0 SOHC
238,453 Miles

 

[dogfriend]

I don't know that I am an "expert" but I have a couple of suggestions:

If possible, use the old wire to pull the new wire through from the car body to the door. It is very possible that this won't work, either because the old wire is broken along the way or because the old wire won't move because it is bundled with a bunch of others. In this case, just leave the old wire behind and thread a new wire along side the harness. Use a small wire, string, fishing line, whatever is easy to thread through from the car body to door, then attach a new wire to the one you threaded through and pull the new wire through.

To splice in the new wire, it would be best to actually use an automotive connector with terminals that you can crimp onto each end of the wire and then snap together to make a connection (like the connectors you see under the hood). Sometimes you can find these types of connectors in a good auto parts store. Another alternative is to use a butt connector, which can be crimped onto both wires to splice them together. If you use this method, place a section of heat shrink tubing over one of the wires before you crimp the butt connector, then slide the heat shrink over the butt connector and shrink it down to give the connection some protection from moisture. The best heat shrink tubing has an adhesive inside that makes a good moisture barrier.

 

[blueka]

Is it not possible to get another wiring harness from a junk yard or wherever and replace the whole thing?


Si

 

[safn1949]

Is it not possible to get another wiring harness from a junk yard or wherever and replace the whole thing?


Si

Sure,but that would be a hell of a job for a couple of wires.

 

[blueka]

I've done that before though on other cars, it's probably quicker than trying to feed wires, after all it's just plugs n clips....


Si