Wire tucks look cool, but how functional are they?
When I wired up my engine harness for my car a few years ago I wanted to try a wire tuck for myself. Sure I could've bought some shelf made harness from someone and remained ignorant about my own car. Or I could dive head first into the wiring of the car and get a better understanding of what does what.
During that period I've had problems with the major 3
- tps (ground wire in shielded wire was contacting signal exposed signal wire.)
- knock sensor (http://vimeo.com/5195325)
- maf sensor (http://vimeo.com/4795047)
I've learned the various symptoms of not having these three items work and enjoyed the benefits of figuring it out and getting them to work again. When working on my clutch the other day I noticed that my maf wiring was resting on my downpipe. To better illustrate why this is bad, see below.
Now it may be a slight exaggeration because I don't always drive my car hard enough to light up the manifold anymore. But the fact remains after a certain amount of time it's going to do some damage. You may be asking yourself, what the hell does this have to do with a wire tuck?
Well The answer is that when I built the harness I kind of went off of a drawing and decided to run the maf wiring on the hot side of the motor. The stock configuration has it running across the front of the valve cover. I figured it wouldn't be affected because it was snapped into clips running along the frame rail, well away from the turbo and behind that heat shield.
But I guess it came loose from the firewall clips and was resting clean on the exhaust manifold. This last Sunday I drove the car around all day, no problems, on the way to work I stop to grab some food. I get in the car, car wont stay on w/o me giving it gas. Well whatever it runs, lets drive it to work.
I park the car, start my shift and worry I may not make it home. I pull the ecu and it's reading codes 43 and 12, of course. I immediately knew it was the maf wiring, I figured the sensor got dirty. The car likes to throw that code if any dirt gets in there. My new synthetic AEM air filter seems to be doing a great job because it was clean.
I pulled the maf wire loose and looked for any burns in the wiring, sure enough it looked like the power wire had cooked through. I couldn't see however the status of the shielded wire as it was a solder joint that just so happened to be touching the exhaust.
So we did this...
And I brought my ECU and harness over to Jordan Innovations, I knew the maf wiring needed to be replaced, so Jeff cut out whatever wire was bad, showed me that the exhaust had cooked the shielding into the signal and ground wires which would explain why it made no difference if the maf plug was plugged in or not.
I asked Jeff to extend the wiring a bit so I could run it the way it was intended, in front of the engine with my cas wire. I am over the "tucked" harness thing, I just want a working car!
Brought it home and buttoned it all up and we have a working car again.
I'm not trying to brag that I was able to identify the problem w/o the help of someone else. But if you're going to jump into having a modified car I highly suggest you know how to diagnose any issue you may have with it.
Mechanical, or Electrical as they are invaluable things to learn being an automobile enthusiast.
-Wayne
During that period I've had problems with the major 3
- tps (ground wire in shielded wire was contacting signal exposed signal wire.)
- knock sensor (http://vimeo.com/5195325)
- maf sensor (http://vimeo.com/4795047)
I've learned the various symptoms of not having these three items work and enjoyed the benefits of figuring it out and getting them to work again. When working on my clutch the other day I noticed that my maf wiring was resting on my downpipe. To better illustrate why this is bad, see below.
 |
| to give you an idea, you wouldn't want a wire that helps run your car sitting on hot red metal. |
Well The answer is that when I built the harness I kind of went off of a drawing and decided to run the maf wiring on the hot side of the motor. The stock configuration has it running across the front of the valve cover. I figured it wouldn't be affected because it was snapped into clips running along the frame rail, well away from the turbo and behind that heat shield.
But I guess it came loose from the firewall clips and was resting clean on the exhaust manifold. This last Sunday I drove the car around all day, no problems, on the way to work I stop to grab some food. I get in the car, car wont stay on w/o me giving it gas. Well whatever it runs, lets drive it to work.
I park the car, start my shift and worry I may not make it home. I pull the ecu and it's reading codes 43 and 12, of course. I immediately knew it was the maf wiring, I figured the sensor got dirty. The car likes to throw that code if any dirt gets in there. My new synthetic AEM air filter seems to be doing a great job because it was clean.
I pulled the maf wire loose and looked for any burns in the wiring, sure enough it looked like the power wire had cooked through. I couldn't see however the status of the shielded wire as it was a solder joint that just so happened to be touching the exhaust.
So we did this...
 |
| wire harness why u melt so good! |
I asked Jeff to extend the wiring a bit so I could run it the way it was intended, in front of the engine with my cas wire. I am over the "tucked" harness thing, I just want a working car!
Brought it home and buttoned it all up and we have a working car again.
I'm not trying to brag that I was able to identify the problem w/o the help of someone else. But if you're going to jump into having a modified car I highly suggest you know how to diagnose any issue you may have with it.
Mechanical, or Electrical as they are invaluable things to learn being an automobile enthusiast.
-Wayne
