Mice (wiring related)

[AdamB 29]

Mice seem to have nibbled part of my loom 

 

can anyone identify what wire it is that has been eaten?

 

located on driver side under the bonnet, just after it emerges from under the cabin filter box.

 

I think it’s a brown wire with a black tracer. Not sure if the yellow is deliberated or splashes of paint or something.

 

how should I approach something like this? I presume it needs to be stripped back and a section of wire replaced?

[BarryM 277]

Get a cat to start with.....you’ll need to strip back the black insulation until you don’t find any more damage and then it will be obvious. Use tesa tape when you seal it up.

[AdamB 29]

Can I get away with a soldered connection for the new bit of wire?

[AdamB 29]

P.s. I have a cat, although I think this might have been like it before I bought it.

 

there’s a small section of bonnet sound proofing that also looks chewed but there’s no mess around, no chewed up pieces etc.

 

I know the guy who owned it spent a lot of lockdown cleaning the car before he sold it, so maybe the mess was cleaned away.

 

noticing lots of little bits the more I look round it, oh well, got to stay positive.

[BarryM 277]

28 minutes ago, AdamB said:

Can I get away with a soldered connection for the new bit of wire?

Solder is better than a crimp, I usually test soldering with a similar gauge wire first as my soldering isn’t great

[AdamB 29]

Neither is mine, I’m hoping a friend who is more competent might do it for me.

 

 

[Dbcrd 91]

A few people on here have said crimps are better but i agree with BarryM - I've soldered loads of wires on my car.  I use heatshrink for the wire itself and self annealing tape over the whole bunch but that Tesa tape looks better for the whole harness.  I found that when working outdoors in winter a mains 25w iron was not hot enough so I use a gas iron I bought at Lidl that fills like a lighter.  Indoors or in a garage a normal iron might be ok.  The type of solder used made a big difference in joint quality.

  

[AdamB 29]

Cool, I’ve been in touch with an auto electrician who has been recommended after doing a wire tuck on a friends car.

 

he’ll be coming round in a week or so to replace the damaged cable, and re-wrap everything.

Edited December 7, 2020 by AdamB

[Ray112 258]

4 hours ago, Dbcrd said:

A few people on here have said crimps are better but i agree with BarryM - I've soldered loads of wires on my car.  I use heatshrink for the wire itself and self annealing tape over the whole bunch but that Tesa tape looks better for the whole harness.  I found that when working outdoors in winter a mains 25w iron was not hot enough so I use a gas iron I bought at Lidl that fills like a lighter.  Indoors or in a garage a normal iron might be ok.  The type of solder used made a big difference in joint quality.

  

I had small gas soldering iron some time ago, which was totally pointless in winter time compared to electric one, thought handy in summer, especially if you don't have access to power supply. 

About connections, I would agree that soldering is better than crimp, but probably it's personal preference. And yes, I'm using heat shrinks around wires as well, looks and feels better than good old isolation tape, which anyway sometimes is irreplaceable. 

[Clavurion 736]

Problem with soldering is that it makes the wire brittle in environment where it can vibrate. Though not a real issue on that kind of wiring harness where it's all packed stationary.

[Dbcrd 91]

8 minutes ago, Clavurion said:

Problem with soldering is that it makes the wire brittle in environment where it can vibrate. Though not a real issue on that kind of wiring harness where it's all packed stationary.

I agree to an extent un that properly made crimps very reliable but unless you've really good ratchet tools crimps are not that great and there are places like the touring tailgate harness channel where it's hard to hide the volume of  crimps.  I think 8 or 10mm of  joined section of twisted wire covered in melted solder is probably ok.

[sinner 108]

10 hours ago, Clavurion said:

Problem with soldering is that it makes the wire brittle in environment where it can vibrate. Though not a real issue on that kind of wiring harness where it's all packed stationary.

Flash cooling a joint after soldering helps keep it malleable.

I often do both, crimp and then solder to fill any voids, and reduce the chance of pulling out. AMP do some nice parallel crimp connections that are tinned for exactly that.

You can get good crimp tools for not a lot of money these days. Have a look on amazon.

Edited December 8, 2020 by sinner

[Carlton 62]

On 08/12/2020 at 09:51, sinner said:

Flash cooling a joint after soldering helps keep it malleable.

I often do both, crimp and then solder to fill any voids, and reduce the chance of pulling out. AMP do some nice parallel crimp connections that are tinned for exactly that.

You can get good crimp tools for not a lot of money these days. Have a look on amazon.

 

I do the same, crimp first then solder to improve long term corrosion protection. Helps a ton with old Volvos which are notorious for electrical issues. Solder alone can be unreliable with vibration and flexing.

 

As usual, having the proper tool makes all the difference. The basic wire stripper/crimper tool supplied with many connector sets is usually complete junk. Get the ratcheting style:

 

 

[AdamB 29]

All sorted, guy came today and replaced approx 8” of wiring.

 

he stripped it all back, and cut the wire back to where there was no more corrosion before replacing.

 

he also tidied a bit of adjacent wiring for the heated washer jets whilst he was there.

 

all wrapped back up in the correct tape

[AdamB 29]

P.s the wire was brown with a black tracer and yellow stripes.

 

I’d like to find out what this wire is for.

[BarryM 277]

AFAIK brown and brown/black are both earth wires, not sure about a brown wire with black and yellow stripes - sounds like one for Clavurion