I am about to try to splice in a replacement bonnet socket,
the male part coming from the engine bay, and wanted some
insight.
Everything on the one there now is fine EXCEPT the socket
itself which has fallen apart. I have a replacement section
from another wiring harness that goes all thw way back to
where the horn wires split off.
Is there a way to move only the fitting over?
Is there a way to peel back the vinyl covering to allow me
to splice it all in?
In reply to a message from saabguy sent Mon 8 Mar 2010:
This problem is faced by everyone when they replace the harness as
the socket is not included. The way to do it is to carefully peel
the rubber cover and slide it back–then ease the tabs on the
socket and slide it apart–you will find a locking wedge in there
that can be moved to allow further seperation. Once you have done
that you will see the way to do the job is not splicing but de-
solder and re-soldering of the loom. Good luck.–
The original message included these comments:
Everything on the one there now is fine EXCEPT the socket
itself which has fallen apart. I have a replacement section
from another wiring harness that goes all thw way back to
where the horn wires split off.
–
George Camp
Columbia SC, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from George Camp sent Mon 8 Mar 2010:
Thanks George!
I figured that there had to be some way to take the plug off
the end of the loom, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure
out how as it looked like it was crimped…
In reply to a message from saabguy sent Mon 8 Mar 2010:
One thing you can do if it becomes too difficult or costly to
save the original plug, is install a modern plug instead. I
used a 8-pin trailer connector, which lives inside my bonnet.
I spliced it to the end of the new harness on one end, and to
the connection bar inside the bonnet on the other. I hollowed
out the female receptacle on the bonnet to allow the wires to
pass through, and maintained the original boot as well. It
looks the same as stock as a result. I had to do this because
even after soldering the old plug to the new harness, it would
not stay secure in the bonnet receptacle.
In reply to a message from saabguy sent Mon 8 Mar 2010:
Hi Lester
The replacements I have found tend to have very thin tabs
which don’t stand up to use and the connections are all
located by screws. Try and persist with the desolder/resolder
especially considering the price of the replacement plug.
Regards
Pat–
The original message included these comments:
I am about to try to splice in a replacement bonnet socket,
In reply to a message from 600 sent Tue 9 Mar 2010:
What I have is a section of wiring harness from another car
with the plug included. That’s why I was thinking about
splicing into the original loom in some more or less hidden
spot. But as the plug I have now is useless I’m going to
dissect it for posterity… I thnk…
I restore lots of species of old British cars and face the buggered
harness issue regularly. I use a few tricks that might help you.
Make your splice somewhere less than obvious, if possible.
Slide a long piece of large diameter heat-shrink tubing well up the
harness before you start making splices. Slide in over the splices
after they’re all cooled THEN shrink it into place to hide the repair.
Stagger the splices of the individual wires so that they are not
side by side when bundled back together.
Solder your connections. Don’t use crimp splices.
Use heat shrink insulation to cover each solder joint. Don’t slide
the h-s-tubing over the soldered splice until it has completely
cooled or the tubing will shrink part-way onto the splice.
Reroute the harness and attach with the available clips, etc…
Another trick I have used when repairing (typically Lucar) connectors
on harnesses is to cut the harness wrap back far enough to expose
a good length of fresh color-correct insulation. I then cut the
wire, reverse it and solder it back in place using the tips outlined
above. Slide big heat-shrink tubing over the splices, add a new
soldered-on Lucar connector and you have what appears to be a fresh
harness - complete with a bright and clean color-code-correct wire!
What I have is a section of wiring harness from another car
with the plug included. That’s why I was thinking about
splicing into the original loom in some more or less hidden
spot.