Last time I was here I was talking about a poor connection going to one of the main beams and the indicator light in the speedometer not working at the same time.

I unraveled this mess of electrical tape in the engine compartment to discoverer the wiring harness had caught fire (shorted out or melted from the heat exchanger) and had been repaired.

I was assured that the heat exchanger could not possibly get this hot to melt the wiring even if the harness was laying on top of it but could possibly have rubbed against a sharp edge on the exchanger chapping the insulation causing one of the wires to short out causing a chain reaction.

Or perhaps the car backfired and spew petrol onto the harness.

Once I unraveled the tape I discovered where someone had removed the damaged wires and spliced about 20+ wires in it's place.



I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing. I can imagine how creating 40+ solder joints while bending over an engine can be a tiring experience.

These solder-less butt connectors look a bit tacky (especially when you have multiple ones congregated together). Also to consider the material used is aluminum which can develop corrosion over time. And despite being warped with electrical tape these are a bit groaty looking.

So it's been since the early part of October since I've even touched my 2CV. Still sitting there in the garage with the bonnet open where I left off last.

I'm not too bothered since it's now turned cold and I have a Chevy van and a Subaru both with a good heaters.

I've decided to bite the bullet and remove the factory crimps, remove any corroded wiring and solder all the joints together and use heat shrink tubing as insulation. I think this will look better and won't corrode like the solder-less aluminium butt connectors. I may have to do this in stages. Whenever my back starts to ache, put the soldering iron down and do some more the next day.

I considered wrapping the wiring harness in some of that insulation material above the heat exchanger but I think the chances of getting the wiring crossed would not be worth it since most of the wiring in the car is green with color coated connectors. But I've got an idea of a better way of securing it rather than just letting it lay on top of the heat exchanger, just too hard to explain it at the moment.

Now to the lighting, ignition and other connectors. These connectors are not the best condition either. I could replace these with this type:



Once again they are made of aluminum, however I think if I apply electrical grease, this will protect them from corrosion.

But I am left with either red, blue or yellow connectors. I found some colored coated electrical tape but this stuff has a tendency or peeling off when exposed to heat.

However another idea was to install some colored coated heat shrink tubing over the connectors like these:



The price is not that bad:

https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/heat-s ... -tubing-18

Any of you guys come up with some creative method of keeping up with all of these green wires that have colored coated sleeves?

https://www.ecas2cvparts.co.uk/-c-69_92.html
Not the cheapest way.
Or something like these? https://www.canford.co.uk/CABLE-BINDING-SLEEVES
or these, http://www.cablecraft.co.uk/protect/cab ... g.html?p=2

You will have someone over your way selling similar?
Hope that'll help.

Hi

I think you'll find the three different colors of connectors are to indicate the different thicknesses of wire they can accommodate.

Edit. Same color code for spade connectors as well.

On my 2cv, the wiring is cable tied to the choke cable and loosely cable tied under the airbox to ensure its not going to vibrate on anything that may wear into the harness.

I think I've decided to go this route:

I'm now considering using some trailer light connectors for my front lights, horn and ignition system. I have used these in the past on other cars for various things like the auxiliary lights on my Trabant 601.

I think these would look more tidy in the engine compartment than those solder-less crimp connectors and they unplug easier. Not original of course!



The color coating of the wiring may not be 100% correct but I could always slide some of that color coated heat shrink tubing over the wires up next to the plugs to help identify them based on the wiring diagram.

This connector uses five wires which could be used for:

Main (high beams)
Dipped (low beams)
Park
Turn
Ground (Earth)

There are also 4 pin connectors:



And 2 pin connectors:



The trouble would be not being able to extract the wiring harness from the light bar afterwards if for some reason it would need to to be removed. Although I can't think of any reason to remove it.

Aren't the wires going to all the lights on the light bar basically the same size anyway?

It seems the headlight wires are the same size for the park and turn signals.

There are a few wires that are larger like the yellow wires that lead from the alternator and battery.

Invest in these, you won't regret it.

Example - Superseal 2 Way female.


Available in 1/2/3/4/5 way.

https://www.digikey.com/products/en/con ... =superseal
https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/product-hi ... connectors


ps
Fitted on may 4x4 for at least 10 years and still all OK, after numerous 4x4 events, The Artic and UK's road salt!

Yes. Most of the cables in the loom are the same thickness. That's why RogerV pointed out the the yellow/blue/red connectors that you mentioned would not be suitable for colour identification: almost all the cables would need the same size/colour connectors!

Oops! I somehow repeated my post, (so edited/deleted)

I misunderstood. I thought you meant the original color coding on the wires had something to do with the size of wiring.

It was the universal crimp style connectors you were referring to (yellow/blue/red).

Sometimes if I don't have any red or blue connectors handy, in a pinch, I'll use a yellow one (10 and 12 AWG / 3 to 5 mm), strip the wiring back 2 or 3 times it's normal length and double/triple it over to make up the difference.