Splicing wires in rear hatchback door wiring harness snorkel loom

[John Robertson]

Debugged about half of sixteen wires in the tightly wrapped rear hatchback door wiring harness snorkel loom as broken at the exact same point for each.

Harness is too much work and expense to replace as too much has to be ripped open to replace it and it doesn't even seem that they sell it so I can only find used ones on Ebay. Plus time is of the essence as I have to pass an inspection.

I'll stagger the splices so that none of the connections are actually in the snorkel bend that flex when the rear hatchback door is opened & closed. I'll also position the splices (one at each end of the inserted wires) so that no two splices are next to each other.

It looks like about ~20 AWG wire for most of the broken wires. Some are slightly larger but not by much.

What kind of ~20 gauge wire splice would you suggest given it's a tight fit?

[Marilyn Manson]

Solder and heat shrink?

Middle image here:

[Anonymous]

Like MM said, and also twist the wires together "inline",  like the url  shows at the start of the video but soldered first, not twisted like for a wire nut.

[Dean Hoffman]

I have no idea if these are any good but something to look at.

[Clare Snyder]

How big is the snorkel? You want as flexible a wire as possible - that is still strong enough to take the stress. Get the highest number of the thinnest strands per conductor you can get. If you don't need to colour code using light lamp cord is about as good and cheap as you can get - or speaker wire if you need it lighter. If current requirements are low enough, computer ribbon cable can also work. What you do NOT want is the crap wire you buy on a spool at an auto parts store!!!! (Peices of trailer wire harnes are often made of highly flexible wire and I've used them also. NEVER splice any wire where it needs to be flexible or needs to absorb vibration. Don't skinp on wire size for rear defogger or wiper circuits!!!!!! (or ground - - - - )

[Clare Snyder]

Or even use a GOOD crimp connection. If soldering, use a good heat shrink sleave over each well twisted and soldered joint. You only need a short section of wire twisted together - and ONLY USE RESIN CORE SOLDER!!!!!!! (if you can rangle up some 63/37 (Eutectic) leaded solder the job will be a LOT easier than attempting to use lead free or non-eutectic solders. I use Ersin SN63 Multicore - and am fortunate to have at least a lifetime supply( which I picked up surplus from NCR when they shut down manufacturing in Waterloo years back!!)

[Marilyn Manson]

If you are going to shout "GOOD" in response to someone asking how to splice wires, perhaps you should define what you mean by "GOOD".

Proper technique, proper connectors, differences between a "GOOD" crimp connection and a "BAD" one, etc.

We don't know what the OP knows about crimp connections.

[TimR]

I would not even attempt soldering here. Crimp is the way to go. I base this on experience keeping an old Volvo running long past its time.

BUT don't cheap out on a crimping tool. Get a good one and don't improvise.

[micky]

I know all the other words but what do you mean by snorkel loom?

Solder connections are the thinnest, if you get pretty good at it. If you haven't done much, practice on something else. Make sure the work is hot before applying the solder and it should melt and take barely any width other than what the wires themselves take up. If you scrape the wire ends with knife first, and twist one wire around the other, end to end, the solder will stick right away, and the soldered part only has to be 1/4" long if that is an issue. Put shrink wrap on the wire before the second soldering!

Even if you don't use the perfecly flexible wire, it last for ? years the first time and will probably last almost that long this time.

I doubt anything uses more current than 20 gauge will handle. In my limited experience, up to 1995, American cars had thick wire and Toyota had thinner wire. My guess is that after the war, the Japanese were econmizing in wire and saw no reason to stop.

[Marilyn Manson]

This is an air snorkel, but there are often simlar "tubes" for wiring in a vehicle.

Protection against rubbing on sharp metal edges.

[micky]

Thanks. I have something like that leading to the air cleaner.

I thought it had to do with running the car underwater, but then you'd need a separate snorkel for the people inside.

BTW, to the OP, I had a smaller but similar problem when I got my 2005 Toyota. In the last 30 years, there are companies that make convertibles but they don't really relate to them**. So on this car, there was a trunk release lever near my left hand at the foot of the driver's seat, and it could be locked, and of course I did that so when the top was down, no one would climb across the trunk, open the trunk, and steal everything inside. But then there was no way to open the trunk. Because the fob doesn't work when the car is running.

So I wanted a button on the dash, and the closest latch control wire was next to the floor behind the left kick panel.

I had a wiring diagram so I knew what color it was but there were about

10 wires, 2 of them that very color and they were packed in like crazy, and with no slack. I used one of those right-angle awls/pointed things to pull out one of them, guessing which one, and after testing, I soldered in the wire from the dash switch, and I tried to tape it up, but I may have relied on all the other wires having good insulation . **Other convertibles had day/night rear-view mirrors instead of tinted mirrors. With a day night mirror when the top is down at night, both mirrors work at the same time and you see every street light passing by, overlaying what you want to see. In the 60's and maybe the 70's they used tinted rear-view mirrors in convertibles.

[Peter]

I guess a better term may be "rubber wire harness sleeve"

Or maybe "automotive rubber wire harness grommet"