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wiring wires cracked insulation brittle

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pjw73nh

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Joined
May 4, 2008
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NH
greetings,

My 95 5 speed has close to 300k on it. Still runs beautifully. My problem is that just about every under hood wire (not plug wires) are "heat cracked" and the insulation is falling off them revealing bare wires. No issues yet, but I foresee a "storm a brewing".

I am talking about most of the smaller 16-20 ga wires that go to various parts of the engine management components and more. . MAF, coil pack, temp sensors, etc.

When I go to tape them up, the mere handling of them causes more damage than I am repairing. It reminds me of breaking ice off of a tree twig, and then the rest of the twigs drop the ice too.

The problem is widespread. It's not just 8 or 10 wires. It's just about every one under the hood. I suspect it's either old age or heat related deterioration.

Besides a harness replacement, is there anything I can do to "seal" these up? I am thinking there may be some kind of a spray or paint-on type of plastic that would help with this. The last time I changed the air filter I lost about an inch of insulation off of the all the wires to the sensor attached to the cover. A real pain in the A__

Thanks.
 
There was a recall issued on some of the older Contour's. My 98 didn't qualify. You might ask your dealer. You know all motors use a varnish to insulate the wires, might be an idea. Maybe some of that rubber used to dip pliers hands into.
 
i had this problem with my bank 1 oxygen sensor wires. I used heat shrink on them and so far they seem to be fine ....G.
 
I have had the same problem with my 95. The best soulution for me seems to be the spray on Performix Liquid Tape. I used this and the brush on type. Both worked well, but the spray was much easier. I gave the really bad spots multiple coats and taped it up. This has held up well. I am now very careful with the wiring, as finding a good 95 harness is near impossible. I purchased the Liquid Tape at Harbour Freight, hope this helps.
 
svttour is designing replacement harnesses for E0-below cars. There are no more OEM replacements left and when there were they were going for $1,000+. Honestly a full replacement is your best bet. You can either wait for his harnesses or pull your harness and run all new wires which is what a few other owners have already had to do.

I DID see this stuff at NAPA the other day called "spray on duct tape" which is supposed to be great for temp fixing coolant hoses. Might be something to look at spraying onto your exposed wires?
 
My girlfriend and I have a '95 Contour that has this same problem also. I ended up buying some liquid tape and used it to cover up some of the bared wires I saw around the engine compartment. I just had the flywheel replaced in the car so I'm kind of scared to look and see what that did to the wiring since you have to move everything around in there to do that.:help: Your best bet is to look for a good used harness or wait for the ones being made.
 
Don't expect someone to make a harness. The '95 is non OBD II and '96 to '97 is different from 98 etc. I needed an engine and harness so I pulled an OBD II '96 car apart and put everything in mine. Everything works including codes for the downstream O2's which I will fix soon now that I have a snap-on MT2500 scanner.
 
guzzi svt said:
Report it to the NTSBA as a safety issue. http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm
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Probably to little to late ^^^^^^^ Ford all ready had a recall on this but has expired :mad: I feel your pain this is one of the things that concerns me most about my car. When and if the time comes I probably will just rebuild the harness.Kinda like when I built the power antenna harness find the closest color match and do one wire at a time and make notes
 
I have a '95 V6, I've found that the adhesive GOOP from a fresh tube (more liquid) is great for pretty major wire insulation/reinforcement.

And something similar to the spray on tape you all mentioned I also use, it is a clear spray on rubberized spray available on ebay.

Still going!

Mike
 
I am going to try to mock up a harness for my 00 SVT using my 98 SVT parts car. I used to deal with wiring harness's at a few of the companies I have worked for.

if you do make your own harness, dont buy the cheap autozone and advanced autoparts wire. goto Digikey.com or Newark.com and buy some high quality wire (alpha wire - made in USA). Then you only have to do them once. If you have the spare time you can always buy pin connectors from them also. I am warning you its a pain in the A$$ to make your own harness.
 
yeah, your better off just find a 99+ v-6 cougar. I found one in a junk yard for $40 for the injector harness.

none of the wires were cracked and when I bent them, they didn't break apart like every wire in the old harness.

with the new harness the car runs great.
 
Dougs SVT said:
yeah, your better off just find a 99+ v-6 cougar. I found one in a junk yard for $40 for the injector harness.

none of the wires were cracked and when I bent them, they didn't break apart like every wire in the old harness.

with the new harness the car runs great.
Click to expand...

after 98 the wiring harness was no longer an issue.
 
BrApple said:
after 98 the wiring harness was no longer an issue.
Click to expand...

my 98 svt is cracking like crazy, iv had the engine completely apart and used the same harness and im having no issues, it runs perfect, put another 2500 miles on it in the last week including crossing the rockies twice, there are parts that have no insulation at all like the intake air temp and mass sections i have taped up but its in the back of my mind, will any year svt harness work? anyone have a good one laying around?
 
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