Can’t win for nothing electrical edition

[Kdo58]

I fixed all my turn signal brake light problems by replacing my turn signal switch. The four way switch wires were shorted out from me not installing it properly.

 

[KansasIDI]

Heres a 2-1 ground split I did for some flatbed taillights. Adhesive lined 4:1 heat shrink tubing. I strip about an inch of shielding off the wire, overlap, fold over each other and then twist together. Shrink the tubing over it (preferably overlap a little more than in this picture). The wires cant unfold due to the squeeze of the tubing and the adhesive lining seals the ends of the connection from the elements. Might be beneficial depending on your area - my truck gets exposed to alot of ice and road salts frequently and those crimp connectors dont do a great job of keeping that out of the connections.

Shrink tubing is the best, I agree with that

 

[ISPKI]

I did similar to that when I wired in the new plug for a replacement FSV, except I felt compelled to over engineer it and soldered the connections prior to heat shrinking. I don't have snow and salt to contend with in that regard, but I am close enough to the coast that I have salt air instead.

I used to solder electrical connections in my vehicles. About 11 years ago I took over engineering for my company's solder and braze lab and had to perform an exhaustive amount of research on different alloys and compounds. The issue we were discovering was that soldered joints on parts that were exposed to atmosphere were oxidizing (rusting). What we had discovered is that the flux inherent in the solder (or added if the solder isnt rosin core) attracts moisture into the joint and causes the solder joint to rapidly corrode.

I worked with some automotive engineers from some of the biggest names in the industry and they confirmed what we were observing. Solder joints, even after being cleaned, attract moisture and rapidly degrade the joint when exposed to atmosphere. They said if you look at all the electrical connections in a vehicle, the only times you should see soldered joints if any even exist, then they should only be inside sealed housings such as inside the ECM or TCM or inside potted sensor and relay assemblies.

I would be very hesitant to solder a joint in a harness in my neck of the woods but in a drier climate it stands to reason that it might be totally fine.

 

[tbowker]

Wow, that never crossed my mind!!! Here I thought I was going the extra mile. Looks like I'll need to modify my wicked ways. Thanks for that info.

 

[Austin86250]

Well if you figure it out then please inform us lol

Mine didn’t return becuase I didn’t have i seated all the way