How to Fixing Worn Headlight Wires - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

AlmightyCamry777 · 03-04-2011, 01:59 PM

i go to my car at 5 a this morning and warm it up, i see that the left (driver side) headlight is out! Since nothing is open i have to drive to work with my one good headlight.
Of course i thought it was the bulb and when i got there, i twisted out the bulb and the light blinked on! I take a closer look at the wiring and the harness insulation fell off the first 6 inches and the wiring is frayed in 5 places!
So now i realize i have to change the socket. I called toyota and they want $12 for the socket, that doesn't even come with the wires (you have to install the wires yourself from another $8 for the wiring kit).

So i called napa and they had a socket that fit for $8, wiring installed. Now i am going to go home and remove the battery (very hard to reach these wires if you don't) and splice in the new socket with crimp on connectors. Don't have a soldering iron and if i did, nowhere to plug it in. I am going to seal the connectors with silicone or maybe even JB weld so those connectors never come loose.

Weird. frayed in 5 places! Not one, not two, FIVE! I suspect vandalism because the wires do look like some ass took a knife to it (the insulation is clearly shaved like a piece of cheese!). Battery acid could also have played a part but normally i'd except to find some trace of the old harness insulation sitting near the tray - not a trace.

I really need to get a car alarm. A surveillance cam, garage and boom stick would be even better. I hate apartment living!

gdanaher · 03-04-2011, 02:47 PM

Cut the wires in staggered fashion so that even if the insulation around the connections fail, they won't touch and short. Second, if it got that hot, a simple crimp connector likely is not up to the task and a solder job is in order, even if you have to go someplace to find a connection for a cord. Don't forget to put some shrink wrap on the wire first so you can later zap them with your heat gun. If you have neither the tools nor ambition to do the job right, take it to someone who can do it right, or you will be doing it all again in a short time.

Mike Gerber · 03-04-2011, 03:47 PM

^ I think gdanaher meant to say put some "heat shrink tubing" over the connection first, which is a good idea. If you don't have access to electricity and/or a heat gun, a simple cigarrette lighter will work to heat the heat shrink tubing and seal it over the splice job.

Mike

CamrySExxx · 03-04-2011, 04:22 PM

Vandalism for a headlight bulb connector? Really?

Who is going to break into a car, open the hood, pick one single wire connector in the engine bay which is tucked behind a battery and damage it. Im sure your window or your body panels would have been targetted before a basic wire...

sounds like you have a rodent problem to me.

gs_aristo · 03-04-2011, 05:03 PM

Did you buy the car new? Once I bought a used car and the previous owners had bunch of electrical taps and eventually I had to replace the wiring. Common thing if the previous owner was a ricer! lol

AlmightyCamry777 · 03-05-2011, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamrySExxx

Vandalism for a headlight bulb connector? Really?

Who is going to break into a car, open the hood, pick one single wire connector in the engine bay which is tucked behind a battery and damage it. Im sure your window or your body panels would have been targetted before a basic wire...

sounds like you have a rodent problem to me.

Yes, but possibly the two-legged kind. You're Canadian and i live in California. If you lived here we wouldn't be having this discourse because you'd know the terrain pretty quickly, Anyway that's all there is to say about that except for the details,

UPDATE i removed the battery to get at the wires. I didnt want to buy a cordless solderng iron so i did use crimp on connectors. I put heat shrink over the new wires but only to act as a sheath and did not heat them on and shrink them,.
i bought some "liquid electrical tape" at harborfreight for $10 and used that on the ends of the connectors to seal them. Also tugged gently on the connections to make sure they were good and tight - they required recrimping a couple times but now they hold.

They used to make a really great product, a paste you smeared on a naked electrical connection then heat it with a lighter until it bubbled. Once it cooled it was as strong as a regular solder joint, no iron required. I used up the last of it some time ago and haven't been able to find it since, but this stuff was really the way to go for a fast, strong, easy repair. If i find a link i'll post it here.

AlmightyCamry777 · 03-05-2011, 08:30 AM

BlackCam09 · 03-05-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamrySExxx

Vandalism for a headlight bulb connector? Really?

Who is going to break into a car, open the hood, pick one single wire connector in the engine bay which is tucked behind a battery and damage it. Im sure your window or your body panels would have been targetted before a basic wire...

sounds like you have a rodent problem to me.

i agree with him, lol. sounds like a animal got under your hood.