1993 Dodge Dakota, 5.2L, Original Owner

At 26 years, the wire harness tape is drying up and flaking off all over the place. So I have three rolls of Tesa tape coming and I'm gonna go around and re-tape my harnesses. I'd like to clean up around the connectors and plugs as well but I'm a little hesitant to be too aggressive and damage them. Was thinking about using some compressed air (low psi) to blow the crud and dust off them.

I'm more interested in preservation of the harnesses and connectors than I am with the cosmetics. I'm receptive to any tips anyone might have regarding this job.

Thanks, Fellas. Ed

 

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Sorry I have no advice on the harness itself though compressed air is a good way to get crud out for sure.

But I can't overstress the utility of dielectric grease on connectors. It goes on the connector body, not the actual pins. Keeps things clean and dry inside and ensuring proper contact for a long time. For example, I slathered it all over the connector abd exposed part of the terminals of the blower motor resistor, which is prone to rotting.

 

I have some of that laying around.

 

Thanks. I will look into that. Truthfully, I'm more concerned about preserving the connectors more than I am the wires themselves so this is a good tip.

 

The unfortunate thing about old wiring and connectors is they get brittle over time and insulation starts to crack easily. I've seen it on much newer cars than 1st gen Daks. Some here have completely rebuilt their harnesses because of this. So far my harness seems to be doing okay but if I keep the truck long enough it will probably need that treatment.

 

They have that cloth tape for the harness at harbor freight. I have repaired some sections of the old decayed stuff with it. After I did it it ran better! This led me to removing the computer connector and cleaning it really well and dilectric greasing it. I expect moving the harness made it have better contact.
Someone else on here on did their whole harness and used regular electric tape on it. IDK if they are happy with that or not. I think the idea of the cloth tape is to allow any moisture that penetrates to evaporate.

 

I see videos that say to put the dielectric grease directly on the contacts and others say not to. What to believe??

BTW, my 1993 (I'm the original owner) has been garage kept for the large majority of its life. Even then, the original harness tape dries out.

 

You can put it on the contacts, to prevent them from oxidizing. You can just put some on the seal, so it seals better.... I tend to do both, as the connectors are not quite as 'water-proof' as the manufacturer would have you believe, and I occasional take my truck into some pretty odd places.....

 

As HeyYou said, both.

It does two different things.

The pressure of the contacts pushes it out of the way so the contacts can make, well, contact; the dielectric grease around those points keeps air and water away so the contacts don't oxidize.

And around the seals, it helps to keep the moisture out.

May not help much if you park at the bottom of an Olympic sized pool ...

RwP