Hi Guys!
OK I did the gov/solenoid replacement and that fixed the mechanical issues, with the connector umplugged I can now manually shift through the gears.
But......the 8 pin connector wires are in bad shape. I can get a hew pigtail locally, but is there a way to get a little more slack to splice in the new end? I can access it easily through the floor shift boot access but not much the work with. I can get creative (read cut a hole ) but I am hoping that someone has been there/done that and has a great idea.

Thank you!

 

disconnect it, and pull it up into the engine compartment. Work on it up there.

 

That's why I like this place. Someone knows a thing or two about a thing of three...


Thank you! I did not know if that was even an option.

 

After a good crawl around underneath I can see the harness coming up from the transmission and it is kinda short. Goes into a larger bundle so hard to get it to move without pulling on the bigger bundle.
Fun fact: the underside of the truck is really dirty. It was a hunting fishing beater for years.

Okay so Mike's mostly non-fictional story time. The old plug is really abused. Mostly melted together and all the colors are kinda black. Some just wave about in the breeze. Kinda WIFI type connection there.

SO is it possible to follow the wires up until they somewhat resemble the color they should be?

 

Might want to take a few moments to clean the wires with a solvent. Carb or brake cleaner and a few paper towels usually works for me

 

OK. I will try that, problem is they are kinda crispy, and way short. Can you follow them up a ways? Any help here would be great.

 

Yeah, they should be the same color their full length, so, just peel 'em out of the loom, till you find good wire.

 

OK I am going to whine a bit, just bear with me.
The new pigtail does not match exactly. 4 wires are the same but 4 are not. Could be I'm a bit color blind (yep, its a guy thing, purple and mauve look the same to me)
SO can anyone help figure out an answer? Maybe what the factory color code is and where it's supposed to go by pin location?

Kinda stumped here, and trial and error seems a bad idea.

Thank you all!
Looking at old connector not an option, in bad shape and several wires already broken so no help there

 

Men are like windows 95, we only see 16 colors. Mauve isn't one of them.

It's possible your wires have just faded over time. Maybe peel the loom back a bit further, and see if the colors are any more identifiable.

 

I am up to where it joins the bigger loom.