engine and drivetrain Wire Loom Questions

[worzella]

The branch of the wire loom that contains the alternator wires, the starter wires and the temp sensor wire all seem to have a sort of "fabric" sheething aorund them. Mine is crusty, brittle and cracked and I would like to do something better.

 

But, I suspect since these wires all run very near the hot engine, that this sheething is some sort of temperature resistant cover... am I right? And if so, how have other folks cleaned up and re-hab'd these particular runs?

 

Maybe they make heat resistant tape? Or perhaps some heat resistant "split" sheething like the black plastic stuff .....

 

Thanks for any tips.

 

Randy

[John_in_VA]

Many are happy with hockey stick wrap, but there are true electrical fabric tape/wraps.

[jgerock]

On my tii, the harness for the alternator is brittle, mainly due to the years of nasty oil being dumped from changing the oil filter.  One wire was broken, so I stripped that part of the harness back to extend the wire.

 

 

[Guest_anonymous]

more important to shield them so the alt+ wire doesn't jump ground to the frame rail.

[dbmw2002]

Heres a tip too, I believe it was on my first original beast water had gotten into this upside down loop of wires, when I first tried to start her fuse blew and smoke actually came out of the top of the loop, cut a drain hole at the bottom and a good cup of gunk water and goo came out, sealed the top to prevent recurrance and 80k later never looked back

[worzella]

This looks like a winner!

 

http://www.wirecare.com/products.asp?prodline=F6N

 

Melts at 482 degrees F... so should be good

[Mike Self]

I"ve used black cloth "bias tape"to wrap my wiring harnesses.  It's stretchy (the cloth is cut on the bias, thus the name) so can be wrapped nice and tight.  You can get it at a fabric store where they sell sewing notions.

 

mike
 

[pkchopp]

FYI, it's called Friction Tape.

[John_in_VA]

[Rocan]

hockey tape from local sports store. cheap. comes in rolls of three. one is plenty to do the engine bay. works very well. very durable. looks good, damn near factory. Its there for abrasive resistance, not heat resistance. don't overthink it or overpay. Mine's been in there over a year now and is still going strong. 

[mikesmith]

A lot of people (myself included) will use the corrugated split loom, because it's easier to add/remove wires without having to re-wrap everything.

 

If you decide to go this route, there are several different temperature grades available; you do want the higher rating for engine bay applications.

[TobyB]

i too like friction tape...

 

t

[kid2002]

BMW will still sell you the factory stuff. It's expensive but it's damn nice when it's all said and done knowing it's the same tape they used back when the 02 was new.

 

You can use electrical tape, or hockey tape but that's the kind of stuff I don't personally like to see in an engine bay. Also when you use electrical tape in a hot area for a long period of time the adhesive on the back of the tape starts to melt and get really sticky. When you go to remove the tape in the future anything that it was covering will be really sticky.

 

One of those, "you get what you pay for" things.

At the very least, i'd use split loom.

[wolf1971]

FYI, Home Depot and Lowes stock this in their electrical department.

[eurotrash]

Ron likes friction.  No sticky mess.  Enough said.