i think the main culprit was the connector that was missing the clip. which made it able to bounce around while driving and not making a stable connection.
Either the connector was loose or the Chrysler 2.4 in the pt cruisers had a cam thrust movement defect where as the engine gets worn the cam will walk from the sensor and lose the signal.only way to repair it is to put a new head on it
@@jiriress1336 yes it is you can extend life of the car by shaving down the cam sensor every pt cruiser I’ve seen started having the issue in between 100-120k miles
It's great that instead of just billing for an hour and saying 'can't find anything'. Customer comes back in month and repeat process and cost, that you improved the situation in someway which could have helped. Many wouldn't have. Kudos.
I spent 30 years working on electronics and did my share of soldering. You did an amazing job of soldering and protecting the wiring job with cloth electrical tape. You are also a genius at diagnosing automobile problems and repairing. Watch you alot!
One trick I have been taught with braided wire, is to fan out the wire and interleave the wires. Twist and then solder, allows for a slimmer connection, which is important if trying to keep the total cable thickness.
I have never owned a dodge or Chrysler that had a decent wiring system on them. GM is just as bad now. And when you buy a Dodge, they should give you a spare transmission instead of a spare tire. The tires seem to last longer.
Yep this would prevent shorting even if they would rub-throu. Another tip is to do proper splices and not just sticking parallel wires together. Doing something like a lineman splice would prevent failure in case the solder breaks.
Another thing I do when soldering is solder the first then twist the second slightly longer wire around the soldered end and solder it together. This gives more cross section at the joint then I double heat shrunk the wires … that fabric tape is brilliant for closing off the ends of the cable covering.
@@4to20ma6 True that why my 2019 Dodge Grande Carvan need to go warranty work at Dealership. Also, why they stop making those vans in 2020. Makes me made that they are now called Chrysler Voyager, Voyager was a Plymouth van.
I've been dealing with electronics and wires and such for most of my life and I used to do both join together like a deck of cards, twist and solder method; and the tin both and solder next to each other method. One wonderful day I got a call from a friend of mine who's car I worked on. The idiot stuck a 30 amp fuse on the place of a 5 amp one, and I was incredibly surprised to find that one of the connections I made with the solder-side-by-side method had de-soldered and broke the circuit instead of causing a car fire. Thought it would be interesting to share one of my findings in the adventures of car wiring :D
Greetings Ray, You have been getting great suggestions for soldering. My two pennies as a long term rocket scientist, is to get a small bottle of Liquid Solder Flux. A drop in the connection that you are trying to solder will greatly allow the solder to flow and give you a shiny, bright connection with no contamination. Fight ON!
To remove or cut into electrical tape or factory wire looms, I use a seam ripper works great and they about $1 at the dollar store. Makes life easy when removing tape etc from wires without damaging the wire or your fingers.
It's great too see a fellow mechanic take the time to do a wiring job 100% CORRECT! 👍🏻🇺🇲 Great Job! I'm from Chicago, salt, salt turns into salt water. That salt whe liquid on an above freezing day get in all wire looms DTCs ALL DAY! That is 100% the way I wuld have done this in a High corrosion area! Excellent job 👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲
As a "tip" for tight spaces with taping harnesses/wires, it is easier to wrap some tape around a 10mm socket and then unwrap it around the wires. That's the easy part. Finding that dang 10mm socket is probably the hardest thing!
That sounds absolutely useful! I hate that something so obvious is something I would never figure out on my own. Something I realize as I get older, now that I am an adult, is that I don't have the ability to cleverly think things through. If I know how to do something, I can do it with precision without missing a beat just as good if not better than most people but I lack the ability to come up with my own solutions. I really wish the modern education system taught me anything I could remember about thinking through problems rather than teaching me to memorize answers for a single day to pass a test and forget it immediately. :/
lol i posted something similar.. I would never use a 10mm socket though, Those are rare items lol.. I use a small pencil about ready to be thrown away.. Or a Bic Pen, Take the ink out and cut the pen in 3rds, you can make 3 small rolls of tape..
Junkyard engine on a PT Cruiser with 100K... that engine was a 'junkyard' engine when it rolled off the assembly line back in 2002. You did all the right things on this repair. Your soldering was fine but next time- stagger your joints so they aren't right next to each other in the event there is a future break in the shrink tube. You're definitely a rare breed - glad to see it.
Since I got out of that career, I always go over my vehicles after any repair work. Its amazing how sloppy many techs are today. The quality of previous work you get in a lot of your jobs is appalling and seems like its getting worse all around.
Hi There Ray. As a long since retired electrician, I would recommend a chisel tip on your iron,if one is available, for this type of work.Also a simple way to hold the wires prior to soldering would be a stiff u-shaped wire with an alligator clip on each end, especially useful if the wires are in a vertical orientation. All the very best to you and yours from Manchester U.K.
I mentioned that on one of his previous videos, i have that M12 iron as well, works amazing as a portable iron for repair jobs like this, but the conical tips all iron manufacturers like to include really suck!! The M12 iron is nice because it shares the same tips as my Hakko irons at my rework station on the bench, Hakko 900M tips, so i have a wide variety of tips that i can swap onto the M12. The one i find the most useful for this kind of a working is the 2.4 or 3.5mm chisel, great for wire splicing.
The tool he mentioned is called "helping hands". It usually comes with two pairs of positionable alligator clips, a magnifying glass, a built-in detail light, and a sponge for cleaning soldering iron tips. Indispensable if you do much electronics work.
What I like about Ray's videos is that he records the difficult bits in full. Most UA-cam videos edit them out, which leaves us mere mortals thinking it's only us that has problems and that the pros don't!! Great stuff.
I love your videos because they show the reality of doing even the most simple (sounding) tasks like putting a zip tie on or having to extend a harness that should have been long enough to begin width. It all takes time and we all know time is money. Great job.
That cloth tape is called friction tape. It warms up as you unroll it because of how sticky it is and that allows it to stick better, and it is far superior to electrical tape.
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Sure does been doing electronics & automotive electrical (hobby only) for 20+ years and it NASTY stuff, Cloth (fabric tape) can also be fire rated too, while it's good but you have to spend the money as the cheaper rolls are rubbish and seems to undo themself.
FYI a tinned connection is significantly more durable and longer lasting than mechanical twisting/folding of wires. Lead free solder contains Silver, which is corrosion resistant, I'd also apply dieletric grease on the connection before using heat shrink tubing. This will prevent moisture from getting into the joint. My buddy laughed at me about the solder suggestion, but he had to redo his audio setup when the wires would randomly cause signal fuzzyness on his car. Solder best way to go :)
The gold standard in my eyes is still solder with lead. It make the joint flexible. Lead free solder tends to break. When they switched to lead free soldering at Bombardier, they had complaints from their customers after a short while. What happens was that some solder joints broke and they had to hand solder all connections in entire trains. Also working with lead solder ist much easier as it tends to flow better.
Idk what the proper name of the splice is, but I was taught to fray both ends you intend to join, push them together end to end so the strands interlace, twist that together, then apply solder to that. Is this a good method, and what is it called?
Paste flux in a can will save you time if you are doing a bunch of wires. I typically dip them in flux , hook them, and solder the mechanical connection. Followed by heat shrink, and yes a magnetic alligator clip is super handy.
Navy electronics training suggests that you tin the wires and j-hook them together for a mechanical connection, then solder them... otherwise you're using the solder for a glues of sorts.
This is great stuff and great work. Thanks for talking through and showing the entire process. I watch your stuff every post, you are equal to SMA in the way you work your magic. Your sound effects are funny. Thanks for posting!
Some helpful soldering tips from an aircraft electrician. Always pull the solder and the soldering iron away at the same time to eliminate the solder peaks. Clean soldered connection with alcohol to eliminate corrosion. Don't completely cover connections with solder. You should be able to see the contour of the wires after soldering. You did great.
19:20, looks like another wire rubbing on the tubing lower left corner. As a computer tech from back in the days you stood inside them to diagnose problems, I know the joys of chasing an intermittent problem. Also, done a lot of soldering prior to shrink tubing. I have tinned wires, but never just ran them side by side to make a connection. Not sure how well that would work if the wire was carrying any current. Glad to see you are not one of those guys that melts solder on the iron and lets it run onto a cold wire. Nice neat job! As you mentioned, when you are doing multiple wires it's best to try to stagger the connections so you don't have a big lump of connections in the same spot. You had no option to do that at the firewall side of the wire you were working on.
That flat cable on the lower left at 19:20 is just a ground strap, it'll be fine. It's rubbing a bit on the wire loom plastic. Those cam position sensor wires carry almost 0 current, just a bit of 5 volts.
Hi Ray, I did soldering for an aerospace company in the past and two pieces of advice for you, always use flux on the wires before tinning and try not to let the wires move at all when soldering, that can result in a cold solder. You are a great mechanic and teacher also your channel is one of the best automotive channels.
Ray I’m no expert but I might have taken both wires intertwined them together then soldered but that’s just me. Thank you for everything you do and hope you have a great holiday season.
Braiding first is best practice, especially on automotive applications where things constantly move. Done properly it will hold up w/o solder and is required on certain low impedance circuits where solder cannot be used. If and when any applied solder breaks, the wires still stay connected when braided. Also, it’s best to only dab a small bit of solder in the middle 1/3 of the braided section rather than running solder all the way to the insulation. The stiff end points are more vulnerable to breaking when hot solder is flooded in like that.
@@craiglyles4755 Aviation doesn't braid, they make two hooks and solder them together. Solder is to brought up to the insulation but never up into it. This is the only allowed method and there's a Mil-spc that describes it. Leaving any part of the wire unsoldered invites "bird caging" and will absolutely break. I've fixed many of them. I never use it on my own stuff though, it's too lumpy. I use rays method - which is fine for automotive stuff. BTW, they don't use zip-ties either but that's another subject.
@@ScottDLR A&P fixed frame wiring isn’t subject to the stresses that automotive harnesses running through firewalls to soft mounted drivetrain and other NVH designed components are either. Same as there’s a different spec for wiring commercial and residential buildings where using caps is acceptable. The way he did it, contact soldering would never fly in cold climates. Most automotive OEM’s don’t even approve using any solder for wire repairs and are strictly crimp only. Although it will likely be fine, having a strong mechanical connection w/o introducing heat and solder is always best.
3 suggestions. WalMart sells a thingy in the sewing department called a seam ripper for like a buck. They work great for slicing open harnesses without damage. Also a rubber band instead of a zip tie on your improvised helper is alot more user friendly and has an adjustablity feature by moving placement. They make a little cradle that slips over the end of your soldering iron/gun. Set your wires in the cradle and give a little twist to shrink your shrink wrap.
I agree with the seam ripper, but disagree with the other two. It will not take long for the rubber band to dry rot into brittle garbage. I tried the cradle you mentioned and it is neither practical nor convenient in tight quarters. You end up having to twist the wires instead of the tool. They make a shroud for heatguns that makes a hook shape and works well in tighter quarters, though.
I used to work at a place where all writing harness were made from scratch, the gentlemen that was showing me a similar application to what you're doing now, had the wires a little fanned and then stick them together then soldered together
Great videos! I'm in the paste flux camp. I strip about 1/4" of insulation and twist the strands of the individual wires tight to keep them together. Then face the wires overlapping toward each other and twist together tightly. This keeps the ends tight together. This is where the flux comes in. One little blob in the center is enough. Once heat touches it, it melts into all the strands and up into the insulation a bit. Solder will easily flow anywhere that there's flux. This produces tight, strong, super clean wire splices for me. I keep a small piece of craft plywood in my solder kit and pinch the wire splice between it and the soldering iron tip. A little puff of smoke per solder joint is enough heat. If the wood smokes a lot or ignites, that's too much heat and the insulation is probably melting. The craft plywood also soaks up any excess flux that may drip.
Every electrical solder I've seen has a flux core, but in theory a little more couldn't hurt. Know if plumbing flux (for soldering copper + other pipes) would work as well? The plumbing flux says good for copper (all metal except aluminum & SS), so I guess that's a yes.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m Solder sold for plumbing and large electrical soldering is often flux-cored. But solder sold for micro-electronics work is not. Instead, the flux is applied manually, often as a thick liquid either dabbed, poured, or 'syringed' on.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m Never use plumbing solder or anything like it on electrical connections. Plumbing type solder uses acid flux that will end up destroying the wire. Always use rosin flux for electrical connections. It won't cause trouble with wire. Leave acid flux for the plumber.
Another great video Mr. Ray. Can I offer a hint? Stagger your connections if wire length is allowed, plus if you twist the ends of the wires one twist, (ends facing each other), then tin them, they are now soldered together and done, one time soldering, instead of three times for each wire. I have watched you now for a while and noticed your soldering has improved and is dead on... and I loved my Angry pliers so much I give a set to my brother for his birthday! Thanks for taking time for sharing your videos!
Although I'm sure the tip has appeared already in the thousand-plus comments, wrap electrical tape around a small 1/4" drive socket. Then, use the smaller socket spool to apply the electrical tape. Seriously, this is one handy tip!
As you give me loads of tips, I thought I'd give you one which I hope will help in the future. When extending or joining, if possible, offset the cuts/joins (i'd also twist each joint, then solder but a few have already said that). With offset joints, with even 1mm of original insulation, it doesn't matter if you get a stray strand or worn through heatshrink. It cannot short beacause the bare wire is then against original insulation on the adjacent wire. This may not have been possible at the loom end but definitely was where wthe new connector was plumbed in. hope this helps.
24:00 You can make the soldered connections more reliable by first turning the copper leads around each other and then applying solder. The way you did it does work, though, and will probably never fail.
Tinning is good, but it mostly makes it easier to avoid a 'cold' solder joint and at the same time avoid melting the insulation on the wires. Given the wattage of the iron used here there is little chance of melting the insulation. In any event tinned or not you should =ALWAYS= make a solid mechanical connection before you solder to make the electrical connection. Twist or hook the wires together first - you will need needle-nose pliers for tinned wire. The side-by-side connections made here are just the sort of work that can fail the 'shake test' in 10K miles... PS. Please don't make splices like this on my car.
@@carlbergstrom7333 those connections won't fail, that soldier is much stronger than it looks. The quality of the soldier is good and he did not overheat it.
@@carlbergstrom7333 I've done countless hours of soldiering, I know by looking at it if it's good or not. And no I'm not bragging at all, it's just one of those things that you pick up on in time just like other things with experience. Honestly, I wished I had a dollar back for every hour I spent soldiering... but I do like doing it.
Solder is to hold the joint together, it doesn’t provide a good electrical path so twist the copper wires together, then solder. Love the detailed videos so good job Ray.
I went through similar on an '05 Kia. Replaced 2 cam sensors and one crank sensor. Turned out it was fried wiring that went into the cam sensor. Crank sensor was its own issue. Parts cannon fail on the cam sensor at $89 each.
Coming along pretty nicely with the soldering skills. All pretty good so far! - Tin your soldering iron tip, keep it bright and clean. Tin your wires. Connect.. and let the solder flow brother! And you sir... Stay safe, and stay awesome. 😎👍
Your method of creating a mechanical joint is legit. Though solder alone often works, it is not intended to create a mechanical connection. Under mechanical stress it may develop cracks and fail.
I'm just impressed with the low mileage on that thing. Haha On the soldering, simply meshing the wires together, heating them with the element and letting the solder wick into them will create a stronger and more positive bond than the method you used with tinning.
It's then harder to get the tight heat shrink tube on, and you would need to take the next bigger size and probably ill fitting heat shrink tube. So this is a fair compromise. If the length is left long enough, there won't be too much stress on the solder joint. And any type of soldered joint technique has its weak spot just beside the joint. The joint itself is stiff and the cupper gets fatigue just beside the joint, or oxidizes from exposure to air, or some left over traces of resin/flux. Most manufacturers only crimp wires in engine bays. Crimping is the preferred solution in a harsh environment like the engine bay, but only with a professional crimping tool and not the two dollar hobby one from the hardware store.
@@telocho huh? You're saying meshing the wires makes it harder for heat shrink? That is completely false. Meshing the wires and letting the solder wick into them makes a smaller joint than what he did. If done correctly the meshing creates a joint just barely larger than the original wire. And the joint is stronger because almost all of the separate strands of wire are fused together between the two connected pieces.
@@telocho you are right; however, the heat shrink acts as a strain relief, helping to prevent the connection from snapping due to fatigue at the joint. Also, the crimp joint isn't immune to fatigue. The crimp joint is stiff, preventing the wire from forming a radius across the joint. Either edge of the joint will take a harder bend and will be subject to fatigue. Some type of strain relief would be preferred for a crimp joint as well as a soldered joint.
Pro tip I got from a farm mechanic. When you need to use electrical tap in a tight spot that the whole roll doesn't fit in. You can make a mini role by wrapping the amount of tape you will use around a small socket.
On the starter wiring, liquid electrical tape might have been another option for resealing the starter cable. Awesome for superficial isolation reseals when no you don't want or need to cut the wire. Just my two cents. Keep up with awesome content. From my perspective, it appears that the oil pressure switch is seeping. Happy Holidays!
Tried using that stuff to fix the starter on my buddy's '73 Mercedes 300D around 12 years ago. In a parking lot. At midnight. With no proper tools. Failed miserably. But we were idiots, so your results may vary.
I've always backed my liquid electrical tape up with gaffers tape if I have it or some other tape that I can find once it dried to the touch. I don't know if it does anything but the guy who introduced me to the liquid tape always did it so I followed. I've had a good deal of success with it for scrapped or punctured (probed) wires that don't need cut and rejoined. I actually used it under some shrink wrap for the lighting on my boat trailer. It lasted me 5 years and my friend another 6 years until he fell asleep on the way home from an outing and flipped the thing. First time I've ever seen a boat and trailer upside down with the tow vehicle right side up and almost no damage except some rock chips where he drifted into a soft shoulder.
On aircraft, we lie the two tinned ends next to each and solder them together. No hooks, twisting or whatever. Or, use one of the heat shrink connectors with solder inside.
A solder splice needs strain relief (heat shrink) or vibration will fatigue the wire strands at the solder. I prefer to spiral the strands before tinning, flow just a little solder, then heat shrink. Make each line length 1" diffrent on both sides so the splices get offset, avoiding a harness bulge.
When I worked in avionics it was stressed that in the US solder splices are not approved in aviation; crimp splices only, and they must have crimps for the insulation as well. I believe certa-crimps are mandatory in Part 135 and above.
You need to check out heat shrink solder connectors used for marine applications. They solder and seal using a heat gun in one quick step. They are clear so you can inspect it also. Check them out on Amazon. I think they make a better splice that is less brittle. Sometimes an issue with tinned stranded wire. Joe
In my 46 years of being a mechanic of gasoline, diesel, propane and natural gas. This was my favorite kind of repair. Kind of like a silent but deadly, roll the dice, that had to be it, kind of repair. You used the correct terminology for the customer post diagnosis( test drive it let me know how it does) 21 years working on school buses and dealing with drivers that totally helped me by describing the problem was made me the mechanic that I became🥺😳😁 yea all those emotions🥂
Nice one. When tinning wires. Heat from the end back towards the insulation. That way the copper wont wick away the heat to a part of the wire that doesnt need to be heated and potentially damage the insulation. As for the exposed power wire, there is a product called Liquid Tape, (get it a Lowes etc) would have been ideal for that job. Learning every day.
My wife and I sit and love watching your vids...wondering why u are a unicorn cuz there's not 1 mechanic we met here in Ohio that seems skilled and professional as u!
cut like 4" off a coat hanger and bend it into a wide U then crimp on aligator clips. Slip some heat shrink over the clips to cover the teeth so they dont cut through the wire insulator. Now you've got a mini hands free wire holder that can be used on a bench or up inside the car pretty much anywhere.
I saw the copper mantle/braiding laying open scraping alongside metal parts and a rubber part under the car. Perhaps it is interesting to know that some rubbers contain soot (carbon soot) that is electrically conductive (in the 1KOhm-10 KOhm range). The scraping of that blank copper mantle alongside rubber/metal could (at least in theory) lead to the situation that the car computer detects a "double earth" (= a ground loop) that makes the "motor fail detection" lamp to light up. Good that you isolated that mantle electrically with tape. 3 dec. 2021.
Probably all black rubber that is required to take a lot of wear, tear, and shear, contains soot. There are colored (including white) rubbers where silicates etc are used to toughen the mixture, but soot tends to make the strongest result, with the drawback of being black.
The PT Cruiser, I worked at a Chrysler dealership when these came out. I remember we couldn't sell any of them at first, why! I can't remember why, but I do remember the insanely highy warranty repair rate the entire Chrysler, Dodge, jeep fleet had at the time.
When soldering wires like this, you need to do a lineman (Western Union) splice, then solder. It gives the best mechanical connection before soldering. NEVER rely on solder to make a mechanical connection.
I actually learned that when I was getting my osha soldering cert just before I was a pcb inspector for a while. Outside of tacking a component to a board, solder should never be used to hold any kind of physical load. It's purely used to establish an unchanging/reliable electrical connection. If it happens to sturdy up the joint, then great, but that isn't why wires are soldered together.
@@mikecurry6847 The first two rules of soldering. #1 Establish a good mechanical connection #2 Always flow the solder from the cold side, towards the heat source. Even when soldering parts to a circuit board, you always make sure to establish a good mechanical connection, unless they're surface mount components. While it's highly unlikely this fix will fail before the car does, solder, over time, can weaken to the point of losing any kind of mechanical strength it has to the component it's attached to, especially if it's a cold joint. Back when I used to repair electronics, old solder joints were the culprit of many repairs.
@@KentuckyRanger yeah honestly I don't think those wires will fail either. It's not like the method he just used doesn't work. It just isn't going to work in every case and it's not really that much work to make a mechanical connection first. I'll add though that strictly going from the cold side isn't always the best method. I like to heat the wire/pad up, put the solder directly to the tip of the iron to get a little bit of solder flowing, and use the flowing solder to establish a heat bridge that let's me move to a colder area of what I'm working on without moving the iron or overheating the part. That's probably not necessary in automotive applications but it's a habit from my old job. When you're soldering on a pcb, you have to be fast. Holding the iron to the pad for even just a little bit too long will pull the pad clean off and ruin the board
@James Carroll same. I never knew what it was called, but I just looked up the western union splice and that's already really close to what I do. I usually bend the exposed conductors into a J shape, hook the two together, and then twist each one around itself. It kind of makes two eye holes that are hooked together. I'll have to try out the proper western union splice though. Just based off looking at it, it looks like that method would be better than the method I currently use because it would be just a little bit less bulky
I really enjoy watching these Ray! Keep them coming. After seeing the last couple of wiring repairs I wonder if you have ever thought of using something like these I found on the interweb: 340PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors-haisstronica Marine Grade Heat Shrink Wire Connectors-Butt Splice Wire Terminals for Marine,Electrical with Corrosion and Weatherproof(5Colors/5Sizes) No muss, no fuss. Strip, butt splice, connect wires, heat shrink, done. Been using a similar type in aircraft repair for a couple decades & these are finally an inexpensive version. I hope that PT doesn't return & anything that vintage is going to have worn items everywhere. 👍👍 Thanks for the info I gather here.
Ray, when tinning wires for soldering, I usually only tin one wire, then wrap the non tinned wire around the tinned one in the twist fashion. This helps hold it and still provides for solder to bond form the inside as well as what you apply from the outside. Also, you are not working with two stiff wire end, just on and one that can flex around it for a better connection.
The proper way is to NOT tin either wire and wrap them against each other in opposite directions. The idea is that it provides a mechanical lock even when the wires are pulled apart without solder. After they are twisted properly, that is when you apply solder. You never apply solder to tin the wires before or your can't twist them together properly. This is the only NASA and AEROSPACE accepted standard to splice two wires together with solder. What Ray is doing would fail the pull test that subject splices to with a calibrated pull test machine. The actual preferred method is a proper mechanical crimp connection using PIDG connectors using MIL spec tools. If the right connector and crimp tools are used, the strength of the connection is better than any soldered connections. I work on marine boats and install electronics all the time. The crimp tools costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. I use the same MIL spec tools and connectors used by aircraft mechanics to properly terminate connectors on airplanes. makezine.com/2012/02/28/how-to-splice-wire-to-nasa-standards/
@@ahndeux When I was in apprenticeship training, they made a clear point that solder should never be used to do the mechanical job of keeping a joint together. So it would be a knot first, or a crimp connector first, then solder over it all. It seemed weird to me, cause.. solder is pretty tough! But that's what I heard. Can't say I follow the rule often... But I'm retired so that's a good explanation..
Electrical tape in tight spaces: Good tip from SMA is to wrap a length round a small socket. Makes it a lot easier to wrap a wire when there's not much room. Good job!
Having soldered thousands of connections in my electronics career, I can tell you that the primary thing in a soldered connection is FIRST a mechanical connection. What you're doing is called 'tack soldering', and will NOT withstand the test of time. Best would be a combination of what you were doing before, AND tinning the wires before making the 'u' that you WERE doing.
I have no idea how to solder professionally, but I always drilled the wires together and then applied the solder. Seemed to make sense for me, So far this was always enough for my non-professional stuff, but may not withstand greater mechanical stress, dunno. After a quick search, I realized that what I did all the time is just an old technique called Western Union Splice. Funny
@@Asto508 Yep....that works. As long as you have a mechanical connection before soldering, like a spiral twist together, or what Ray was doing before, with a hook, although I would have crimped them with pliers to ensure a better mechanical connection....it'll work fine. "Tack soldering".....not so much.
While I would also advise to splice or twist the wires together or use a connection sleeve or spring, the shrink tubing and wrap tape do also provide some mechanical strength and probably make this the most reliable part of the entire wire harnass which doesn't seem to be in too good of a shape.
Did you even watch the same video? As he very clearly did pre-solder every wire before combing them. Also, he makes a parallel connection, not a "U" connection.
@@hardergamer I think YOU didn't read MY comment. Tinning a wire and tack soldering it, is not the same as a good mechanical connection. Tinning is great.....but THEN, you still must have a good MECHANICAL connection prior to soldering the two. Tinning and soldering are NOT the same thing. After a number of hot/cold cycles, tack soldered connections tend to separate. That's from more than 60 years of soldering experience.....but you do you, and I'll do me.
Ray I Love the content you put out!! You are a remarkable technician!! Keep up the great work!! You are very knowledgeable and explain the job at hand in understandable terms. I look forward to watching what you did today!!
This is where I love Scotch 70 self fusing silicon rubber tape. Insulates & sticks to itself without leaving gross glue for future you to have to deal with!
I know a mechanic who has driven one of these for years. It seems to me like it's been a perfect vehicle for making sure that he always has work to do when customer traffic is light.
Heck yea, in HS buddys Mom had the PT Turbo GT and my first police experience was a ticket for us doing burnouts in it. I have a friend who travels the country living out of a PT Cruiser setup as a mini camper with solar power These have problems with wiring harnesses not having enough slack for movement of the engine once it's mounts get worn too
@@waleyefish9026 I had one for a rental car once, it got such bad gas mileage wasn't much better than my 1/2 ton GMC van. Was all they had at Hertz and I was in a hurry to get home. Noisy rough engine, and rode like a truck. Junk. And it only had 15000 miles on it, and wasn't even a year old yet.
Ray, Make sure solder tip is clean. Take ROSIN core solder and a little paste flux and tin the solder tip. Next, flux your bare wire ends. Touch the wire with the flux to the tinned solder tip. Your solder will flow and tin your wires perfectly. A shiny solder joint is a good indication you have a good joint. You also want to make sure your wires are mechanically mated together before you apply solder. You can push strand ends together and join them and solder. Finally, clean the joints with isopropyl alcohol. Seems like a lot but it’s just as quick and more reliable. Cheers Ray and keep up the great work.
Ideally Crank and cam sensor wires should be shielded or kept away from any rotational parts due to magnetic interference or RFI. I bet that wire loom touching the axle boot was the culprit.
@@tonycking0121 I dont know about the 4.3 and this certainly isn't one. Google's your friend when it comes to these types of questions. I cant see how a relearn would be of any use ....crank shaft sensor is about spark time primarily and it is so good as binary in nature.
Love your clips Best way iv found is once you strip your ends push wires into each other then give a twist then solder slide heat shrink over and shrink. They have these clear wire joiners now made out of high temp shrink wrap with solder in the center of them this still only requires a cigarette lighter or small blow torch to melt them. They have a ring of low melting point solder in the center of these clear see through joiners all you do is strip off a few millimeters of plastic on each wire then push wire into your clear joiner until both wires meet in the middle push them in hard enough so the individual strands slide in beside each other. Then heating the joiner from the outsides in this shrinks the joiner to hold your wires in place. Then heat the solder until it melts and solder's your wires together in the middle. These are good on most wire joining jobs
I can tell you from experience, you want no part of doing a timing belt on that car. It is easiest done out of the vehicle, and with a good amount of time. Only thing worse is replacing the evaporator.
I found the best way to do timing belt work on a PT Cruiser is to use a floor jack under the engine and another under the transmission. Remove the transmission mount and PCM. You can roll the engine 4 or 5 inches toward the transmission side and raise the engine up like seven inches on the belt side if you need to. The wiring harness can move around enough.
Have you ever considered liquid electrical tape? I use it for pool heater jobs where pack rats chew up wires. It seems to work great for those awkward wire repairs.
Eversince I am watching your videos I am catching myself more and more by going: "Powering off!-BEOU..." Which is my highlight at the end of almost every one of your vids and btw this was by far the best one!
"Assembly is the reverse of disassembly." I remember that instruction when disassembly was pulling the armature out of a starter and the brushes at the far end went "sproing!"
The alligator clip would work better for the soldering, as the big pliers you were using would act as a heat sink. They would pull the heat out of the joint, and make it take longer for the solder connection to heat up and flow
If he did a proper splice, he wouldn't need anything at all. Just twist the two bare wires together in opposite directions and the splice stays together without any holder. After that, that is when you apply solder to the joint to hold the two wires together. You don't put solder on the wires first on a proper splice because the wire would be too stiff to twist together.
You are a rare commodity Ray. And some people may say that's a good thing I guess it all depends on who you talk to. But what I'm getting at is most mechanics seem to just throw parts at Are vehicles. Hoping But yet not really caring if they get lucky and find the reason or the default to the vehicle. We the customer therefore are left to absorb the cost. Until the real problem is found. You Ray do not operate that way. You test you scan you hypothesize And it appears you find the reason eventually of the car owner's complaint Of motor vehicle not operating correctly. Thank you not only for your quality work but but you're honesty.
Ray, "That's how you know you are old when cars came out new when you where in high school, now they are becoming vintage". (It's a 2002 car). Weeeell. Have you seen the flying car in the "Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets" movie? The Ford Anglia 105e, 1959-1968. I was a little boy when that car was first introduced to the public. "Ha ha ha". I hope i have made you feel younger. Love your video's, keep them coming. Best wishes from an "Old Man" who lives in North East London, England.
i think the main culprit was the connector that was missing the clip. which made it able to bounce around while driving and not making a stable connection.
Excellent call there. I hate those intermittent faults!
I mean, as annoying as they are, those locking clips are there for a good reason.
Either the connector was loose or the Chrysler 2.4 in the pt cruisers had a cam thrust movement defect where as the engine gets worn the cam will walk from the sensor and lose the signal.only way to repair it is to put a new head on it
@@lucasmiddendorff7166 jesus that sound terrible, is it a common issue on these engines ?
@@jiriress1336 yes it is you can extend life of the car by shaving down the cam sensor every pt cruiser I’ve seen started having the issue in between 100-120k miles
It's great that instead of just billing for an hour and saying 'can't find anything'. Customer comes back in month and repeat process and cost, that you improved the situation in someway which could have helped. Many wouldn't have. Kudos.
Ray I don't know what they pay you but they need to double your pay. The work you post is extraordinary.
He's making alot of money,if this was for free I wouldn't be wasting my time
😂 LOL
You make among the best repair movies on UA-cam
I spent 30 years working on electronics and did my share of soldering. You did an amazing job of soldering and protecting the wiring job with cloth electrical tape. You are also a genius at diagnosing automobile problems and repairing. Watch you alot!
One trick I have been taught with braided wire, is to fan out the wire and interleave the wires. Twist and then solder, allows for a slimmer connection, which is important if trying to keep the total cable thickness.
I love when Alvin and the Chipmunks play at your garage
Wow, a mechanic who knows how to solder; tinning the tip, heat up the wire, melt the solder on the wire rather than on the iron. I'm impressed!
It is definitely a skill to have. Especially with today's modern vehicles.
Your soldering skills are beyond commendable considering the environment. Well done, sir!
What other mechanic would re-cut wire after mistakingly nipping two strands? You are the man!
Me.
@@j.t.cooper2963 where are you located Mr. Cooper? I’m always interested n great auto pros.
Many of the mechanic electrical repairs i've followed behind (to fix their screw ups) would have cut all the wires except 2 and still sent it..
One's not filming their every move.
Do it once, do it right, and curse the previous guy for all you're worth.
When splicing multiple wires, I try to stagger the splice locations in order to mitigate the rub-through concerns you mentioned.
I have never owned a dodge or Chrysler that had a decent wiring system on them. GM is just as bad now. And when you buy a Dodge, they should give you a spare transmission instead of a spare tire. The tires seem to last longer.
Yep this would prevent shorting even if they would rub-throu. Another tip is to do proper splices and not just sticking parallel wires together. Doing something like a lineman splice would prevent failure in case the solder breaks.
Another thing I do when soldering is solder the first then twist the second slightly longer wire around the soldered end and solder it together. This gives more cross section at the joint then I double heat shrunk the wires … that fabric tape is brilliant for closing off the ends of the cable covering.
Same,. It just.. helps reduce that possibility and one less thing less to worry about.
@@4to20ma6 True that why my 2019 Dodge Grande Carvan need to go warranty work at Dealership. Also, why they stop making those vans in 2020. Makes me made that they are now called Chrysler Voyager, Voyager was a Plymouth van.
As a person who has rewired 3 classic cars, you did a good job for a novice Rainman Ray. I twist the wires together before soldering.
I've been dealing with electronics and wires and such for most of my life and I used to do both join together like a deck of cards, twist and solder method; and the tin both and solder next to each other method. One wonderful day I got a call from a friend of mine who's car I worked on. The idiot stuck a 30 amp fuse on the place of a 5 amp one, and I was incredibly surprised to find that one of the connections I made with the solder-side-by-side method had de-soldered and broke the circuit instead of causing a car fire. Thought it would be interesting to share one of my findings in the adventures of car wiring :D
Greetings Ray, You have been getting great suggestions for soldering. My two pennies as a long term rocket scientist, is to get a small bottle of Liquid Solder Flux. A drop in the connection that you are trying to solder will greatly allow the solder to flow and give you a shiny, bright connection with no contamination. Fight ON!
To remove or cut into electrical tape or factory wire looms, I use a seam ripper works great and they about $1 at the dollar store. Makes life easy when removing tape etc from wires without damaging the wire or your fingers.
Dude, I've never thought about that. Running to the store right now to get a couple.
True
@@dexter2811 Me either. Never heard of them. Must try to remember to get one ....
It's great too see a fellow mechanic take the time to do a wiring job 100% CORRECT! 👍🏻🇺🇲 Great Job! I'm from Chicago, salt, salt turns into salt water. That salt whe liquid on an above freezing day get in all wire looms DTCs ALL DAY! That is 100% the way I wuld have done this in a High corrosion area! Excellent job 👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲👍🏻🇺🇲
As a "tip" for tight spaces with taping harnesses/wires, it is easier to wrap some tape around a 10mm socket and then unwrap it around the wires. That's the easy part. Finding that dang 10mm socket is probably the hardest thing!
I will make a mini roll by wrapping electrical tape around a small fastener or dowel. Makes it super easy to use in confined spaces.
That sounds absolutely useful! I hate that something so obvious is something I would never figure out on my own. Something I realize as I get older, now that I am an adult, is that I don't have the ability to cleverly think things through. If I know how to do something, I can do it with precision without missing a beat just as good if not better than most people but I lack the ability to come up with my own solutions.
I really wish the modern education system taught me anything I could remember about thinking through problems rather than teaching me to memorize answers for a single day to pass a test and forget it immediately. :/
lol i posted something similar.. I would never use a 10mm socket though, Those are rare items lol.. I use a small pencil about ready to be thrown away.. Or a Bic Pen, Take the ink out and cut the pen in 3rds, you can make 3 small rolls of tape..
Hot damn that's a nice tip, thanks guy
I think there's an alternate dimension that's filled entirely with 10mm sockets that have fallen through the cracks.
Junkyard engine on a PT Cruiser with 100K... that engine was a 'junkyard' engine when it rolled off the assembly line back in 2002. You did all the right things on this repair. Your soldering was fine but next time- stagger your joints so they aren't right next to each other in the event there is a future break in the shrink tube. You're definitely a rare breed - glad to see it.
A car mechanics that have good knowledge on how to solder.. never thought I would ever see the day.
Since I got out of that career, I always go over my vehicles after any repair work. Its amazing how sloppy many techs are today. The quality of previous work you get in a lot of your jobs is appalling and seems like its getting worse all around.
Ray teaches himself to solder. I am finally getting good at this. thanx
Hi There Ray. As a long since retired electrician, I would recommend a chisel tip on your iron,if one is available, for this type of work.Also a simple way to hold the wires prior to soldering would be a stiff u-shaped wire with an alligator clip on each end, especially useful if the wires are in a vertical orientation. All the very best to you and yours from Manchester U.K.
I mentioned that on one of his previous videos, i have that M12 iron as well, works amazing as a portable iron for repair jobs like this, but the conical tips all iron manufacturers like to include really suck!! The M12 iron is nice because it shares the same tips as my Hakko irons at my rework station on the bench, Hakko 900M tips, so i have a wide variety of tips that i can swap onto the M12. The one i find the most useful for this kind of a working is the 2.4 or 3.5mm chisel, great for wire splicing.
Nobody will miss a couple metal coat hangers from the uniform company. Not a bad idea.
Insulate tube the gator teeth so they don’t puncher the wire being held
The tool he mentioned is called "helping hands". It usually comes with two pairs of positionable alligator clips, a magnifying glass, a built-in detail light, and a sponge for cleaning soldering iron tips. Indispensable if you do much electronics work.
Yeah, conical tips SUCK. All my conical tips are in perfect condition… because I never use them lol.
What I like about Ray's videos is that he records the difficult bits in full. Most UA-cam videos edit them out, which leaves us mere mortals thinking it's only us that has problems and that the pros don't!! Great stuff.
I love your videos because they show the reality of doing even the most simple (sounding) tasks like putting a zip tie on or having to extend a harness that should have been long enough to begin width. It all takes time and we all know time is money. Great job.
You level of service is what makes America great! Keep it up.
That cloth tape is called friction tape. It warms up as you unroll it because of how sticky it is and that allows it to stick better, and it is far superior to electrical tape.
Electrical tape either dries out or turns to goo.
It's also great for wrapping around the handles of tennis rackets baseball bats hammers etc for grip.
In da North we call it Hockey Tape.
I was taught to wrap with electrical tape and then overwrap with friction tape. Nowadays I prefer self-fusing silicone tape.
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Sure does been doing electronics & automotive electrical (hobby only) for 20+ years and it NASTY stuff, Cloth (fabric tape) can also be fire rated too, while it's good but you have to spend the money as the cheaper rolls are rubbish and seems to undo themself.
I appreciate the way you solder,by holding the wire above the iron...heat rises. I'm always amazed that I need to explain that to apprentices
FYI a tinned connection is significantly more durable and longer lasting than mechanical twisting/folding of wires. Lead free solder contains Silver, which is corrosion resistant, I'd also apply dieletric grease on the connection before using heat shrink tubing. This will prevent moisture from getting into the joint. My buddy laughed at me about the solder suggestion, but he had to redo his audio setup when the wires would randomly cause signal fuzzyness on his car. Solder best way to go :)
Testing purposes, that why you just strip back a little to connect your leads.
Each to his own... for automotive wiring I pre-tin wires & create a mechanical connection before the final solder join 👍
The gold standard in my eyes is still solder with lead. It make the joint flexible. Lead free solder tends to break. When they switched to lead free soldering at Bombardier, they had complaints from their customers after a short while. What happens was that some solder joints broke and they had to hand solder all connections in entire trains. Also working with lead solder ist much easier as it tends to flow better.
Idk what the proper name of the splice is, but I was taught to fray both ends you intend to join, push them together end to end so the strands interlace, twist that together, then apply solder to that. Is this a good method, and what is it called?
I use to have a old guy crusty mechanic who was great . He’s gone now and I wish I could find a guy like you in Chicagoland . Someone you can trust .
Paste flux in a can will save you time if you are doing a bunch of wires. I typically dip them in flux , hook them, and solder the mechanical connection. Followed by heat shrink, and yes a magnetic alligator clip is super handy.
I love some of the very British terminologies that you use, like "take a gander"
Navy electronics training suggests that you tin the wires and j-hook them together for a mechanical connection, then solder them... otherwise you're using the solder for a glues of sorts.
That's how I was taught. First there has to be a solid mechanical connection then solder.
Another awesome wire repair job to prevent problems from popping up.
This is great stuff and great work. Thanks for talking through and showing the entire process. I watch your stuff every post, you are equal to SMA in the way you work your magic. Your sound effects are funny. Thanks for posting!
Some helpful soldering tips from an aircraft electrician. Always pull the solder and the soldering iron away at the same time to eliminate the solder peaks. Clean soldered connection with alcohol to eliminate corrosion. Don't completely cover connections with solder. You should be able to see the contour of the wires after soldering. You did great.
19:20, looks like another wire rubbing on the tubing lower left corner. As a computer tech from back in the days you stood inside them to diagnose problems, I know the joys of chasing an intermittent problem. Also, done a lot of soldering prior to shrink tubing. I have tinned wires, but never just ran them side by side to make a connection. Not sure how well that would work if the wire was carrying any current. Glad to see you are not one of those guys that melts solder on the iron and lets it run onto a cold wire. Nice neat job! As you mentioned, when you are doing multiple wires it's best to try to stagger the connections so you don't have a big lump of connections in the same spot. You had no option to do that at the firewall side of the wire you were working on.
Ahh...dual triode flip flops....those were the days...lol
That flat cable on the lower left at 19:20 is just a ground strap, it'll be fine. It's rubbing a bit on the wire loom plastic. Those cam position sensor wires carry almost 0 current, just a bit of 5 volts.
@@brnmcc01 Yup, that was why I mentioned I don't care for the side by side on a current carrying line. For this application, perfectly fine.
I learned how to solder. Thanx. Always had an idea but always want with butt connectors. You have a lot of patience. A sign of a pro.
Hi Ray, I did soldering for an aerospace company in the past and two pieces of advice for
you, always use flux on the wires before tinning and try not to let the wires move at all when soldering, that can result in a cold solder. You are a great mechanic and teacher also your channel is one of the best automotive channels.
10-4 on the flux!
a lot of tin has flux in it right?
The solder he was using had flux in it. You could see it smoking
I've been a Ford Tech for 35 years now. That PT Cruiser is still new to me!!
Ray I’m no expert but I might have taken both wires intertwined them together then soldered but that’s just me. Thank you for everything you do and hope you have a great holiday season.
He's done that before too in other solder jobs.
Not necessary in such a low current application.
Braiding first is best practice, especially on automotive applications where things constantly move. Done properly it will hold up w/o solder and is required on certain low impedance circuits where solder cannot be used. If and when any applied solder breaks, the wires still stay connected when braided. Also, it’s best to only dab a small bit of solder in the middle 1/3 of the braided section rather than running solder all the way to the insulation. The stiff end points are more vulnerable to breaking when hot solder is flooded in like that.
@@craiglyles4755 Aviation doesn't braid, they make two hooks and solder them together. Solder is to brought up to the insulation but never up into it. This is the only allowed method and there's a Mil-spc that describes it. Leaving any part of the wire unsoldered invites "bird caging" and will absolutely break. I've fixed many of them.
I never use it on my own stuff though, it's too lumpy. I use rays method - which is fine for automotive stuff.
BTW, they don't use zip-ties either but that's another subject.
@@ScottDLR A&P fixed frame wiring isn’t subject to the stresses that automotive harnesses running through firewalls to soft mounted drivetrain and other NVH designed components are either. Same as there’s a different spec for wiring commercial and residential buildings where using caps is acceptable. The way he did it, contact soldering would never fly in cold climates. Most automotive OEM’s don’t even approve using any solder for wire repairs and are strictly crimp only. Although it will likely be fine, having a strong mechanical connection w/o introducing heat and solder is always best.
Ahh you are learning the joys of good solder connections!!
3 suggestions.
WalMart sells a thingy in the sewing department called a seam ripper for like a buck. They work great for slicing open harnesses without damage.
Also a rubber band instead of a zip tie on your improvised helper is alot more user friendly and has an adjustablity feature by moving placement.
They make a little cradle that slips over the end of your soldering iron/gun. Set your wires in the cradle and give a little twist to shrink your shrink wrap.
I agree with the seam ripper, but disagree with the other two. It will not take long for the rubber band to dry rot into brittle garbage. I tried the cradle you mentioned and it is neither practical nor convenient in tight quarters. You end up having to twist the wires instead of the tool. They make a shroud for heatguns that makes a hook shape and works well in tighter quarters, though.
Finger wide open with a razor blade
I used to work at a place where all writing harness were made from scratch, the gentlemen that was showing me a similar application to what you're doing now, had the wires a little fanned and then stick them together then soldered together
Great videos! I'm in the paste flux camp. I strip about 1/4" of insulation and twist the strands of the individual wires tight to keep them together. Then face the wires overlapping toward each other and twist together tightly. This keeps the ends tight together. This is where the flux comes in. One little blob in the center is enough. Once heat touches it, it melts into all the strands and up into the insulation a bit. Solder will easily flow anywhere that there's flux. This produces tight, strong, super clean wire splices for me. I keep a small piece of craft plywood in my solder kit and pinch the wire splice between it and the soldering iron tip. A little puff of smoke per solder joint is enough heat. If the wood smokes a lot or ignites, that's too much heat and the insulation is probably melting. The craft plywood also soaks up any excess flux that may drip.
You can also get solder with a flux core.
Every electrical solder I've seen has a flux core, but in theory a little more couldn't hurt.
Know if plumbing flux (for soldering copper + other pipes) would work as well? The plumbing flux says good for copper (all metal except aluminum & SS), so I guess that's a yes.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m Solder sold for plumbing and large electrical soldering is often flux-cored.
But solder sold for micro-electronics work is not. Instead, the flux is applied manually, often as a thick liquid either dabbed, poured, or 'syringed' on.
@@user-ut9ln4vd5m Never use plumbing solder or anything like it on electrical connections. Plumbing type solder uses acid flux that will end up destroying the wire.
Always use rosin flux for electrical connections. It won't cause trouble with wire.
Leave acid flux for the plumber.
@@MonkeyJedi99 flux for microelectronic work IS flux cored. Plumbing flux is too corrosive to use on wires.👍
the alligator clips thing, is called helping hands. Solder always flows towards the heat, use flux. It helps a lot.
Another great video Mr. Ray. Can I offer a hint? Stagger your connections if wire length is allowed, plus if you twist the ends of the wires one twist, (ends facing each other), then tin them, they are now soldered together and done, one time soldering, instead of three times for each wire. I have watched you now for a while and noticed your soldering has improved and is dead on... and I loved my Angry pliers so much I give a set to my brother for his birthday! Thanks for taking time for sharing your videos!
Amen
Although I'm sure the tip has appeared already in the thousand-plus comments, wrap electrical tape around a small 1/4" drive socket. Then, use the smaller socket spool to apply the electrical tape. Seriously, this is one handy tip!
As you give me loads of tips, I thought I'd give you one which I hope will help in the future. When extending or joining, if possible, offset the cuts/joins (i'd also twist each joint, then solder but a few have already said that). With offset joints, with even 1mm of original insulation, it doesn't matter if you get a stray strand or worn through heatshrink. It cannot short beacause the bare wire is then against original insulation on the adjacent wire. This may not have been possible at the loom end but definitely was where wthe new connector was plumbed in. hope this helps.
Look at where the damage was . You have to work with what you have .
@@johnhalek9664 Huhh??? Cables were extended on the toolbox.
Soldering joints hold better but give a lot of extra work but it is worth it Well done Sir
24:00 You can make the soldered connections more reliable by first turning the copper leads around each other and then applying solder. The way you did it does work, though, and will probably never fail.
Tinning is good, but it mostly makes it easier to avoid a 'cold' solder joint and at the same time avoid melting the insulation on the wires. Given the wattage of the iron used here there is little chance of melting the insulation.
In any event tinned or not you should =ALWAYS= make a solid mechanical connection before you solder to make the electrical connection. Twist or hook the wires together first - you will need needle-nose pliers for tinned wire. The side-by-side connections made here are just the sort of work that can fail the 'shake test' in 10K miles...
PS. Please don't make splices like this on my car.
@@carlbergstrom7333 those connections won't fail, that soldier is much stronger than it looks. The quality of the soldier is good and he did not overheat it.
@@garyr7027 Your experience is certainly different from mine.
@@carlbergstrom7333 I've done countless hours of soldiering, I know by looking at it if it's good or not. And no I'm not bragging at all, it's just one of those things that you pick up on in time just like other things with experience. Honestly, I wished I had a dollar back for every hour I spent soldiering... but I do like doing it.
Solder is to hold the joint together, it doesn’t provide a good electrical path so twist the copper wires together, then solder.
Love the detailed videos so good job Ray.
I went through similar on an '05 Kia. Replaced 2 cam sensors and one crank sensor. Turned out it was fried wiring that went into the cam sensor. Crank sensor was its own issue. Parts cannon fail on the cam sensor at $89 each.
I came to learn and watch repairs. I stay just so I can hear Ray go Doo Dodo Doo when the phone rings.
Coming along pretty nicely with the soldering skills. All pretty good so far! - Tin your soldering iron tip, keep it bright and clean. Tin your wires. Connect.. and let the solder flow brother! And you sir... Stay safe, and stay awesome. 😎👍
Your method of creating a mechanical joint is legit. Though solder alone often works, it is not intended to create a mechanical connection. Under mechanical stress it may develop cracks and fail.
I'm just impressed with the low mileage on that thing. Haha
On the soldering, simply meshing the wires together, heating them with the element and letting the solder wick into them will create a stronger and more positive bond than the method you used with tinning.
This method is plenty strong, if anything it would probably fail before or after join.
It's then harder to get the tight heat shrink tube on, and you would need to take the next bigger size and probably ill fitting heat shrink tube. So this is a fair compromise. If the length is left long enough, there won't be too much stress on the solder joint.
And any type of soldered joint technique has its weak spot just beside the joint. The joint itself is stiff and the cupper gets fatigue just beside the joint, or oxidizes from exposure to air, or some left over traces of resin/flux.
Most manufacturers only crimp wires in engine bays. Crimping is the preferred solution in a harsh environment like the engine bay, but only with a professional crimping tool and not the two dollar hobby one from the hardware store.
@@JGnLAU8OAWF6 yes, it's definitely strong, but the meshing is stronger. This will never fail though for this application anyway.
@@telocho huh? You're saying meshing the wires makes it harder for heat shrink? That is completely false. Meshing the wires and letting the solder wick into them makes a smaller joint than what he did. If done correctly the meshing creates a joint just barely larger than the original wire. And the joint is stronger because almost all of the separate strands of wire are fused together between the two connected pieces.
@@telocho you are right; however, the heat shrink acts as a strain relief, helping to prevent the connection from snapping due to fatigue at the joint. Also, the crimp joint isn't immune to fatigue. The crimp joint is stiff, preventing the wire from forming a radius across the joint. Either edge of the joint will take a harder bend and will be subject to fatigue. Some type of strain relief would be preferred for a crimp joint as well as a soldered joint.
Pro tip I got from a farm mechanic. When you need to use electrical tap in a tight spot that the whole roll doesn't fit in. You can make a mini role by wrapping the amount of tape you will use around a small socket.
On the starter wiring, liquid electrical tape might have been another option for resealing the starter cable. Awesome for superficial isolation reseals when no you don't want or need to cut the wire. Just my two cents. Keep up with awesome content. From my perspective, it appears that the oil pressure switch is seeping. Happy Holidays!
Tried using that stuff to fix the starter on my buddy's '73 Mercedes 300D around 12 years ago. In a parking lot. At midnight. With no proper tools. Failed miserably. But we were idiots, so your results may vary.
I like the liquid tapes but they are not all equal in performance.
Shade tree mech would have used chewing gum.........an off brand.
I've always backed my liquid electrical tape up with gaffers tape if I have it or some other tape that I can find once it dried to the touch. I don't know if it does anything but the guy who introduced me to the liquid tape always did it so I followed.
I've had a good deal of success with it for scrapped or punctured (probed) wires that don't need cut and rejoined. I actually used it under some shrink wrap for the lighting on my boat trailer. It lasted me 5 years and my friend another 6 years until he fell asleep on the way home from an outing and flipped the thing. First time I've ever seen a boat and trailer upside down with the tow vehicle right side up and almost no damage except some rock chips where he drifted into a soft shoulder.
I was thinking the same……
I agree with you on heat shrink !
Sometimes liquid electrical tape is what's needed when heat shrink is difficult ! 👀
On aircraft, we lie the two tinned ends next to each and solder them together. No hooks, twisting or whatever.
Or, use one of the heat shrink connectors with solder inside.
Yep. The wire will break before a properly soldered lap joint.
A solder splice needs strain relief (heat shrink) or vibration will fatigue the wire strands at the solder.
I prefer to spiral the strands before tinning, flow just a little solder, then heat shrink.
Make each line length 1" diffrent on both sides so the splices get offset, avoiding a harness bulge.
When I worked in avionics it was stressed that in the US solder splices are not approved in aviation; crimp splices only, and they must have crimps for the insulation as well. I believe certa-crimps are mandatory in Part 135 and above.
Good job
I really like the way you work. My Dad taught me so much when I was young. You remind me of him.
You need to check out heat shrink solder connectors used for marine applications. They solder and seal using a heat gun in one quick step. They are clear so you can inspect it also. Check them out on Amazon. I think they make a better splice that is less brittle. Sometimes an issue with tinned stranded wire. Joe
In my 46 years of being a mechanic of gasoline, diesel, propane and natural gas. This was my favorite kind of repair. Kind of like a silent but deadly, roll the dice, that had to be it, kind of repair. You used the correct terminology for the customer post diagnosis( test drive it let me know how it does) 21 years working on school buses and dealing with drivers that totally helped me by describing the problem was made me the mechanic that I became🥺😳😁 yea all those emotions🥂
For those that are curious, the tape he used was also known as Friction tape (as well as hockey stick tape).
Yes, I was curious. Thanx
I use the friction tape whenever i do any electrical repairs on cars trucks and even riding mowers. It sticks better than electrical tape
I aways hated trying to figure out someone else's wire mess but u doing a great job
Nice one. When tinning wires. Heat from the end back towards the insulation. That way the copper wont wick away the heat to a part of the wire that doesnt need to be heated and potentially damage the insulation. As for the exposed power wire, there is a product called Liquid Tape, (get it a Lowes etc) would have been ideal for that job.
Learning every day.
I thought that liquid tap or heat shrink tape would last longer under to the car too.
My wife and I sit and love watching your vids...wondering why u are a unicorn cuz there's not 1 mechanic we met here in Ohio that seems skilled and professional as u!
cut like 4" off a coat hanger and bend it into a wide U then crimp on aligator clips. Slip some heat shrink over the clips to cover the teeth so they dont cut through the wire insulator. Now you've got a mini hands free wire holder that can be used on a bench or up inside the car pretty much anywhere.
Great video to show your patience and professionalism.
I saw the copper mantle/braiding laying open scraping alongside metal parts and a rubber part under the car. Perhaps it is interesting to know that some rubbers contain soot (carbon soot) that is electrically conductive (in the 1KOhm-10 KOhm range). The scraping of that blank copper mantle alongside rubber/metal could (at least in theory) lead to the situation that the car computer detects a "double earth" (= a ground loop) that makes the "motor fail detection" lamp to light up. Good that you isolated that mantle electrically with tape. 3 dec. 2021.
Probably all black rubber that is required to take a lot of wear, tear, and shear, contains soot. There are colored (including white) rubbers where silicates etc are used to toughen the mixture, but soot tends to make the strongest result, with the drawback of being black.
The PT Cruiser, I worked at a Chrysler dealership when these came out. I remember we couldn't sell any of them at first, why! I can't remember why, but I do remember the insanely highy warranty repair rate the entire Chrysler, Dodge, jeep fleet had at the time.
When soldering wires like this, you need to do a lineman (Western Union) splice, then solder.
It gives the best mechanical connection before soldering.
NEVER rely on solder to make a mechanical connection.
That's what he usually does but without the tinning of the ends.
I actually learned that when I was getting my osha soldering cert just before I was a pcb inspector for a while. Outside of tacking a component to a board, solder should never be used to hold any kind of physical load. It's purely used to establish an unchanging/reliable electrical connection. If it happens to sturdy up the joint, then great, but that isn't why wires are soldered together.
@@mikecurry6847 The first two rules of soldering.
#1 Establish a good mechanical connection
#2 Always flow the solder from the cold side, towards the heat source.
Even when soldering parts to a circuit board, you always make sure to establish a good mechanical connection, unless they're surface mount components.
While it's highly unlikely this fix will fail before the car does, solder, over time, can weaken to the point of losing any kind of mechanical strength it has to the component it's attached to, especially if it's a cold joint.
Back when I used to repair electronics, old solder joints were the culprit of many repairs.
@@KentuckyRanger yeah honestly I don't think those wires will fail either. It's not like the method he just used doesn't work. It just isn't going to work in every case and it's not really that much work to make a mechanical connection first. I'll add though that strictly going from the cold side isn't always the best method. I like to heat the wire/pad up, put the solder directly to the tip of the iron to get a little bit of solder flowing, and use the flowing solder to establish a heat bridge that let's me move to a colder area of what I'm working on without moving the iron or overheating the part. That's probably not necessary in automotive applications but it's a habit from my old job. When you're soldering on a pcb, you have to be fast. Holding the iron to the pad for even just a little bit too long will pull the pad clean off and ruin the board
@James Carroll same. I never knew what it was called, but I just looked up the western union splice and that's already really close to what I do. I usually bend the exposed conductors into a J shape, hook the two together, and then twist each one around itself. It kind of makes two eye holes that are hooked together. I'll have to try out the proper western union splice though. Just based off looking at it, it looks like that method would be better than the method I currently use because it would be just a little bit less bulky
I really enjoy watching these Ray! Keep them coming. After seeing the last couple of wiring repairs I wonder if you have ever thought of using something like these I found on the interweb:
340PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors-haisstronica Marine Grade Heat Shrink Wire Connectors-Butt Splice Wire Terminals for Marine,Electrical with Corrosion and Weatherproof(5Colors/5Sizes)
No muss, no fuss. Strip, butt splice, connect wires, heat shrink, done. Been using a similar type in aircraft repair for a couple decades & these are finally an inexpensive version.
I hope that PT doesn't return & anything that vintage is going to have worn items everywhere.
👍👍
Thanks for the info I gather here.
Ray, when tinning wires for soldering, I usually only tin one wire, then wrap the non tinned wire around the tinned one in the twist fashion. This helps hold it and still provides for solder to bond form the inside as well as what you apply from the outside. Also, you are not working with two stiff wire end, just on and one that can flex around it for a better connection.
The proper way is to NOT tin either wire and wrap them against each other in opposite directions. The idea is that it provides a mechanical lock even when the wires are pulled apart without solder. After they are twisted properly, that is when you apply solder. You never apply solder to tin the wires before or your can't twist them together properly. This is the only NASA and AEROSPACE accepted standard to splice two wires together with solder. What Ray is doing would fail the pull test that subject splices to with a calibrated pull test machine. The actual preferred method is a proper mechanical crimp connection using PIDG connectors using MIL spec tools. If the right connector and crimp tools are used, the strength of the connection is better than any soldered connections. I work on marine boats and install electronics all the time. The crimp tools costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. I use the same MIL spec tools and connectors used by aircraft mechanics to properly terminate connectors on airplanes.
makezine.com/2012/02/28/how-to-splice-wire-to-nasa-standards/
@@ahndeux The article you referenced states the you should pre-tin. That's called an oxomoron.
@@ahndeux The article you referenced states the you should pre-tin. That's called an oxymoron.
@@ahndeux The article you referenced states that you should pre-tin. That's called an oxymoron.
@@ahndeux When I was in apprenticeship training, they made a clear point that solder should never be used to do the mechanical job of keeping a joint together. So it would be a knot first, or a crimp connector first, then solder over it all. It seemed weird to me, cause.. solder is pretty tough! But that's what I heard. Can't say I follow the rule often... But I'm retired so that's a good explanation..
I liked your soldering process especially the alligator clip method
Electrical tape in tight spaces: Good tip from SMA is to wrap a length round a small socket. Makes it a lot easier to wrap a wire when there's not much room. Good job!
Ah it’s nice to see someone who follows Eric as well, hi from Ireland
Your quality of electrical wiring has improved a lot since the dodge with the LED headlights vidya. Good job!
Having soldered thousands of connections in my electronics career, I can tell you that the primary thing in a soldered connection is FIRST a mechanical connection. What you're doing is called 'tack soldering', and will NOT withstand the test of time. Best would be a combination of what you were doing before, AND tinning the wires before making the 'u' that you WERE doing.
I have no idea how to solder professionally, but I always drilled the wires together and then applied the solder. Seemed to make sense for me, So far this was always enough for my non-professional stuff, but may not withstand greater mechanical stress, dunno.
After a quick search, I realized that what I did all the time is just an old technique called Western Union Splice. Funny
@@Asto508 Yep....that works. As long as you have a mechanical connection before soldering, like a spiral twist together, or what Ray was doing before, with a hook, although I would have crimped them with pliers to ensure a better mechanical connection....it'll work fine. "Tack soldering".....not so much.
While I would also advise to splice or twist the wires together or use a connection sleeve or spring, the shrink tubing and wrap tape do also provide some mechanical strength and probably make this the most reliable part of the entire wire harnass which doesn't seem to be in too good of a shape.
Did you even watch the same video? As he very clearly did pre-solder every wire before combing them. Also, he makes a parallel connection, not a "U" connection.
@@hardergamer I think YOU didn't read MY comment. Tinning a wire and tack soldering it, is not the same as a good mechanical connection. Tinning is great.....but THEN, you still must have a good MECHANICAL connection prior to soldering the two. Tinning and soldering are NOT the same thing. After a number of hot/cold cycles, tack soldered connections tend to separate. That's from more than 60 years of soldering experience.....but you do you, and I'll do me.
My 2nd year as a BMW tech and these videos are great content !
Ray I Love the content you put out!! You are a remarkable technician!! Keep up the great work!! You are very knowledgeable and explain the job at hand in understandable terms. I look forward to watching what you did today!!
This is where I love Scotch 70 self fusing silicon rubber tape. Insulates & sticks to itself without leaving gross glue for future you to have to deal with!
I know a mechanic who has driven one of these for years. It seems to me like it's been a perfect vehicle for making sure that he always has work to do when customer traffic is light.
Heck yea, in HS buddys Mom had the PT Turbo GT and my first police experience was a ticket for us doing burnouts in it.
I have a friend who travels the country living out of a PT Cruiser setup as a mini camper with solar power
These have problems with wiring harnesses not having enough slack for movement of the engine once it's mounts get worn too
The PT Cruiser has and will remain a unreliable vehicle. Most technicians, refuse to work on them.
@@waleyefish9026 I had one for a rental car once, it got such bad gas mileage wasn't much better than my 1/2 ton GMC van. Was all they had at Hertz and I was in a hurry to get home. Noisy rough engine, and rode like a truck. Junk. And it only had 15000 miles on it, and wasn't even a year old yet.
Ray,
Make sure solder tip is clean. Take ROSIN core solder and a little paste flux and tin the solder tip. Next, flux your bare wire ends. Touch the wire with the flux to the tinned solder tip. Your solder will flow and tin your wires perfectly. A shiny solder joint is a good indication you have a good joint. You also want to make sure your wires are mechanically mated together before you apply solder. You can push strand ends together and join them and solder. Finally, clean the joints with isopropyl alcohol. Seems like a lot but it’s just as quick and more reliable. Cheers Ray and keep up the great work.
An old Tom Swifty joke: “you’re using the wrong type of solder, Tom said acidly “.
Ideally Crank and cam sensor wires should be shielded or kept away from any rotational parts due to magnetic interference or RFI. I bet that wire loom touching the axle boot was the culprit.
Is there a relearn procedure after new crank sensor installed ?
@@tonycking0121 No. A good clean signal is just that, a good clean signal.
@@peekaboo4390 just a question. In early 2000s some required a relearn. Especially the gm 4.3 engine.
@@tonycking0121 I dont know about the 4.3 and this certainly isn't one. Google's your friend when it comes to these types of questions. I cant see how a relearn would be of any use ....crank shaft sensor is about spark time primarily and it is so good as binary in nature.
Love your clips
Best way iv found is once you strip your ends push wires into each other then give a twist then solder slide heat shrink over and shrink.
They have these clear wire joiners now made out of high temp shrink wrap with solder in the center of them this still only requires a cigarette lighter or small blow torch to melt them.
They have a ring of low melting point solder in the center of these clear see through joiners all you do is strip off a few millimeters of plastic on each wire then push wire into your clear joiner until both wires meet in the middle push them in hard enough so the individual strands slide in beside each other.
Then heating the joiner from the outsides in this shrinks the joiner to hold your wires in place. Then heat the solder until it melts and solder's your wires together in the middle. These are good on most wire joining jobs
I can tell you from experience, you want no part of doing a timing belt on that car. It is easiest done out of the vehicle, and with a good amount of time. Only thing worse is replacing the evaporator.
What a mess of a vehicle !
Yeah, that bolt through the frame on PT losers and water pump makes the timing belt a pain…can’t believe these clown cars are still on the road.
I found the best way to do timing belt work on a PT Cruiser is to use a floor jack under the engine and another under the transmission. Remove the transmission mount and PCM. You can roll the engine 4 or 5 inches toward the transmission side and raise the engine up like seven inches on the belt side if you need to. The wiring harness can move around enough.
The loose connector, vibrations and gravity could all be the problems you fixed, You done good...
Love to see watching you work with dedication..I wish our mechanics were like you here.. keep up the good work *RAY*❤️
Have you ever considered liquid electrical tape? I use it for pool heater jobs where pack rats chew up wires. It seems to work great for those awkward wire repairs.
The liquid electrical tape is good but you must buy the 3M type the other knockoffs are trash
should use wire barrels. adds hard point. liked tinning.
A poop turd cruiser. The only thing classic on that one is its a Chrysler. Good stuff Ray. Stay safe and be well. Have a good weekend.
Poop Turd...funny.
AKA a glorified Dodge Neon. People were paying a premium for these butt ugly cars when they came out.
Eversince I am watching your videos I am catching myself more and more by going: "Powering off!-BEOU..." Which is my highlight at the end of almost every one of your vids and btw this was by far the best one!
At 36:17 who else was waiting for the hood to flip up on the test drive after this?
Shrink tubing... literally one of the best inventions ever!
Every Chilton/Haynes manual ever: _"To remove, repeat install steps in reverse order. To install, repeat removal steps in reverse order."_
"Assembly is the reverse of disassembly." I remember that instruction when disassembly was pulling the armature out of a starter and the brushes at the far end went "sproing!"
You guys listen to the best music in that shop. And your videos are awesome buddy.
The alligator clip would work better for the soldering, as the big pliers you were using would act as a heat sink. They would pull the heat out of the joint, and make it take longer for the solder connection to heat up and flow
A cheap pair of forceps work good in this situation and hold better
A cheap pair of forceps work good in this situation and hold tight
If he did a proper splice, he wouldn't need anything at all. Just twist the two bare wires together in opposite directions and the splice stays together without any holder. After that, that is when you apply solder to the joint to hold the two wires together. You don't put solder on the wires first on a proper splice because the wire would be too stiff to twist together.
You fixed it for sure. Great job. Be blessed.
You are a rare commodity Ray. And some people may say that's a good thing I guess it all depends on who you talk to. But what I'm getting at is most mechanics seem to just throw parts at Are vehicles. Hoping But yet not really caring if they get lucky and find the reason or the default to the vehicle. We the customer therefore are left to absorb the cost. Until the real problem is found. You Ray do not operate that way. You test you scan you hypothesize And it appears you find the reason eventually of the car owner's complaint Of motor vehicle not operating correctly. Thank you not only for your quality work but but you're honesty.
Ray, "That's how you know you are old when cars came out new when you where in high school, now they are becoming vintage". (It's a 2002 car).
Weeeell. Have you seen the flying car in the "Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets" movie? The Ford Anglia 105e, 1959-1968. I was a little boy when that car was first introduced to the public. "Ha ha ha".
I hope i have made you feel younger. Love your video's, keep them coming. Best wishes from an "Old Man" who lives in North East London, England.
Bro do you realize your videos have cut my repair time in half! You are a master at diag and I'm learning alot. Thank you for sharing all this info.