Got the whole miles and miles of wiring harness from a 1996 F150. It is going in the Vanette stepvan. It is absolutely filthy, covered with oil and dirt.
My first thought was to put the dirty wiring harness in the dishwasher, but I am currently married.
Any good ideas? I thought about soaking pieces of it in a 5 gallon bucket. Is it a problem if the connectors get washed and wet? I am not looking forward to all the time this will take to clean.
Spray it down with contact cleaner. Drip dry on the fence.
Maybe take it to a car wash?
First I cut all the wires I don't need and remove them.
Then... throw it in a bucket of pine sol and hot water for a couple hours.
Throw it in a bucket of water for a couple hours.
Rinse with the hose.
Leave in the sun to dry for a day or two.
Re-wrap with corrugated plastic tubing amassed from under the hood of modern GM cars at the junkyard or bought by the 50' roll on eBay.
Hot soapy water.
brake cleaner, a few rags, and an afternoon of top gear on youtube in the garage
I use WD40 and a rag. I don't like the idea of submerging wiring or hitting plastic/vinyl insulation with anything to volatile.
I've cleaned some from old Brit cars with that Purple Power and a spray bottle, soak the harness down good, use a cheap paintbrush on the heavy crust then hose it off. The connectors: rinse them thoroughly to get the Purple Power out, then immediately blow them out thoroughly with compressed air. Then hose them down with WD40, I mean soak them good. You want the stuff to work its way down into the connector seals. When reassembling the connectors use dielectric grease.
By a gallon of "oil eater" (google it I think you can get it on Amazon) bar non the best cleaner for oil dirt etc.
Cut 50/50 with HOT water and silk in a 5 gal bucket. I have taken diff oil out of carpets, trans fluid out of the back of an explorer carpet.
It is biodegradable and non toxic as well. Great product. The local Costco use to sell it but have since discontinued carrying it.
4cylndrfury wrote: brake cleaner, a few rags, and an afternoon of top gear on youtube in the garage
Brake cleaner sounds like a bad idea. You've got plastic connectors and insulation there.
Tyler H wrote: I use WD40 and a rag. I don't like the idea of submerging wiring or hitting plastic/vinyl insulation with anything to volatile.
... so why are you hitting it with kerosene?
Brake cleaner sounds alright as long as it's the non-chlorinated stuff.
pres589 wrote:Tyler H wrote: I use WD40 and a rag. I don't like the idea of submerging wiring or hitting plastic/vinyl insulation with anything to volatile.... so why are you hitting it with kerosene? Brake cleaner sounds alright as long as it's the non-chlorinated stuff.
WD40 wrote: What does WD-40 Multi-Use Product contain? While the ingredients in WD-40 Multi-Use Product are secret, we can tell you what it does NOT contain. WD-40 Multi-Use Product does not contain silicone, kerosene, water, graphite, or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
To each their own. I love the stuff for cleaning, or getting water out of stuff I've cleaned. I've just had bad experiences with brake cleaner and brittle plastic. As long as all of the water is out, it probably doesn't matter what you clean it with. There is a lot of split-loom and tape for water to hide in on a harness.
pres589 wrote:Tyler H wrote: I use WD40 and a rag. I don't like the idea of submerging wiring or hitting plastic/vinyl insulation with anything to volatile.... so why are you hitting it with kerosene? Brake cleaner sounds alright as long as it's the non-chlorinated stuff.
this^^^
I use Sprayon EL749. It's an electrical degreaser made by Krylon. Leaves no residue whatsoever, is nonchlorinated, is not offensively smelly (sorry, won't make you high), and cleans better than real brake cleaner. It's a bit on the $$ side though, like $6 a can.
I don't know if WD40 is such a good idea if you want to keep the wiring harness clean. That stuff dries to a gummy consistency and tends to attract dirt.
My father used to repair clocks and he would always know when someone used WD40 to lubricate one-- it would be absolutely filthy inside.
The MSDS sheet for WD-40 says about 45% of the stuff is an unnamed "Aliphatic Hydrocarbon" and then 25% is a "Petroleum Base Oil". Then about 15% is "LVP Aliphatic Hydrocarbon". So I agree with the secret part, but I don't know how far removed they are from kerosene, I'm definitely not a chemist.
Just not sure how great it is for this task. I think that the non-chlorinated brake cleaners out there are pretty mild on plastic and rubber parts. The old school stuff, sure, that's not a great deal.
For the same reason that I wont buy flooded cars, I advise against any method where you submerge the ends of the wires in a water containing solution. Water wicking inside the wires is going to come back to haunt you.
Wipe down with degreaser of your choice. Solvent based stuff is going to work best. Contact cleaner for the connectors themselves.
I have a dishwasher I saved from the trash out in the shop just for stuff like this. 
Hot soapy water laced with Dawn dish detergent.
I use alcohol and a rag.
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