Junkyard Wire

[DeadFlanders]

Hey All!

Just thought I'd post this in case it helps someone. Wish I'd have thought about it before I did my new pillar gauges.

I was watching the following video on youtube, which has a couple of good tips for the junkyard, one of them being to find a large van or SUV and grab the wiring from there for your projects. (4:12 in the video) I liked this idea because you can see in the video how much wire you can get. For my pillar gauges I ended up needing about 6 different colors of wire, and I think it was around $40 for all of that wire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO7Pta_liLw

Well, last time I was at the junkyard I saw a 4Runner that was just about completely picked over, except that the main wiring bundle from the front to the rear was still there. Of course, this wiring bundle will probably be in most junkyard 4Runners, I mention the picked over part because since it was picked over, most of the panels and things that would be in the way of grabbing the wiring bundle were already gone, so it was super easy to get to.

Anyways, I liked the idea of getting the wiring from another 4Runner because I now have lots of extra wire, and the wire has all the same markings as the wiring in my 4runner. One thing that bothered me when I put my new gauges in were that I could really only find solid colored wire on-line. I would have preferred to have the wiring running to my gauges be marked the same as the wiring that I was coming off of.

Below are some pictures of the wiring that I pulled from the 4Runner. The main wire bundle to the rear runs from the drivers side floorboard all the way to the back, but there is another bundle that runs down the length of the vehicle on the passenger side that also has a fair amount of wire in it.

In total I got about:

6x Wires in the 7-9' range (Mostly 7')
16x Wires around 11-13' in length
30x Wires in the 4' range

I went a little OCD when I pulled apart the harness and I coiled everything really nicely and labeled it all for length.. It was a bit of work, but I just popped in my audio book and had at it!

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/deadflanders/30458363953/in/photolist-QGYEJt-QGYDDn-QGYCK8-QGYBXM-QGYB9x-QToR5e-QToQeg-QToPEF-QToNUc-QToNcF-QToMoM-QToJRx-PDLG4z-QPWcpA-QAs6se-PsJUGD-Npv5s6-PsJTdg" title="20161002_183000"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5443/30458363953_04c90072bb_z.jpg" width="360" height="640" alt="20161002_183000"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/deadflanders/31151363971/in/photolist-QGYEJt-QGYDDn-QGYCK8-QGYBXM-QGYB9x-QToR5e-QToQeg-QToPEF-QToNUc-QToNcF-QToMoM-QToJRx-PDLG4z-QPWcpA-QAs6se-PsJUGD-Npv5s6-PsJTdg/" title="20161002_183011"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5756/31151363971_c4e064a47a_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="20161002_183011"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/deadflanders/32047574596/in/photolist-QGYEJt-QGYDDn-QGYCK8-QGYBXM-QGYB9x-QToR5e-QToQeg-QToPEF-QToNUc-QToNcF-QToMoM-QToJRx-PDLG4z-QPWcpA-QAs6se-PsJUGD-Npv5s6-PsJTdg" title="20161223_142826"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5605/32047574596_4a234705a0_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="20161223_142826"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Chuckles89]

I can't see your pictures, but I did the same except I got part of a harness from a Tacoma

 

[phattyduck]

This is one of the upsides of doing motor swaps from complete clips and parting out vehicles. Plenty of OEM quality wire and connectors for projects.

-Charlie

 

[TheDurk]

This is one of the upsides of doing motor swaps from complete clips and parting out vehicles. Plenty of OEM quality wire and connectors for projects.

-Charlie

I was going to mention the connectors. Save them all with a several inches of wire attached. Then, when needed, you can remove individual pin/wire assemblies and you will have what Toyota calls a repair wire and will charge $6-$12 for new.

Then you can use this:

http://wilbo666.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48443657/Wire%20Harness%20Repair%20Manual%20%28RM1022E%29.pdf

when you have a wire broken off at a connector, to identify which repair wire you need, and to match that to the ones you have available. You also get instructions on how to remove/insert the pin/wire combos from their connector housings. Or build a whole new connector. The housings are cheap. 17 repair wires is real money.

 

[Aznwolf118]

Nice to have factory wires when doing swaps.
color matching for wiring harness and or extending wires are money. especially if your trouble shooting later with oem manuals.

one thing to do is take a ohm meter to the wire to confirm continuity. not all junk yard wire is perfect.
Had this problem during a harness jumper build for a friends swap.

 

[nissanh]

All my wirings are from toyota wire harness removed from scrap cars/trucks. These wires are the best and have the best insulation. I pull the wire in the desired length from the loom when needed.

 

[DeadFlanders]

OMG, that manual is amazing! Thanks for sharing it!

Cool to hear that others do this exact same thing. It seems so obvious and simple, but it just didn't occur to me when I was ordering the wire for my gauges that I should just hit the junkyard and grab the wires there. I think part of the reason is that when I think of a wiring harness I think more of the wiring in the dash, and those wires tend to be shorter, and much more of a pain to get to and remove. But the bundle to the rear was easy to take out, had a ton of wires, and they were all fairly long.. Pure gold!

I'll probably grab another bundle the next time I'm at the junkyard, and do as TheDurk said and keep the connectors intact. Then just leave that on the shelf for if I need something with some pins.

 

[UnderFire]

Pro tip for you guys, a lot of newer chrysler vehicles (like 06+) use really, really nice weatherproof connectors throughout, with a lot heavier gauge of wire than most manufacturers, hate to say it, but I like the connectors they've switched to more than any factory Toyota stuff I've seen.

 

[Chuckles89]

Pro tip for you guys, a lot of newer chrysler vehicles (like 06+) use really, really nice weatherproof connectors throughout, with a lot heavier gauge of wire than most manufacturers, hate to say it, but I like the connectors they've switched to more than any factory Toyota stuff I've seen.

The connectors on my sister's '01 Honda Civic are the best I've ever used. I'll check those Chrysler ones out next time I'm at the yard