What is this wire?

[whyzee125]

Hey guys,

I was working under my 98 5 speed w/ e locker the other day and saw this. At first I thought it was an e brake cable so I looked closely as I was confused since my e brake works. I saw that my e brake is in fact connected as it should be.

I grabbed it and when it touched the axle, it sparked, telling me that it’s actually unterminated wiring. Now I have no dash lights or tail lights. I found the fuse for these in the engine bay fuse box but when I replace it, the new fuse immediately blows too.

What the heck did I do? What is this wiring? Thanks in advance!
https://i.imgur.com/XBeeJ5u.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/ebHju9i.jpeg

 

[brillo_76]

Sadly I don't recognize it. Does it go to your e-locker? I am wondering if it goes to the switch on the locker so your dash light come on for the locker being enabled. Parking lights and dash Are tied together. When I was blowing tail fuse.. Mine was the trailer hitch parking light wire shorting. I would lose the parking lights and my dash lights burned the fuse (Tail)..

 

[whyzee125]

Thank you for the reply, Brillo! Come to think of it, while I was down there, I noticed my aftermarket trailer wiring is shredded where it goes through the grommet into the body. I'll check on that to see if that's the issue! I rarely tow so hadn't prioritized fixing that (it honestly may have been that way since I got the truck, not sure).

Good chance the wire in question does go to the e locker but the weird thing is, it lights up on the dash when the button is pressed. I haven't 100% confirmed it's working but it doesn't blink or anything, it appears to lock like it should. I'll do a little more investigation and report back!

 

[brillo_76]

Thank you for the reply, Brillo! Come to think of it, while I was down there, I noticed my aftermarket trailer wiring is shredded where it goes through the grommet into the body. I'll check on that to see if that's the issue! I rarely tow so hadn't prioritized fixing that (it honestly may have been that way since I got the truck, not sure).

Good chance the wire in question does go to the e locker but the weird thing is, it lights up on the dash when the button is pressed. I haven't 100% confirmed it's working but it doesn't blink or anything, it appears to lock like it should. I'll do a little more investigation and report back!

If that is the case.. Is the probably the trailer wire on the after market wiring. Mine pinched between the hitch and the bumper.. Would explain the dead short and blowing the tail fuse along with loosing the dash lights. If you check when the fuse blown your parking lights are maybe out as well.

 

[2TH4IST]

That is the vent tube for the e-locker actuator. If you follow it back, it will go into the e-locker wiring. So if you extend the rear diff breather, you need to extend that breather as well.

Re the sparking, probably the frayed trailer wiring.

 

[3bears]

on one of my 4runners, and my tundra I had similar issues, both related to the trailer wires. 4 runner had an aftermarket adapter that had gone bad, the tundra had a factory adapter that had gone bad.
and by adapter, I mean that little control box that plugs into factory wires for the lights

 

[whyzee125]

Well guys, I'm officially an idiot but I'm relieved I wasn't wrong that it didn't look like an electrical wire lol! Thank you all for the replies; my trailer wiring was super shredded where it comes through the body grommet. I just removed the whole harness for now, replaced the fuse and all is well. I'll order a new harness and make sure it's better insulated so it doesn't shred again

Thank you all so much.