Wire Harness- help needed

[azygoustoyou]

Okay all,
I will be installing my wiring harness in the car after it's painted. I have two or three harnesses. Although was thinking maybe I should replace the wiring. I was looking at the brown wire surgery and realized this was being done due to wiring getting old and not performing like it did as new. What do you think I should do here?
I could take the harness and test each wire to insure good polarity-? I think that is the term. I still have to learn about this.
I want to get started soon. I'm looking for some tips on what to do here. Thanks

[digitech]

You're on the right track, Brady, but wire does not have polarity. What you're looking at with your meter is continuity and to a lesser degree(with a meter) conductivity. Inspect the harness for good insulation, check the wire ends for corrosion and you might step up the gauge of the high current paths while you have the harness out.

[spider2081]

I think the quality of the wire used by Fiat was pretty good. It was secured in the cars in a way that little chaffing and damage would occur to it over the years. So most of the problems are not wire quality related. Electrical terminals deteriorate over time. Current flow through the metal and exposure to the elements can make them intermittent. This is especially true of push-on pull-off spade type connectors.
I think the ground spiders and the fuse block are the weakest points in the system.
Next seems to be what PO have done as repairs or mods.
A good physical inspection of all the connecors and the harness is where I would start.
Next you need a known good quality wire diagram for your car.

I am not planning to be in NJ too soon but if you can bring your harness to me ( Stratford, CT) I can go through it with you.

Let me know: Flyme194@gmail.com

[unplugged]

I would suggest that it would be difficult to "test" a harness thoroughly for issues. Broken wires should be easy to spot and you maybe able to spot some dirty connectors. Testing current carrying capacity is much more difficult if not impossible from a practical nature. A single unbroken strand in an otherwise compromised wire will still show conductivity when testing for resistance but would fail when any electrical load was applied. I would suggest that you inspect/clean as you install and then address what doesn't work. The Brown Wire Fix is designed to address a bottle neck where all current flows through a single wire through a single ignition switch terminal. Doubling up on the wire allows for less voltage drop on the down stream side of the ignition switch which leads to brighter head lights, dash lights, stronger power windows. An alternative to/ in addition to the brown wire fix would be to move the head lights/cooling fan off to separate relays powered upstream of the brown wire. (i.e. from the starter solenoid) . This also takes load off the brown wire and associated ignition terminal.