Bare wire covered in engine oil

TheYellowJeep

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Oct 8, 2022
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Dayton
I found this bare wire leading to the transmission (starter?) on the passenger side. 05 TJ w/ 6 spd manual. Had a nice oil leak and wear/tear of the years has left this wire bare at the connection, as well as destroyed the plastic wire conduit.

Question for y'all: how would you go about cleaning engine oil off of the bare wire before wrapping it up in electrical tape?

Thanks!
Just did a valve cover gasket swap and had a shop help out with the rear main seal/oil pan gaskets. Hopefully the marking will take itself down a notch :LOL:

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What he said about heat shrink is probably the best way to go, but I'd just use electrical tape myself. I would maybe get a can of engine degreaser from napa and then a can of electrical cleaner as well. Maybe pull the thing off of the starter and also make sure the wire is all the way into its housing, because it may have pulled out a bit which can cause some grounding issues. But I'd use the engine degreaser, wipe it up, and let it dry for a bit before wrapping it
 
Definitely disconnect the battery when you do. I had the bright idea to leave mine hooked up one time and accidentally shorted out the solenoid and it kicked the starter on lol luckily it didn’t grab ahold of anything while laying on the frame rail but it did startle me lol
 
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Reactions: MikeE024
I had the same thing with 6” or so of bare wiring. I spliced in new wiring w/ a female spade heat-shrink connector then wire loomed it.
 
That bare wire is only a potential problem when you turn the key to start the engine. That's far less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the time you're Jeep is in use and even less of your Jeeps total existence.

The first sentence is a fact. The second sentence is my opinion but it's based on what I believe to be fairly accurate information even if my math is off.

Regardless of that, I won't be offended if you fix it.

I will be offended if you don't fix it and your Jeep catches fire.

TJ LIVES MATTER!!!!
 
After fixing the wire itself, rip off that old hardened cracking wire loom (it will probably just crumble away). Get some new stuff at Harbor Freight (cheapest place for "wire loom" aka "protective wire wrap").