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Repair a Toyota Wire Harness

69K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  NorcalPR 
#1 ·
Use this guide anytime you need to repair a wire harness, repair a connector, or you want to plug into an existing harness in your rig. You can also cut off wires at a harness, and solder them on at the connector for a factory look if you want to run something different to an existing harness (like the grey wire mod).
First, you will either need to save, or open this file. Thanks to NCTTORA for uploading this file!
http://ncttora.com/fsm/Toyota Wiring Repair Manual.pdf

For reference, a “plug” is the plastic connector by itself, a “connector” is the metal leads that slip into the pluf, and a “wire harness” is the plug and the connectors assembled together.

First, I will go over how to replace a broken plug. I’ve had this happen a couple times, most recently when I fixed a coolant leak in my block, and the plug for the knock sensor shattered in my hands as I pulled it off of the knock sensor. The heat deteriorated the plastic and made it brittle. You can order any of these parts at your local Toyota dealer, or Toyota of Dallas. TOD is much much cheaper, especially if you’re buying a lot...

On your plug, there should be 5 numbers printed on it, usually on the back. These numbers are the last 5 digits of the part number. The first 5 numbers of the part number for the plug, is ALWAYS 90980-. Here are a couple pictures of some plugs, a male, and a female. For reference, the white plugs are male plugs for a Tacoma Lisense plate, the grey female plug is for a turn signal harness for a Tacoma.




The part numbers for the white plugs are 90980-11168, the part number for the grey plug is 90980-11020. Make sense so far?

You will then need to remove the connectors from the plug. You will need to fabricate (or buy) the tool to unclip the connector from the plug. The dimensions are printed in the manual. I made mine out of a pop rivet, using a grinder. You may be able to use a teeny flat blade screwdriver as well.



First, you will need to free the lock on the plug. Some plugs are a block on the side that you lift up and out of the way. Some locks are located in the front. Usually, if there isn’t something to unclip in the front, it’s located on the side of the plug. Look closely on the male plug, you’ll see the tab on the sideof the inside that you pry away with the pick. The female plug is easy to spot.




Insert your pry tool of your choosing, and free the lock



I find it easier to completely remove the lock from the plug. If you look back at the picture of the male plug, you’ll spot the clip that holds the connector in place. You need to insert the tool between the connector and the clip, to free it from the wire. I find it simple to insert, then pry up so that it forces the clip to open.




At the same time you are freeing the clip, pull on the wire from the back of the plug. You shouldn’t need to force anything, if you’re freed the clip, the wire should slip out with ease. Before removing the wire, note which slot the connector slides into (1,2,3,4...)

Here is a picture of the wires out of the plug.




All you need to do now is grab your new plug, and slip the wire into place. Slip the connector in the same spot. It only goes in one way, if it does not easily slide in, do not force it, spin the connector and try again. Once it slips in, you’ll hear a faint click, and you’ll be faced with this:




Then push the lock back into place. It will click when fully seated.

There you have it, you have just repaired a broken plug! You can also use the wire removing technique to change polatiry on plugs, or move wires around on plugs.
 
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#2 ·
Now lets say you have a harness on your rig, and you want to plug into it. A perfect example is my lisence plate lamps. I had the part number of the female harness, great, but that’s not what I needed, I need the male part, and the male part is the actual bulb holder. No problem, the manual can figure it out for you.

The female harness for the lisence plate lamp is 90980-11162 (Read off the back of the plug). Search the manual for 11162 (Whatever the numbers on your plug reads). You may have to “Find the next”by using CTRL+F till you come to the chart that has all of the Male plug numbers, listed with the female plug numbers. In this case, it’s located on page 404. You’ll see that the part number for the male plug for this harness is 90980-11168!

That’s only half of the battle. You have the male plug part number, but you still need the part number for the connector.

Type in the last 5 of the part number for the plug that you need, in this case, 11168. Again, you may need to “find the next”. You’ll want to pull the page up where it’s a list of all the plugs you could ever want, listed in order. In this case, it’s located on Page 350. You’ll see that the connector is called a 2.3II, the plug is a male, and the part number for a repair wire is 82998-12430 (Connector part numbers start with 82998).

Go to the beginning of the manual, and type in 12430 in the CTRL+F box, and you’ll see that this is for a Tin plated repair connector. If you need it to be Gold plated, the part number is 82998-12450. If Go near the end of the manual and search for 12430, you’ll find a picture of the connector.

That’s it, you’ve just found a part number cross referencing off the opposite plug. If I wanted to order the male plug (Which I did), I would have to order this to complete one harness:

1 – 90980-11168
2 – 82998-12430

Note that I ordered 2 of the repair connectors. If you have a 3 wire harness, you would need to have ordered 3.
 
#3 ·
Now lets say your plug is fine, but the wire is screwed up and you just want to order a repair connector to fix it.

It’s pretty much the same as the post above. You would search for the part number of the harness (again, using the numbers off of the back), and searching for the number. You’ll look at the chart which it would tell you what part number is for a repair wire, either legnth.

Once you get the wire, you pull the old wire out using the steps outlined in the first post, and install the new in the harness. Solder the connection:



 
#4 ·
Lets say that you want to cheat, and you’re cheap like me. You’ll find that connectors are pricey. What if the wire was broken right at the plug, but the connector was still fine?

Easy. First, remove the connector in the setps outlined in the first post. Refer to this picture:



The little wire tabs on the left of the connector, bend outwards. Bend the wire back and forth so that it breaks as close as it can to the connector. Slide the rubber plug over the new wire if there is one (or existing that is in good shape still) and strip the wire about 1/8” long.

Lay the wire over the connector so that the stripped portion lays over the crimped part. Bend the tabs back over the wire to hold in place.

Set the sire and lay it so that the end of the connector (the end without the wire comming off the end of it) is higher than the wire. You’ll want to do this so that the solder does not flow into the end of the connector, therefore runing it (ask me how I know).

Solder the wire onto the connector as you normally would. It will take a while to heat up the connector, but a good iron shouldn’t have an issue.

Reinstall the wire back into the plug with the steps in the first post.
 
#5 ·
If I have missed anything, or if anything needs any clarification, I will edit this post. Please post up if you have questions, or you can't figure something out!

These steps should work for any Toyota vehicle from 95-Present. You may be able to use this thread on the older vehicles, but the numbers may not be on the plug. You will then have to patch up the plug, with the pictures. All the plugs are organized by waterproof and non-waterproof plugs, and they're sorted by how many openings there are...

-Phill
 
#6 ·
here is another cituation i need a solution reguarding the engine harness.

'96 4runner harness fubard by previous owner
'99 4runner harness i bought on ebay because seller told me yes it will work DOES"NT
how do i go about's modifying th e '99 harness to splice in wires for airpresure monitor and air flow meter. is it possible to do and will this involve adding new wires all the way from the sensors to the ecu
 
#7 ·
You'll have to look at wiring diagrams to look and compare. This post tells you how to remove wires from the harnesses. You have to figure out which wires to remove/move/replace
 
#10 · (Edited)
Sourced!!!

Yazaki or Sumitomo connectors. Looks like you can order the pins. Housings don't really crossover too well, but the Yazaki terminals cross over really well to the terminals in the manual.

http://www.smdinc.com/yazaki.php

of

http://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/index.php/cPath/109_110

In the future, I will order housings from Toyota if I cannot source them here. The pins I will order from here since the pins do not come with a piece of wire crimped on, and are MUCH cheaper...

-Phill
 
#11 ·
I have been doing stuff like this to make things look super clean. This is a great thread! :kewl:

Nothing makes a wiring job look better than making it look factory. I hate seeing wires all over the place with no order!
 
#12 ·
For real. These kind of tips are great. I really like a clean install for visual, but more importantly, reliabilty and ease of repair/troubleshooting.

NorcalPR thanks again:)
 
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