i've done a half-arsed job - electrical issue...

[E21_Ross]

Right, not sure if this is the right section so mods, please move if needed.

to cut a long story short i needed to disconnect a wire in my E21 which go to the headlamps, they are right at the front of the car. it was just a "spade" connection which i pulled out, the socket in which the spade goes is rubber insulated and this is the side where the current would be coming from (i.e. fuse box > socket in which spade goes > spade connector > wire to destination). now, i didn't have any insulating tape on me so have left the wires hanging for the time being, will this cause any problems?

can't see it shorting out or anything as the section carrying the current is insulated. the bad thing is i only just realised i did it after putting the fking front grille back on again which is a bit of a faff to get off (though only takes up to 10 mins i guess tops).

so, do i really need to get some tape over it? i don't really need said cable to be working in the near future anyway....?

thanks guys

[tonywilliams]

Good practice would be to make sure its insulated with tape but you do not have to do this if the live side of the connector is insulated.

[anonymous-user]

E21_Ross said:

...i needed to disconnect a wire in my E21 which go to the headlamps, they are right at the front of the car...

I'm sorry, but this really tickled me!

[E21_Ross]

Opulent said:

E21_Ross said:

...i needed to disconnect a wire in my E21 which go to the headlamps, they are right at the front of the car...

I'm sorry, but this really tickled me!

i did think about that after i wrote it, but the effort to change it was too great. what i meant was, where i disconnected the wire was right at the front...obviously, the wire with the live feed doesn't start right by the headlamps

the live side is sort of like this



should i go out and buy some insulating tape??

thanks chaps

[tonywilliams]

If it's easy to get to then I would recommend putting a bit of tape over it just incase.

[E21_Ross]

tonywilliams said:

If it's easy to get to then I would recommend putting a bit of tape over it just incase.

ok thanks mate, i'll sort it out over the weekend, will be using the car today, not tomorrow, then doing a 150 mile drive thursday so hopefully it can hang (no pun intended) on until then!i have some insulating tape at home and don't fancy buying a whole new reel if i can just wait a couple of days.

[R1 Indy]

don't bother with insulation tape, get some heat shrink and do a proper job.

[poing]

Do you have any blu-tack or similar, stick that over the end and it'll be fine in the short term as long as it doesn't get too hot.

When I was a poor student my throttle link on my old Micra was held on with blu-tack but would fall off after it got hot. Made life interesting because it would jam the throttle wide open but that didn't stop it passing it's MOT like it

[Eggman]

Part of the reason for using that style of connector on the live side of a joint is that its insulated and won't short out if it comes undone and touches earth whilst it flops around. I would leave it as it is.

If you are paranoid about it, see if there's a fuse you can pull. If there isn't, tbh I'd be more inclined to worry about that.

[anonymous-user]

You really want to insulate both halves of any disconnected plug. Not just from an electrical isolation point of view, but also to prevent any damage from dirt or water penetration, especially if the connectors are underbonnet or vunerable to road spray etc