Youdog99

Greetings all! I'm a Newbie here so please let me know if I step on any rules or toes with my post.

Picked up this truck because rats got into the engine bay and ate the fuel feed line and MOST of the engine harness. So I need the entire engine harness and the fuel feed line.

I searched the vendor directory for parts dealers but no one jumped off the page beyond CarID and I've already looked there. I seem to be having trouble getting to the OEM part numbers. Any advice on Part Sites with good detailed exploded part diagrams and parts list?

While this looks to be a miserable repair, it looks salvageable. We dug around under the truck and I think if I pull the front drive shaft and the front of the exhaust system, that will open up enough space where we can work on the fuel lines and the back end of the harness. I have access to a 4-post lift so it wont be as tedious in that respect.

I'd certainly appreciate any guidance or tips on getting the old harness and fuel lines out.
TIA
Greg

Youdog99

This is just a sample of the damage to the harness. The main harness right behind the fuel line and running down the back of the motor to the tranny, is eaten through at least 75% of the way through for about 6 inches!

I'm thinking about trying a GM Fuel Feed Line repair kit before I replace the entire fuel line going back to under the cabin. The main harness right behind the fuel line is eaten through at least 75% of the way through for about 6 inches!

Irish_alley

reminds me of when i went to buy an old chevy that had been sitting by a barn. the owner had passed and the power of attorney (son in-law) said they just parked it and it was running fine. i went out to it and had the point out its not going to run since some mice/rats had eaten all the spark plug wires. but it help me buy the truck for a few hundred

73shark

Youdog99: Welcome to the forum.
One reason mice eat wire insulation is because they started using soybean oil in the plastic.

oldchevy

You can try the junk yards for another harness, especially the U Pick yards which are much cheaper.

Youdog99

I appreciate everyone's thoughts.

I've found a number of harnesses on eBay. Does anyone know if there are any differences between the engine harnesses on the 2 wheel and the 4 wheel versions?

Thanks again!

Youdog99

Good morning All,

Just posting to follow-up on how this went. I found the exact harness at LT1Swap. I spoke with Brendan and he had a take-off from a previous project. It took 2 1/2 days to pull the old harness out and maybe 2 days to get the replacement in. Next time, I'm pulling the engine and tranny. It would have been a lot faster to do that.

Also, I have a Flex-Fuel motor. The Injector Plugs are different. If you buy an eBay harness and Flex-Fuel is an option on your truck, make sure you are getting the right harness.

Damage assessment: Fuel Feed line was chewed off. The harness segment that went down the back of the engine was eaten through about 30% for about 3 inches. The coil pack harnesses were destroyed.

If you have to do this and don't pull the engine, I'd recommend the following.

1. Take as many pictures as you can. Both close up and 'Big Picture'. I took a lot and wished I had taken more.
2. Pay attention to routing. Did the harness go over or under the tranny lines? Did it go in front of or behind the other harness. Label the old harness with this info at the point where the routing is important.
3. Label everything! I did a good job of labeling where the harness plugged into sensors. I could have done a better job of labeling both sides of connections. I have two plugs coming off the harness where I can't find the truck side. They are both right at the fuse box and I verified that I didn't hide anything when I reinstalled the fuse box. I used blue painter tape and a Marks-a-Lot to label everything. Its easy to remove once you have the new harness in the truck.
4. Don't be afraid to remove things that are in the way. I had to remove the skid plates and heat shields to get to a lot of the harness. The tranny section was very hard to get to until I disconnected the front drive shaft, then it was easy. I had to remove the Intake as well.
5 Keep the old harness handy for two reasons. 1.) you can stretch it out and use it as a reference. 2.) There might be minor differences in the plugs. I had three plugs that didn't match and it was easy to move plugs over.
6. Solder and heat-shrink your repairs. Compression connectors are OK but you don't want to have to repair these in the truck or have to troubleshoot a problem that occurs because a connector didn't like getting tugged during the installation.
7. New harness: Label it to match the old harness. I made sure that all of labels on the old harness were mirrored onto the new harness. (I also made sure I could read my own handwriting)
8. I elevated the truck about 2' in the air so I could get under it easily. I have air lifts which made that easy but I put the load on jack-stands. And I stacked every spare tire I own under the frame front and back. Then I had ladders on both sides of the truck and aluminum so I could get on top of the engine as needed. I also used a thick cushion that I could lay on top of the engine. I was on top of the motor A LOT!
9. Coil Harness: With an Ohm Meter, I confirmed that the after-market eBay unlabeled harnesses were installed on the Coil Packs properly. That would have been REAL easy to get on backwards. I confirmed that the same wires were on the individual coil plugs and went to the correct pins in the main plug.
10. Then it was just a lot of work, Advil, and Tylenol.

Fuel Feeder Line repair: I bought a nylon fuel repair line and coupler ($30-$40). I did spend the money for a SS tubing cutter. After removing both the battery and the fuel pump relay ( I just didn't want any possibility of a fuel fountain in the engine bay when I was reinstalling the battery), I cut the old braided connector off and installed the coupler onto the OEM stainless line, then measured and cut the nylon repair line to fit. In the test start, I don't see any sign of leakage. I've never used these so I'm going to watch this repair for a while to make sure it holds up. So a fire extinguisher will ride with me for a few weeks.

Evap line: Plastic Retaining Clips. Of course one of the broke when I pulled the line. I was able to get those locally. While expensive ($23) for two pieces of plastic the size of a nickel, it was a lot cheaper than replacing the whole evap line.

End result: I installed the battery, then the fuel pump relay, and could hear the truck coming back to life. I heard the fuel pump pressure up. I verified I had pressure on the fuel rail. The motor started on the first crank and purred like a kitten. It was 1:30 in the morning so I opened the garage and let it run about 20 minutes. No Check Engine lights either. I'll put a code reader on it to make sure but so far, so good!!

Note: If this happens to your truck and you file a claim, don't be surprised if the Insurance Company totals your truck. This was an extremely labor intensive task. And I got quotes of somewhere between $800 and $900 for a new replacement harness. Factory coil harnesses would have been some more money too.