96 Maxima Cut BCM Harness

[spy007]

I just bought a 1996 Maxima where the harness going to the BCM was cut and poorly taped back together. The guy I bought the car from said that it drove and shifted fine but then stopped shifting out of third all of the sudden. Is it that hard to replace the harness myself? The Nissan dealership wants like $1600 for a new harness and $500 to install it. I dont think that their installation is too bad, but $1600 for a harness? I found a place that can rebuild my bcm for under $300 with a 1 year warranty if it is bad. I would like to fix the wiring first though so I can tell if it wasn't just a wiring problem. The speedometer does not work, or the cruise. The engine temp guage doesn't work at first, then bounces up and down fery quickly when the car heats up. The engine runs perfect and the transmission is just stuck in limp mode. Any help on this would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by spy007

I just bought a 1996 Maxima where the harness going to the BCM was cut and poorly taped back together. The guy I bought the car from said that it drove and shifted fine but then stopped shifting out of third all of the sudden. Is it that hard to replace the harness myself? The Nissan dealership wants like $1600 for a new harness and $500 to install it. I dont think that their installation is too bad, but $1600 for a harness? I found a place that can rebuild my bcm for under $300 with a 1 year warranty if it is bad. I would like to fix the wiring first though so I can tell if it wasn't just a wiring problem. The speedometer does not work, or the cruise. The engine temp guage doesn't work at first, then bounces up and down fery quickly when the car heats up. The engine runs perfect and the transmission is just stuck in limp mode. Any help on this would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance

1. Buy soldering iron, tin, wire stripper, self vulganizing rubbertape. Take u time, one by one, meticulously... save, learn.
2. Take car to electronics shop and ask quotation for soldering '50 wires', wrap up. Watch as they do it, pay.

Whatever u do, take a look what I did for my floating electronics computer center lab = Maxima wirings. Then do the same. 'Nobody' will do it for u...

[johnb_009]

Damn, how much you paid for the Maxima. I hope it was a good deal b/c that's alot of money to spend on a car that you just purchased.
You will need a new speedometer wire from Nissan. The cruise control is not really necessary but its a nice feature. You may want to change your thermostate. Its not too much money. But, obviously your sensors are going crazy.

[spy007]

Thanks for the ideas guys. The problem I am having with wiring the harness myself is that some wires are the same color. There are like 20 pink ones and I dont know where they go. Some of the other wires are duplicates too. I found a guy this weekend who specializes in wiring harness problems so hopefully he can figure something out.

[Nahkapohjola]

Originally Posted by spy007

Thanks for the ideas guys. The problem I am having with wiring the harness myself is that some wires are the same color. There are like 20 pink ones and I dont know where they go. Some of the other wires are duplicates too. I found a guy this weekend who specializes in wiring harness problems so hopefully he can figure something out.

If they are exactly the same, u need schema, e.g. Nissan FSM. Open the harness from longer strip to make sure no codes exist...

To trace, first give each one a number. Then work the harness to next branch and open the harness there. With a pin penetrate the pink wires skin, measure and give the same number u find at the current cut. Proceed...

After few hours u can draw the pic... In lucky case no schema needed. This helps your technician also, maybe not even needed.

You can use white tape and write on numbers. Better still is to buy number tape strips from electronics shop. Compared to harness price, its worth to buy.

If you weld properly and use self vulcanizing rubbertape, it will be as good as new. Never use std electrical tape alone: after one year the glue on the tape starts to walk and maybe burns your car...

[infinman]

No manufacturer uses the same wire for different applications.Look for: eg. 14gauge pink with a blue tracer.{tracers are either a stripe down the wire and or coloured dots}.you may see wires that have the stripe and coloured dots.any wire to wire connections must be soldered and shrink taped.Always think of the next poor sucker that has to work on the vehicle.Don't leave a ratsnest.