What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

I live in Fl, so it's weird to see any rust underneath a car. Down here cars don't rust, they just have little to no paint

 

Don't forget: Your chance at 123456 is one in a million. Don't miss that shot!

 

Boom! New 7" Android touch screen head unit to replace my dingy Pioneer stereo. Really modernizes the dash of this truck. And it's so nice to have tunes in the rig again, I wouldn't have bought this except the stereo stopped working. The unit is a $70 cheapie from Amazon and while I only needed it to do like 3 things, it's packed with a lot of features. Their customer service has been speedy in figuring out a few tweaks, too.

Still learning how to use it; for now I have an app called Agama to replace the jank home screen, I'll probably run Torque Pro full time.

Installation wasn't too bad... the previous harness job was kind of a mess, my install was cleaner.



I reused the Toyota brackets and had to drill some custom holes to align the unit right, which took a lot of tweaking and patience. It was worthwhile because now she's in there real sturdy! Let me know if it looks clean, and any head unit apps you guys use!

 

Unless you're like my brother and launch your boat every weekend into salt water. The ass end of his F-150 was all rust.

 

Go buy at least some butt splice connectors. Wire nuts don't belong on vehicle wiring.
I prefer these guys with the heat shrink.
https://www.grainger.com/mobile/pro...or-4FRE7?breadcrumbCatId=26806&fc=MWP2IDP2PCP

 

Nah, I'm not rewiring it just to be particular. Wire nuts have always held up in all my vehicles and ain't nobody got time to solder and heat shrink 15 wires inside a dash.

 

Or he could wrap some tape on those nuts to keep them from untwisting. Not the best to use wire nuts, but tape would help. Even some adhesive shot into the nuts would work assuming the twists are solid and tight.

 

That wouldn't hurt, if I ever get back in there I'll do it. Wire nut manufacturers never recommend electrical tape, as with a lot of things on here it's a belt and suspenders approach.

 

I'm partial to the Posi-lock and Posi-tap products.

 

Deep cleanin the Ol' 5VZFE

 

This was literally my first thought. You replaced crimp-on connectors for twist on? Sorry, not cleaner. But it's a nice upgrade, and it looks 100% better on the surface.

General rule of thumb: If you can't solder, crimp. If you can't crimp, reconsider. Never use twist-on or scotch-lock for anything. Although I'd use scotch-locks over wire nuts any day, and I haaaaaate scotch-locks!

No offense, blurry1. We all have our pet peeves. As a former installer, nothing made me cringe worse than hacked harnesses or wire nuts. They're both equally sketch in my book.

 

They are Lamin-x tint. They come precut, though they don't fit perfectly but close enough. I just put some on my truck.

 

Do you and @Festerw approve of soldering?
Sooooooo many nay sayers on my 4runner forum about soldering. I couldn’t believe it! I feel like that’s the most solid permanent connection you can ask for. I’ve soldered and braised more copper pipe than I can count, and have done some pretty fun projects and all I did was solder; and never had an issue. Maybe like paint, it’s all in the prep and the execution?

 

My truck has been parked in the Bakersfield sun for about 12 years (spent a couple years garaged) and the driver's side was toast. The passenger's side, still good. My truck spends most of its time parked facing West so the North side must end up with more sun than the East.

 

Solder is frowned spoon by Toyota. Crimp is the preferred repair, because when done right, it’s a mechanical weld of the wires. Solder over time can crack due to vehicle vibrations

 

And I think that’s what the argument over there was. And also oxidation maybe?
It can really crack from the vibrations in the car? I like to solder, that’s why I do it, but maybe I need to master the twin buffel grass crimp technique.

 

If done right the chance of cracking is less likely and having the harness secured well also prevents it. But I can say a lot of electrical issues on cars we get are from solder repairs done after accidents.

 

Thanks everyone for chiming in with electrical knowledge and sorry to make anyone cringe, in the future I'll switch to crimp-on connectors, got it. I did not cut out the previous connectors to be cool, the old harness wouldn't fit. I'm still not going to rewire this job, they're just low voltage speaker wires. Maybe next mod I'll be able to do perfectly.

Before, I was pretty stoked about this head unit, now my spirits are a little crushed.

 

Today I adjusted my LSPV up as far as the nuts could go. Braking feels better now.

 

Just remember, the beatings will continue until morale improves!

I think you’ll be alright with what you’ve done. If it stops working, then you can redo it. Otherwise leave it.

 

Like I said, "General rule of thumb: If you can't solder, [then] crimp. If you can't crimp, [then] reconsider."

When I say "can't solder", I mean that from both a technical-skill perspective and from a practicality perspective. Technically, a lot of people don't know how to solder correctly, and if they can solder correctly, they don't know how to protect their work after using appropriate wrapping or sealing which is necessary for auto and marine applications. Practically, when you're dealing with multiple parallel runs of wires as you have with a wire harness, where they're going to crammed into a space, risk of bend and crack of the solder joint is high so it's not recommended. A butt splice shouldn't bend or crack.

So yes, I recommend solder 1st, always, when practical such as a PCB or other rigid platform, or in other isolated and protected location. If not practical, use a crimp-on connector.

Two things here:

1) Criticism in this case is intended to be constructive, not to degrade your ego.
2) There's a best way to do everything. I've seen residential and automotive fires happen or people nuke their electronics due to a wire nut "magically" spun off due to vibration, hot/cold weather contraction, poor install, or nut failure, where the plastic cap separated from its coil, leaving the wires connected but grounding out on something. In moving applications, wire nuts are inappropriate. In stationary applications such as a house, they're appropriate within reason.

This is my issue: Truck was parked in a spot where the sun hit the driver's side, driven by a single person. Passenger's leather and rear seat leather look brand new. Door-side of the driver's side upper and lower bolster are shot, ripped. I'd kill to get my hands on a good OEM dark grey driver's leather but not at the prices I've seen online.

 

There's "ideal" and there's what works. If what you've done works and isn't in danger of burning your truck to the ground, no worries. I've had to do plenty of non-ideal technique repairs on various vehicles over the years. Most worked flawlessly and never had to be reworked. I even bolted two negative battery cables together end to end (to make one more powerfully awesome cable!) that was long enough to reach the ground on the lower engine block in a Subway parking lot so I could finish a cross country trip. It stayed that way for years, even though I purchased the appropriate length cable shortly after and had it in the glove box. Your install looks clean, your wire nuts will likely be fine inside the vehicle behind the dash with very little worry of vibration gremlins ruining your newly triumphant HU install. I don't even want to show my fix for a broken O2 sensor stud.....

 

I'll take a little heat off of you, Here's a GASP! wire nut, with electrical tape! connection that has lasted 6 years near the super vibrate-y engine. I should crimp and heat shrink it. Just haven't. Works fine. Not ideal. Not recommending the technique. Agree with what everyone has posted about crimp connectors. I think your radio will be fine though.

 

We like pics and promise not to pick on your work.

 

OMG! Blasphemy!

 

PS: I cannot stress enough to any of you folks new to automotive electrical and crimping.

BUY A GOOD QUALITY SET OF CRIMPERS! (and strippers too)

I personally love Klein and Channel-Lock tools. This forward-loading pair of crimpers is what I've used most of my lifetime, same pair, for decades, and these Klien strippers.

I cannot stress to you enough how much these multi-combo strippers suck major balls. If you plan to start crimping ....

I cannot tell you strongly enough to avoid using stupid combo tools like this:

 

Here is my ‘Nick Cage Repair’ on the Cam Sensor Wire.

 

OK, fine. Here's the admittedly questionable repair/ emergency fix. You can see as evidence by the corrosion present, this has been on here a long time. Like 7-8 years when this O2 sensor's heater went out. The stud broke off when removing the nut, it was a Sunday and it's my daily, so to the spare random parts bin I went. This was my temporary fix until I could take it to the exhaust shop to get a new stud welded on. Its a u-bolt style tubing clamp. With a nut (maybe the same one that's supposed to be on the stud) placed under it just so as to prop the edge of the clamp not contacting the O2 sensor up to keep it level and keep the pressure on the O2 sensor. This has operated in perpetuation since it was installed this way for the last 7-8 years, ever so gradually eroding my desire to spend the time or money to have it permanently fixed. Not ideal. Not recommended. But it's worked so far......

 

What in the world are they nitpicking? Perfectly tinned exposed wire to the top right. I can't see the joints in which you soldered the red wires to the battery contacts, but they are perfectly and neatly aligned.

 

Good info @empty_lord ... I never realized this. It makes alot of sense if a soldered connection/joint falls off due to vibrations, etc. I have noticed that a headlight harness seller on eBay physically crimps his adapter harnesses and states that they follow factory specs. Now I feel alot better for shelling out a good amount of money for one.

For a wire tap (in place of T taps, scotch locks, etc), I will cut away plastic layer to expose bare wire (trying not to nick or break any strands). For times where I need to tap into thicker wire with a thinner one, I would wrap the wire around the exposed section before soldering. Physically connect and then secure with solder.

I guess I should do this for all spliced connections in a vehicle. Physical wrap, then solder.