I'm in a bit of a predicament and wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I took my '01 ZR2 on a camping trip, and on the way back, I suddenly lost all my gauges, then my throttle went out completely. I pulled over and looked under the hood and it turns out about half of the wiring harness melted due to a crack in a valve blowing hot air on it. About 8 or 9 fuses were blown too. I was able to get it started again and it idled at about 20mph until I could get it off the freeway. The exhaust was REALLY loud. I then got it towed to a local shop.

I have full coverage insurance but they said they couldn't prove there was an actual fire under the hood so they left me high and dry. So basically I'm left with the option of scraping the truck, finding a new GM wiring harness (which is a task in itself) and having to deal with a $3000+ repair bill after all is said and done, or attempting to heat shrink the wires back up myself. I understand that even with a new harness, there could be issues down the road since there's no telling which wires within the harness shorted out.

I'd really like to save the truck if I can, especially since it's otherwise in great shape, has a brand new transmission I had put in about a year ago (cost me about $3k) and 4 brand new tires. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

Do you have a local junk yard or u-pull it? U can get the a big portion or the harness with te sensor plugs and either replace the bad/burnt one or just cut and re join the affected area using the same color wiring so it's less confusing. It's time consuming but if u love your truck why let it go

 

Thanks for the reply. I do have a u-pull it nearby. I called them and they do happen to have an '01 and an '04 S-10. I'm going to check them out this weekend and see if pulling the harness from either one is a possibility. I'm a bit weary about getting a used one, but I'm sure there will be a huge difference in cost. It'd be nice to find a FULL harness. My mechanic said even if a new GM harness could be found, it could be $1600. Would it be a bad idea to fix\replace part of the existing harness for any reason?

I've got some good pics of the damage. I'll try to post them later.

 

Bad idea to replace part of the harness? If that's the question as soon as you solder and insulate the connections u will be fine. My truck melted 2 out of my three wires from my tps sensor and I cut them from the harness by the sensor and by the ecm and ran new wires solder them and it's running like a champ

 

Hello, if you want to keep the truck don`t freak out it`s not that hard to replace the entire wire harness. I don`t know where you live but where i do the junk yards are well stocked with s-10 trucks and blazer`s. I`am in the process of building a 2wd to a 4wd 90% of the wire harness needed to be replaced, hang in there ! Bud..........

 

My wiring harness shorted on the bracket for the abs motor. I had 34 wires burned in half. I went to a junkyard with a big pair of wire cutters and chopped an 8 inch section out of the same part of the harness where mine was burned. That got me the same size and color wire. They charged me $20 for the handful of wires. Rosin core solder, heat shrink, and some electrical tape was all that was needed.
The hardest part was triple checking to be sure they were the correct wires to put together. Carefully separate your wires and if one breaks, label both ends. Also, try to stagger your connections so when you wrap it up it doesn't make a big ball.

 

Thanks for the tips! I went to a junkyard and happened to find an '01 4dr 4x4 Blazer and I was able to pull the entire harness. Mine's a 2dr but I assumed it would still work. All the plastic connectors are still intact. I just had to cut it in a couple of places and I made sure to label everything. I don't think my computer is fried but I grabbed that too just in case. I got the harness, computer w/ warranty, and a window motor for $50. I've got high hopes!

Here are some pics of the damage. There is a rubber piece connected to what I think is an emissions valve that melted away due to heat (which is another problem), and ended up melting the harness.

 

Keep us posted!

 

Well I got the Blazer back today. My mechanic ended up repairing the damaged wires rather than use the harness I pulled from the junkyard, which saved me in labor. He also just plugged the cracked emissions valve completely that caused the problem in the first place, which apparently has no effect on gas mileage or anything else. He said the computer didn't return any bad codes either. I test drove it and it seems ok. We're concerned about what the future holds for it though since about 2/3 of the wire harness burnt up. There's no telling what other damage was done but I guess I'm just going to have to keep my fingers crossed from here on out. Glad to be back on the road though. Thanks for the advice!