Centech wiring harness arrived

[danray48]

I just got it today, and I'm impressed with the way it looks. The pics I saw when I ordered it did'nt do it justice. I thought man, how much for this? But, It looks like it's going to be a fun and necessary project. I would of started tonight, but I was beat when I got home, I'm reading the directions tonight, and gonna knock off early tommorrow, and get started. As someone suggested, I'm going to take pictures of as many steps as I can, and will try to post how it's done, minus the swear words. It came in 3 packages. Engine harness, Dash harness, and Rear harness. So, if your thinking about one in the future, stand by, and I'll give you the lowdown on it, which I believe will be good..........

 

[Jimbos76cj]

FWIW napa sell Packard 56 and 59 connectors.. What's are those you may be asking? They are the most common size spade connectors used inside almost all of you jeeps plastic clips. The 56 series are used in most lower amperage connections like relays, HEI connections, altenator 2wire plug etc etc.. You ca. Cut your wires to length or modify the. As needed by crimping and adding new connectors Ive got my engine compartment about 80% done and have not used a butt connector yet. I even upgraded my headlights to run off relays and breakers while upgrading the head light wires from 18ga - 12 ga. The Packard 59 connections are the ones you need to replace the bigger terminals like head light plugs.

If interested 56 series napa part njmber 725147
59's 725448

Take your time and your can do a great clean install.

 

[danray48]

I've been working on the wiring harness. Got the dash panel done, wires are in the engine compartment. and the rear is almost done. I will post some pics later. Not knowing how the other wiring harnesses are made, I can say the Centech is pretty decent. Not everything is super easy, you have to think some for sure. It's a nice harness, and I think it depends on how your jeep is set up to begin with. Right now I cant remember seeing a radio wire. I dont have a radio yet, so I'll have to figure that one out. I'm not sure about the engine compartment. I screwed up and cut the wires off my ignition module when removing the old wires, so $57.00 later I corrected that problem. It comes with a ballast resistor already wired in which I'll have to remove, because I have a coil with a resister. Cant wait to get it done....Enough ground wires, that I have to hook up right because I have a fiberglass tub.

 

[danray48]

With vacation, and working alot, I got the wiring pretty much done. Everything works, exept the fuel gauge. It worked fine when I had the dash loose and tied up to work on it. Then after I put it all back together, the gauge dont work. So lets see, worked when the dash was down, and now not. Everything is connected and tight, but I gotta take it apart to figure this thing out. I'm sure every jeep has something different than the other, so I'll say, the centech wiring harness is pretty good, and you just have to figure things out on your own like routing wires, and with a glass body the grounding. I hope at least for a long time I never have to find out how good a painless wiring harness is. I took the jeep for a ride on sunday for the first time, loved it, but that first trip I had some issues, I'll tell on another thread WOW!!....

 

[Jimbos76cj]

Double check power to the gauge. Check the continuity of the wire between the gauge and the sender. Verify you have a good ground for the gauge and the tanks sender. That's all that's involved in tank gauge system. Double check you fuse's also. With out ever seeing a Centech harness I can't be of any more help..

How do you know it worked prior to installing the dash?

 

[danray48]

Double check power to the gauge. Check the continuity of the wire between the gauge and the sender. Verify you have a good ground for the gauge and the tanks sender. That's all that's involved in tank gauge system. Double check you fuse's also. With out ever seeing a Centech harness I can't be of any more help..

How do you know it worked prior to installing the dash?

Thanks, I'll double check, everything. The reason I know it worked prior to putting the dash back, is I turned the key on, and had about 1/2 a tank. Tried it about 3 times. Then put the dash back in, and it dont work. I have the new wire for the gauge, and a new ground.