My first vehicle! 1956 CJ5

[LarrBeard]

the plug I had on the main power wire had melted.

Connectors on wiring harnesses are a perpetual weak point. GMWillys can speak to that on things other that old Jeeps.

I put a replacement wiring harness on the '48 and all in all it was great - but there was one oh-by-the-way.

The horn might or might not blow when I wanted it to hoot. I lived with it for a year or so, then one day when I had nothing else to do (!) I went bug hunting. I finally ended up at the middle of the steering wheel under the horn button. It turned out that the connector on the horn wire had been crimped on insulation, not the copper conductor (well, just barely on some copper).

[gmwillys]

Old Jeeps or anything that has been around the block a few times has the potential to be troublesome when it comes to wiring harnesses. In northern climates especially, if someone starts probing wires with a test light, and doesn't seal up the probe holes, then there are potential internal wire corrosion that can happen. This can fool you visually to think a wire is good, but within the sheathing because you may not see the probe hole right off. I had a Ford plow truck one time that the cab marker lights would pop the fuse immediately when the lights were turned on. I searched for a short for an entire morning and didn't see anything visually. I finally was fed up with looking and stuck a screwdriver in the fuse holder and waited to see something get hot. Within a few seconds there was a wisp of smoke coming up from the main harness on the fire wall. The wire that was hot was probed at one point, and the wire was green with corrosion on the inside. A ten-minute splice and re-seal and the lights worked perfectly again.