Knock sensor wiring question... need some help

[92rsAWD4me]

ok... I searched and could't find what I wanted/needed and I am really confused because I have never seen anything like this before. I had the knock sensor replaced on my 92 laser awd and they said that somebody befor ha done some wiring to the harness on it but that they had fixed it.. In the process of trying to track down a short in the system somewhere I noticed that they had done a pretty bad job of taping up the connection so I decided to take the tape off and have a look.... this is what I found...WTF

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it looks like that crazy mess of wire is part of the casing for the other wire and the ground is spliced to it.. this was all half assed taped together and I have never seen a wire hooked up like this. As far as I know I am no longer throwing the knock sensor code since it was fixed but i just can't believe this is right.. has anyone seen this before or have any ideas how to fix it? I'm thinking about cutting it off and just running a wire from that straight to the closest ground which I think is on the firewall. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

Wrap the individual wires with tape, then wrap them together.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Get some heat shrink and solder them together then use heat shrink to seal the wires.

 

[92rsAWD4me]

so your saying that it is correct just needs to be connected better and sealed up? If you look at it the loose wire material is woven around the other wired.. it doesnt come from a separate wire or anything. It looks like part of the wire casing.. since there was no knock sensor code before I had the other issues i am dealing with should I just clean it up and move on to other things?

 

[92AWDHX40]

Clean that mess up and go on to something else.

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

It looks like the fiber wrap they use in wire looms to keep heat away from the wires. Is it metal wire or fibers?

 

[92rsAWD4me]

it feels like really thin wire.. but there is no second casing for it.. it is just woven around the other one but since I wasn't getting a constant CEL for the knock sensor it should be good right?

 

[dylnwit]

Yea, that wire stuff is for RF shielding, and is normally found in things like a/v cables. There's no harm in grounding to it like they have done, except they made a little bit of a mess. You'll find that stuff in pretty much any usb cable also. it just keeps the signals created by the different electronic parts from messing with each other. Clean it up with some heat shrink or a good electrical tape job and go to bigger and better things.

 

[92rsAWD4me]

Thanks a lot guys! One more thing, is there some trick to taking out the alternator fusible link? the black 80 amp one in the engine compartment fuse box? I tried pulling it in the course of looking for a short I have going on and couldn't get it out...

 

[steve]

The alternator fuse bolts in.

 

[92rsAWD4me]

An update on this. All I did was clean it up and do a better job of taping it up and have had no ill effects. As for the last part about the short which didn't really belong on this thread I posted another thread where it was resolved so look for it if you like.