e30 body harness replacement

[BeirBrennerE30]

Has anyone replaced the body electrical harness on an e30. I have a car stripped down to just the body and harness so now would be the time. Just curious to head what people had done.

[george graves]

Replaced? You mean with something new? Maybe BMW sells a new harness - bet it would be bank.

If you want to go universal - there are kits for that. But I wouldn't recommend it.

I'm lost as to what your question is, sorry.

[BeirBrennerE30]

Yeah I am talking about getting a brand new wiring harness from BMW to replace the wiring in the car. Not even sure if it is still available, cant imagine they would sell many of them though.

[AndrewBird]

Why would you want to? Even if you have some bad wiring from previous owners, replacing the whole harness would be like swapping your brain into a new body just because you got a paper cut. Fix any issues properly and move on.

[e30davie]

Sounds like a freakin expensive thing to do for no real gain.

If you went with an aftermarket harness I reckon you would be chasing electrical gremlins for ages. If you want to get real pedantic replace any broken plugs, bmw will be able to sell you them on their own i'm sure.

[george graves]

Well, I wouldn't say the question is totally crazy. As time goes on, I'm noticing a lot more glitches in the e30 wiring that pops up. Some are just modules, but others are things like wiring breaking inside the insulation.

These cars are 30 years old, and the wire was quality 30 years ago, but I suspect you'll start seeing more and more issues as time goes on. It's gonna suck.

[BeirBrennerE30]

Well, I wouldn't say the question is totally crazy. As time goes on, I'm noticing a lot more glitches in the e30 wiring that pops up. Some are just modules, but others are things like wiring breaking inside the insulation.

These cars are 30 years old, and the wire was quality 30 years ago, but I suspect you'll start seeing more and more issues as time goes on. It's gonna suck.

That's kinda what I was thinking. I would rather do this while the entire interior and dash and engine was out than have to strip down a car to chase an electrical issue. I guess I need to talk to BMW to see they still have a harness sitting around.

I am not really concerned about the cut wires, I am the original owner of the car and have records of what was changed.

[bradnic]

I'd say swapping to a new OEM harness probably makes more sense for the engine harness than the body harness. I think jlevie solved some engine misfiring issues by doing that.