When I cut out the left front section of the driver's side rear fender I (stupidly) did not check the back side of the panel for issues. The main wiring harness passes through this area connecting the engine compartment & rear electrical components to the front of the car.
I cut out the panel with a cutting wheel. The heat generated from the cut melted the shrink tubing/protective covering on the wiring harness. I debated leaving it as is, but it's been eating at me since I did it.
I want the car to be reliable and have had experience chasing electrical gremlins on vehicles (most of it bad!) This, coupled with the age of the car (read multiple owners with varying levels of competence) led me to decide to replace the complete harness with a new one.
So I bit the bullet & cut out the wiring harness. You can see the melted area of the gray wiring harness bundle cover to the left of the picture below.
As I peeled back the cover and exposed the bundle I found several wires that had their insulation melted off.
This damage was not caused by my ignorance, but rather over heating of the wire internally. It had happened long enough ago for the copper conductors to turn green with corrosion.
...So I'll change out the complete harness & avoid more aggravation in the future!
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