If you intend to work on anything electrical in your car, then it’s a good idea to have all the right tools on hand from the start. This list will give you a selection of the best tools to start with, so you can install electrical components, diagnose issues, and repair faults in your car’s electrical system.
Combination Wire Cutter / Wire Stripper/ Wire Crimping Tool
You can save a bit of money by purchasing a single tool that will carry out your wire cutting, stripping and connector crimping duties. Most of the combo tools available will do the job just as well as individual tools in most situations; but of course, if you are going to be doing a bunch of different wiring jobs, with a wider range of connectors, wires and the like, then it might pay to buy each tool individually.
Electrical Wire
If you’re going to be wiring in a stereo, adding relays to a classic car’s lighting system, installing an alternator or any one of a massive number of electrical jobs, it really pays to have some spare wire on hand. Often, when working on cars that have spent their lives in very hot environments, factory wiring can become brittle and damaged - in order to minimise the risk of cracked sheathes and shorting wires, it’s often a good idea to replace damaged or old wires altogether. Keep an array of different coloured wires, in different gauges, to provide yourself with a few options when it comes to rewiring stuff.
Automotive Fuses
Always keep a variety of different fuses on hand for your electrical system. A blown fuse should always be the first thing you check for if you’re encountering issues with your car’s electrics, so familiarise yourself with the type your car uses and keep spares in a handy location - some fuse boxes will even have a little space for spare fuses.
Electrical Connectors
Having a collection of different electrical connectors, plugs and pins can go a long way towards making wiring work a breeze. You can grab a kit with a wide variety of simple joiners to be used with a crimping tool or soldering iron. Be sure to grab the right types of connectors for the job - you’ll want waterproof ones for wiring in the engine bay, or under your car, for example.
Soldering Iron & Solder
If you want to join wires, and you want the joins to last, then it is always better to use solder rather than twisting and taping the wires. A good quality soldering iron will make wiring jobs far more sturdy, safe and tidy. Try to get hold of a decent stand too, in order to avoid accidentally burning stuff - trust me.
Heat Shrink
If you’ve joined two wires, you’re going to want to insulate them properly. Electrical tape is all well and good, but it doesn’t quite offer as professional a solution that using a purpose-designed shrink tube does. Shrink tubes are available in a variety of sizes and can be cut to length as required. In order to properly shrink them, please don’t use your soldering iron, instead use the next thing on our list.
Heat Gun
Heat guns offer a tidy and efficient method for heating up shrink tubes and insulating your wiring connectors. They can also be used carefully to soften brittle wires and connectors, melt old solder and glue, and a host of other odd jobs.
Circuit Tester
A circuit tester is used in determining whether or not power is reaching a particular circuit. Usually inexpensive yet critical, they are handy and are quite easy to learn how to use. Do yourself a favor and grab a circuit tester so that you can avoid the headaches involved in tracking down electrical gremlins, checking continuity and more. Or even better, look at getting yourself a decent:
Multimeter
Arguably the most useful tool for diagnosing electrical faults and double checking your work when you’ve made any modifications to the wiring in your car. A decent multimeter will have a variety of different settings, making it incredibly useful for all aspects of automotive electrical work. They range in price and function, but it’s always worth stretching your budget for a good quality multimeter that offers extra functionality, as you never quite know when you might need to test for electrical gremlins.
Wiring Diagrams
If you plan to do ANY work on your car’s wiring, then you absolutely can’t go wrong with a copy of the wiring diagram for your particular model. Unfortunately, in their quest to make things as inconvenient as humanly possible for the home mechanic, auto manufacturers love to change the wiring of their cars between each model and year. Be sure to get your hands on the correct diagram for your car’s specific year, model and trim level. Haynes manuals and the like can be handy, but be prepared for minor changes between what’s shown in the manual and what’s actually present in your car.
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