[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by itsbrokeagain

I just loovvee working on cars like yours that come in with masking tape around connections...I have seen it quite a few times

I don't understand this statement.
Aren't you familiar with how the piggybacks are connected to the ecu?
And by your statement, are you a BMW tech that has seen these piggybacks installed?

-If you are a tech then you should know that these connections aren't cutted and spliced
-If you are a tech then you should know that there isn't hardly any voltage to produce any kind of fire by using masking tape

Maybe you are just talking about people that wire up car sterios that cut and splice wires and then use masking tape for the connection.
If this is the case then I agree with you.
This is a very foolish way to have a solid connetion.

The only reason for the masking tape, electrical tape, or heat shrink wrap is 2 reasons.

1. so the wires won't lean up against something else and short out.
2. hold the connections together and keep them from separating.

This is it,
The connections are already rock solid since there is a male and female pin for every connection.

[hotrod2448]

Originally Posted by Sparky66

If your piggyback is a long term install unlike some who are continually removing them for changes and upgrades, I would definitely consider heat shrinking your pin connections. Another alternative I'm considering is a product I use called "Self Amalgamating Rubber Tape" which has no glue as such, but is tightly stretched and wound several times over the conductive pins. It's advantage is, it can be unwound any time in the future, it provides a waterproof connection and it doesn't deteriorate or leave gooey residue behind.
Masking tape should be considered a temporary measure alone as it is prone to coming apart and exposing the conductive pins due to the glue residue composition changing with age and heat fluctuations within the confines of the engine bay.

You have been warned................and yes I'm an electrician and have seen the long term affects of using masking tape and its eventual lack of sticking power.




.

The problem with that tape is that when trying to stretch it to make it stick it is fairly easy to damage the connections.

I use it on more robust things like coil wires.