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MG MGB Technical - what is this wire?

i was cleaning the engine harness when i came across s white wire that goes from the fuse box back to the fuel pump.the wire is a single strand wire that is wrapped in a cloth braid.the wire seems to go all around the engone compartment.does anyone know what the braiding is for?
thanks for the help
jim
ja adams

Sounds correct Jim. The braid is to protect the wire. If it was chafed/frayed you'd know there was a problem as white wires are not fused so could be a fire risk.

Lucas coding, not sure how universal it still is,
White are switched by the ignition and not fused.
Green are switched by the ignition and fused.
Brown are permanent live and not fused.
Purple are permanent live and fused.
Other body colours and tracer colours indicate which circuit. Rich.
Rich

Jim; Do you mean single strand/solid wire as in household electrical wiring? Sounds like you may be describing some very early house electrical wiring, it had a single strand of wire with rubber insulation and a braided cover. You don't say which year car you have but MGB Used white wiring from the ignition switch to the fuel pump, fuse box and the coil. It also goes to several points under the dash. All the white wiring was inside wiring looms and the looms had braided covering in early cars, later cars had the loom wrapped in plastic. All wiring was multi-strand. Hope this answers your question. Sounds like your wiring may have been bypassed/patched, usually that's not good.

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

Like Clifton I'd say it was bypassing the original fuel pump supply wire that is contained within the rear loom, and that usually means the original was burned out, either because of a fuel pump problem or shorting close by the pump. Both my cars came with that wire damaged, and bypassed on the V8. Since then I've fused that wire, and the overdrive feed which also isn't fused. I used an in-line with bullet connectors for the fuel pump on both cars, from the 4-way bullet connector on the main harness containing two whites which is with the mass of connectors by the fusebox. For the OD the roadster has the dash switch so I used an in-line with male and female spades on the switch, and for the V8 with column switch between the yellow in the main harness and the yellow/red in the gearbox harness close be the fuel pump fuse. Having the two side-by-side on the V8 had an unexpected benefit when I had a carb float problem, I was able to cross-connect the two fuses so I could control the fuel pump with the OD switch to stop fuel pouring out the overflow all the time.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed on 07/03/2005

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