2006 F250 Wiring Repair Question

[afitzray]

The joys of project boats...

I have a set of F250's that sat for a few years that I'm trying to do minimal repairs until I figure out if they're any good. At some point the cowls were left off long enough for a mouse to get in one and nibble some wires but it doesn't look like he was in there long enough to set up a nest. Larger power wires and everything else look like they were left alone but some smaller wires, especially everything connecting to the ignition coils are mostly chewed and frayed.

My question is if I can just patch all these tiny wires to see if I can get the thing cranked? Do they just need a solid connection to run a current? Or do they need to supply a really specific amount of current and patching them is going to throw that off and then the ECM is gonna throw a bunch of codes? If the things start and run okay I'll buy a new harness, but I don't want to invest much more than an oil change, spark plugs and water pumps to see if it will run. And I'm gonna run fresh fuel, fog cylinders, lube all the moving parts etc in hopes of not damaging them in the process, but the wiring was an obstacle I wasn't expecting.

Thanks

 

[knotflying]

When you say chewed and frayed, are you saying the wires themselves and not just the outer insulation? If the wires actual wires look good I would make sure they are clean and intact and then temporarily put electrical tape on them. If the actual wire is frayed then I would say cut the wire. Strip it clean and put a new piece in between the two ends if there is not enough slack. Make sure the wire is at least the same gauged and should be braded. If they are too small and too close together for but connectors and this is a temporary situation I would twist them together and see if you get the engines started. If all is good then replace the harness or figure out what else is causing the engines to not start.

 

[baker]

Only affected one off the motors? If so you can switch things back and forth between the two to see whats good and what is not

 

[afitzray]

Only affected one off the motors? If so you can switch things back and forth between the two to see whats good and what is not

Well I guess I should say one was significantly affected and the other was much less. All I saw that had issues on the other was some of the wires sending signal to tach etc. I'm gonna try patching the wires this weekend and see what happens.
Thanks everyone.