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What should be done to a wire after a T-tap has been removed from it? Can you leave it like that or does it need to be tape wrapped or something?

What is a T Tap?

It's a wire splicer that allows you to to splice a new wire anywhere onto a pre-existing circuit.

Since the T Tap cuts through the insulation to make the contact, I'd put something on it. I'd use a liquid insulator to seal, then cover it with electrical tape if heat shrink isn't practical. I used T Taps on the wagon for the side markers originally. I'm not a big fan, but I was in a hurry when I originally did the job and I wasn't surprised to see a little corrosion with the wires in spite of also sealing the taps off with hot glue. I just redid all that wiring with a bigger gauge and splices I can heat shrink, and I also put them in OEM style plastic harness and wrapped it all in tape like the OEM and we do in telecom for outdoor fittings. Turned out pretty slick, I have to say, though nobody will see them under the fenders.

Oh I see. Doesn't sound like something I would ever use.

You should cut it off and use a butt-splice heat shrink connector. Don't ever solder a flexible wire that is important.

Yeah, that's what I used. The butt splices range in size and I was able to splice a 14 ga. on one end to two of the stock ga. wires (18 or 20) on the other. And you can heat shrink them, though they also come in a version where the ends of the splice can be shrunk. Then I wrapped it all in tape, putting a piece between the two wires on the one side to help seal that end even further, then I wrapped over everything. Then I put a piece of plastic harness over it and wrapped that, leaving the tape so the end would be held captive by the harness ties and couldn't unravel.

T taps are the shit. Much better than those damn alligater slice things.

As long as the base wire isn't damaged, I would just wrap the wire with electrical tap and be done with it.

What are the alligator splice things?

These t-taps are on the '94 SS I have. This car had an aftermarket alarm system and some ancient car phone or some such gizmo. Gobs of wire that doesn't do anything under the dash with t-taps and other kinds of connecting garbage, and a cheapo radio which used TV antenna wire for speaker wire. I want to get rid of anything that is not stock.

This stuff is inside the car, but it still needs to be wrapped?

Nah, I wouldn't bother wrapping it, then. Just throw some tape on it and call it a day. I'm anal about corrosion as I hate electrical issues and lost too many cars to cancer, but if it's in the interior that's all I'd do.

Coming from 16+ years in car audio/12volt. Unless the wire is on the outside just electrical tape it once the t-tap is removed. it'll be fine. if its outside the cab i would use the butt connectors that are heatshrinkable.....or solder and heat srink it.

and yes...t-taps are the shit, as long as you use the correct size for the wire (THERE ARE THREE)

It is all under the dash. Shouldn't be complicated then, just pesky, tedious.

i love T taps, i installed my alarm with em

I'd just like to add that you should take a look at the wire before wrapping it to confirm it hasn't been damaged. I've seen the wrong size T-tap used in many cases where a smaller size tap was used on a larger gauge wire and it cuts through about 50% of the strands. This is fine while the t-tap is in but once you remove it the wire becomes very weak and susceptible to breakage.

"This is fine while the t-tap is in" to elaborate its not "fine" but what I'm saying is that you would most likely never have a problem with this connection unless you disturbed the t-tap (spun it around).

Be cautious anywhere you see a red t-tap on any wire thats looks larger than 18 AWG.