Wire Color Conundrum

Honda offers a tip regarding wiring color identification.

Have you ever been under the dash with your droplight while troubleshooting a circuit, and the service information says the wire is light green, but you swear it looks light blue? The wire may look that way for several reasons:

• The wire color has faded due to age or heat.
• The wire color looks slightly different because of the light you’re using.
• There’s a minor color variation between some wire colors in some late-model vehicles. In 2005, many new vehicles started using wiring made with non-halogen insulation, which is better for the environment than regular PVC insulation when it’s recycled or disposed of. Currently, the new wiring comes in 13 different solid colors (blue, light blue, green, light green, orange, red, pink, white, black, purple, brown, gray and yellow), and the manufacturing process doesn’t allow for a tracer or stripe.

To make sure the wire you’re checking is the correct one, check the wire colors in adjacent cavities. If those wires match the service information, and the original wire is a similar color to what is listed in the service information, you can rest assured that the wire color is correct.

In other words, welcome to the nightmare.