It’s either the funniest piece of automotive satire on TikTok this season or the most catastrophic DIY goof you’ll see all year. In the clip, a GMC Yukon owner tells viewers he’s sliced through what he’d thought was a hose. But what was really inside the hard casing was dozens of wires and a whole lot of regret.
In a viral clip posted on TikTok and Facebook, Idaho creator Chad Bingman (@fatguyracing1) zooms in under the hood of his 2000 Yukon and explains he was attempting to change out the steering shaft. One of his steps included cutting through what resembled a hose, but instead was the truck’s crucial wiring harness.
"Does anybody have a way to connect these?" he asks his viewers in the clip, which has been viewed more than 540,000 times. Many were quick to offer their condolences for the truck, which may need to take its final trip to the scrapyard.
Wiring Harness Woes: a Mechanic’s Worst Nightmare
The horror on display resonated instantly with professional mechanics and veteran DIYers because on nearly every GM truck of this era, particularly the popular GMT800 platform used by the 1999–2006 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, and GMC Yukon, the engine wiring harness is the single most important electrical component under the hood. It carries everything from engine sensor data and ignition timing to transmission commands, electronic throttle signals, and interior power functions. Losing it doesn’t just cause one system to fail; it can disable the entire vehicle.
That’s why the comments sections exploded with reactions that sounded like a support group for electrical trauma.
"I have nightmares about things like this," one viewer wrote. Another warned bluntly, "That’s the main engine control harness. Do not butt-connect it. Go to the junkyard and get the whole harness."
Even commenters offering humor did so with a sense of shared dread.
"You cut the rainbow hose?!" one exclaimed. Another suggested, "Just put one big wire nut on it—should be fine," a joke that only works because the opposite is true: nothing about this is satisfactory.
The loom Bingman cut through isn’t uncommon. Wiring harnesses in early-2000s trucks are often wrapped in thick, textured split-loom tubing that can resemble a coolant or vacuum hose, especially after two decades of heat cycling and grime.
According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), heat exposure and aging plastics can cause looms to harden, crack, or discolor, making visual identification even more difficult. That’s what makes the moment so instantly relatable: even experienced wrenchers have mistaken loom coverings for something else when working in tight, awkward areas near the firewall or steering column.
Bingman has not clarified whether the video is staged, which many in the comments strongly suspect; however, if it isn’t, repairing a severed harness is about as grueling as automotive electrical work can get.
A modern engine harness may contain 40 to 100 wires, often with repeated colors, subtle stripe variations, and varying gauges. Each one must be matched perfectly to its twin, stripped, soldered or crimped, sealed, heat-shrunk, and routed correctly to avoid future wear. According to Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)-certified technicians, even a clean cut like the one shown in the video could take six to 20 hours to repair, depending on accessibility and the number of circuits involved. The risk of future electrical gremlins, including misfires, intermittent shorts, or phantom trouble codes, remains high no matter how careful the work.
For that reason, most technicians prefer replacing the entire harness. Salvage yards and resellers routinely stock GMT800-era engine harnesses due to the platform’s popularity, and a used replacement can cost between $100 and $350, depending on condition. A brand-new OEM replacement, however, can creep toward $1,000 or more. Installation requires disconnecting the battery, separating the bulkhead connectors, removing the fuse box interface, unclipping dozens of retainers, and threading new wiring through the engine bay, with total labor ranging from three to five hours.
Even commenters who joked about the situation acknowledged the seriousness of the repair.
"You need a whole new truck now," one wrote. Another put it more diplomatically: "You might not need a new truck, but you sure lost your weekend."
Others shared real-life stories of similar disasters: chewed harnesses from animals, gunshots that severed looms, driveshaft failures that wiped out wiring in the transmission tunnel—every one of them confirming how quickly a truck becomes a 6,000-pound paperweight after one bad cut.
Some viewers suspected "rage bait," noting that additional wires in the clip appear to have been cut previously and that the truck may already be destined for parts. Bingman himself responded to one follower by simply answering "grinder" when asked what tool he used to cut the line, a response so casual it’s hard not to read it as comedic exaggeration.
Still, real or not, the visceral reaction is the same because the scenario is entirely plausible. Harnesses absolutely run through cramped spaces near steering linkages, and GM trucks of this era are known for tight routing around the firewall grommet and column boot.
A Teachable Moment for any DIY Mechanic
The viral clip serves as a reminder that modern vehicles are equipped with complex electrical systems that appear deceptively simple from the outside. Wiring looms can resemble hoses. Hoses can resemble wiring looms. Prior owner modifications can obscure original layouts. And deteriorated plastic sheathing can turn what was once a soft, flexible loom into a rigid tube that looks like anything but wiring.
Automotive electricians recommend tracing any line visually to its termination point before cutting and using factory diagrams to avoid surprises. And if a major harness is ever damaged, they stress the importance of avoiding quick fixes, such as twisting wires together, leaving exposed copper, or mixing solder and crimp connectors, which can create high-resistance paths that trigger future faults.
Whether Bingman’s Yukon is truly doomed or the whole thing was engineered for laughs, the clip struck a nerve with professionals and amateurs alike for a straightforward reason: everyone who’s ever picked up a wrench has a moment they replay in their head where one wrong cut, one wrong bolt, or one wrong assumption could have ruined everything.
As one commenter summed it up after watching the rainbow-colored innards spill across the frame: "I have nightmares about things like this."
Motor1 reached out to Bingman via direct message and commented on the post. We'll update this if he responds.
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