‘Time to buy a bike I guess’: Man working on GMC Yukon slices through something he thought was a hose, but it’s far worse

A TikTok creator from Idaho named Chad Bingman posted a video that shows the moment he accidentally cut through a major part of his 2000 GMC Yukon engine. He runs the account @fatguyracing1, and his video quickly went viral. Bingman thought he was cutting a simple hose, but he actually sliced through the truck’s main engine wiring harness. The video shows dozens of wires spilling out from what he thought was just a regular hose.

According to Motor1, Bingman said he was trying to replace the steering shaft under the hood when he made the mistake. After cutting through the part, he realized what he had done and asked viewers for help. “Does anybody have a way to connect these?” he said in the TikTok video. The clip has gotten over 540,000 views so far. What looked like a simple fix turned into a major disaster with one wrong cut.

Mechanics and car enthusiasts immediately understood how bad the situation was. On GM trucks from this time period, including the 1999-2006 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, the engine wiring harness is extremely important. It’s not just for lights. It carries all the signals for engine sensors, ignition timing, transmission controls, and electronic throttle. When you damage it, the entire vehicle can stop working.

This mistake is easier to make than you think

The reason this error happens is that wiring harnesses in early-2000s trucks are wrapped in thick tubing called split-loom. After 20 years of dirt and heat, this covering can look exactly like a coolant hose or vacuum line. This is especially true when you’re working in tight spaces near the firewall. Heat and aging plastic can make these coverings hard, cracked, and discolored, which makes them even harder to identify correctly.

The comments on Bingman’s video were filled with shocked reactions. One person wrote, “my mouth just dropped when i saw that.” Another viewer gave serious advice: “You gotta get those wires out of that hose… that clog right there is probably the reason your Yukon won’t run. Pretty sure GMC did a recall on that issue, but unfortunately you missed the window. Good luck!” 

There were some lighthearted comments as well. “Time to buy a bike I guess” one user wrote with a Kevin James meme. In other viral mishaps, people have faced similarly embarrassing moments, like when a binman mistook a charity cyclist for something he wasn’t.

Fixing a cut wiring harness is one of the hardest electrical repairs you can do on a car. A modern engine harness has between 40 and 100 wires inside. Many wires have the same colors or small stripe differences, so each one must be matched perfectly to its pair. 

Each wire needs to be stripped, sealed, and covered with heat-shrink tubing. Even a clean cut like the one in the video could take six to 20 hours to repair. There’s also a high chance of future electrical problems like misfires or error codes.

Some viewers thought the video might be fake because other wires in the clip looked like they had been cut before. When someone asked what tool he used, Bingman simply said “grinder,” which seemed too casual to be real. But whether the video is real or staged, the reaction it caused is genuine because this mistake can actually happen. Similar confusion has happened in other situations, like when federal agents confronted a delivery cyclist who wasn’t who they thought.