While messing with my heater hoses, I noticed a wire that runs from a clip connection just above the heater hoses down to the top of the transmission. It is bolted on with a single 10mm bolt.

My wire is in bad shape, all of the rubber or plastic casing basically gone.

I dug through the FAQs looking for pics and trying to guess. Can somebody tell me what the wire is and how to check if it is still functional or not?

I also found that the kickdown cable is in bad shape, plastic broken at the connection and does not easily retract the cable. I rigged it to sort of work but will have to replace soon.

Since playing with the heater hoses (and kickdown cable, and replacing the knock sensor) the engine "sounds" rougher on acceleration, especially in 1-3, OD seems pretty quiet. Is there anything I might have knocked lose (vacuum wise) that could be causing this?

Thanks