If I were you I'd make 9 legible labels, printing them on label tape.
Then I'd go after that sucker with a connectivity tester, knowing the
standard 9-points-on-a-spiral diagram. Clean the existing labels as

I don't know what you mean here. What's a nine point on a spiral diagram?
FWIW, the wires are labeled u1 u2 u3 v1 v2 v3 w1 w2 w3, not 1 - 9. The
little label on the motor cover talks about connections R, S, and T and I
can't find this anywhere. These wires have been soaking in hydraulic fluid
for twenty years - kinda hard on ink.


best you can and use strong light and magnifying lenses. Figure out
what the labels are using your brain and the measured connectivity
data and the labels you can discern, and then relabel them properly.

How do I measure connectivity? Am I looking for a certain ohm reading
between wires? There's 9! (factorial) combinations of wires to test ohms
between. I've done my VERY best at sluething with strong lights etc. but
there's a very real chance I have it wrong as at least four of the wires are
totally unreadable.

Sorry to be such a dumby, I need a little more help here. Or won't it hurt
to just plug it in for 2 seconds to see if it spins? I think its right, but
I don't KNOW its right.

Karl