Does that actually go through the grommit or is it just a wrap that holds the bundle together in the boot lid?
There you go!
I wonder also if it's possible to do some preventative maintenance on the loom early on prior to failure,ie, lubricate cables now and again to keep supple etc? And yes, NOT with WD40 obviously but there must be some rubber or plastic lubes that would do the trick.
Oh well.Keep going Mick, you haven't finished unwrapping the parcel yet.
I recall there is a good quality replacement loom section available from Germany I think?
Is it possible to lube the door hinge in situ or is there any point?
Here's the way Renault did it with our 2001 Clio.
There are two of them and equally tight and kinked as a 500.
Mick.
Condolences,hope you can get that mess sorted to get her back on the road ,certainly was a really bad design error unfortunately not spotted by the testers,when you first started writing about warning lights i thought another failing ageing battery(wrong) ,good luck and hope you have her back on the road soon .I also thought about this possiblity whilst driving home - opening the driver's door was the other thing I did when visiting my friends.
First pictures at the end of this post.
We've seen similar images of the wiring before, but look carefully at the grommet. It's completely intact and free of splits or breaks - there's simply no way you can know what's going on inside from an external inspection (I put a piece of white card behind it to get a better photo).
No point going anywhere with diagnostics or speculation until the hardware's fixed. I've got a lot on just now & the Panda works just fine, so I may park both car and problem for awhile. The battery is staying disconnected.
Whatever, owners of 500's out of warranty should be aware that they could land themselves an unexpected problem (& large bill, depending on how you go about fixing it), just by opening the rear hatch.
I'll bet any money you like that if you took a car with these dashboard issues to any main dealer, the first thing they'd do is put the car onto diagnostics.
My current advice to any 500 owner with an electrial problem is to peel back the grommet (you only need peel back the end that's attached to the tailgate, since that's where the breaks happen) and inspect these cables before doing anything else. Actually I'd go further and advise all 500 owners to do this check regularly, even if the car is otherwise well. A small dab of silicone grease or a quick spray of rubber lubricant on the grommet will make it easier to remove & replace the end. DO NOT USE WD40 - it will likely attack both wiring & grommet & make a bad situation worse.
If yours looks like mine, I'd suggest you don't attempt to drive, or even start the car. Just unclip the battery quick-release terminal, & call a mobile auto sparky if you can't or don't want to fix it yourself.
There's some very light gauge cables in there (including the broken one) which surely can only be used for carrying control signals.
testers are ytou joking me? even if the testers saw it they probably chose to ignore it = )Condolences,hope you can get that mess sorted to get her back on the road ,certainly was a really bad design error unfortunately not spotted by the testers,when you first started writing about warning lights i thought another failing ageing battery(wrong) ,good luck and hope you have her back on the road soon .
I think that's everything?
When I fixed the fault, we had a the flashing odometer problem!
Therefore there's more to this than just power and ground.
I haven't built up the courage to look at the wiring condition yet, but had a look to see if there is any wear on the grommet or hose. I know that isn't necessarily an indication of what's happening below but didn't expect to see this on the paintwork..........
The grommet will be the last bit to fail. It's absolutely no indication of what's going on underneath - mine was as unblemished as yours.
If you do inspect it further (and IMO it's worth doing), I suggest you unclip the battery quick release first - just in case. You'll have to reset the clock afterwards, but that's about it. The radio code is stored in the body computer, so you won't need that.
Incidentally, has your paint been stripped down to the galvanizing too?
Well, is this a tell-tale sign?Yes, this seems to be common to most 500's I've seen.
Thanks for the tip. I needed to free up the boot handle (again!) today and checked the cables. Sure enough, the insulation has split on three cables - black, brown and purple ones but none broken. I've isolated the cables with insulating tape until I can get a permanent fix done.
Incidentally, has your paint been stripped down to the galvanizing too?