Technical Strange electrical fault - Solved !

[palicus]

Thought I'd pass this on as it may help someone else in the future.

To recap - the problem first showed as lost dashboard illumination lamps and headlight on warning lamp. Replaced left sidelight fuse, all back online for a bit before fuse blew again.

Then discovered that when car was locked using the central locking those lamps all came on for a second or so.

Later investigation showed that the left rear sidelight and right rear number plate light also involved in the same way.

As now also looking at the hatchback due the number plate light was very short journey to finding that much of the wiring in the flexy rubber trunking between car and hatch was corroded and welded together.

It seems the rear wash pipe had broken some time in the past therefore dumping its contents into the trunking accelerating the rubber decay thus allowing wires to become kinked and frayed.

Have made temporary repairs with spare connectors and cable and capped the broken wash pipe.

All lights now working as normal.

Does anyone know whether there are junctions / connectors en masse for all the hatch cables that run through this piece of rubber trunking ( or will I need to trace and replace all individual cables)and where they are located in the rear pillar/boot/hatch etc as would like to replace the trunking and all cables from a scrap car?

Also is the wash tube one piece or does it have junctions anywhere?

Any help gratefully received.

Palicus

 

[Trancendental]

I had a similar problem with the central locking where by the doors would unlock soon as I locked them, checked all the motors and they were fine.

Problem was found to be in the same place, underneath the rubber cover are individual wires, they may go along the car together but I believe it is more then likely that they will be held together with tape or clips of some sort.

 

[tipomike]

You can or could buy a rear wiring harness replacement. This is a common fault - probably best to cut and join in a new peice of hosing and as a fix using existing wiring most people rejoin each individual wire and then tape up the whole lot where it passes through the flexi hose into the hatch back.