Poor Quality Cable Used In Door Harnesses

[katman]

AARRGGHH !!!!!!

Got round to looking at the drivers door speaker today. Had a set of brand new Sony speakers to fit having done the rear doors a few weeks ago.

The drivers door speaker has been dead for a few months but I thought it was a blown speaker as wiggling the door harness had no effect. How wrong I was

One of the speaker wires was completely snapped in half and the other was cracked with half the strands broken. But there was worse to come. I saw a thin wire hanging off having snapped at the point it entered the crimp terminal of the plug and guessed that this was why my passenger door window couldnt be controlled from the drivers door.

Then I spotted the "biggies". The main power feed for the window motor had also snapped off at the connector, must have happened as I removed the plug and pulled the boot back because the window had been working OK. The earth for the window motor also had cracked insulation but the wire was OK.

I tried to remove the pins from the plug housing but there was no way of releasing the pin from the shell

Luckily the two pins that had wires broken off had empty spaces adjacent to them so I could cut some of the plastic away and solder the new wire to the side of the pin.

Had one hell of a job trying to get the plug back in and the retaining ring popped off the socket with the result that socket then disappeared inside the door pillar thereby neccessitating the removal of the trim from the inside of the drivers step to put everything back together.

Finally got everything back together and I now have a working speaker, windows are OK and I can control the passenger window as well. Now I just have one more speaker to change in the front passenger door and I can then fit my new head unit and get the iPod working properly

Why oh why couldnt they use better quality wire when it is in a situation where it is constantly flexed ?????

GGGRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

[Dave-G]

Portugese innit?

[big_kev]

It depends on what your cars history is.

I used to do some surveys in mine and on an average working day I would open and close the door over 50 times.

Doubtless this would have definitely reduced the lifetime of the flexible wires running to the door,

It is possible that your Gal drivers door has had a similar rough life.

[28vr6]

I've found my door harness connectors to be the weak point in the electrics, often having to disconnect and squish the female connectors to reform to the original shape and re-instate the connection - maybe the stress on the connector from the rubber boot pulling at it each time the door opens it is the cause?

[big_kev]

[quote name='28vr6' post='109075' date='Jun 14 2007, 15:15:47']I've found my door harness connectors to be the weak point in the electrics, often having to disconnect and squish the female connectors to reform to the original shape and re-instate the connection - maybe the stress on the connector from the rubber boot pulling at it each time the door opens it is the cause?[/quote]

What door harness connnectors ?

[Guest wolfie]

[quote name='big_kev' post='109098' date='Jun 14 2007, 20:56:34']What door harness connnectors ?[/quote]
the [size=5]BIG[/size] round ones on the A and B posts?

[oioisavaloy]

OK here we go........
Had the same problem with wondow on drivers side not going down......found broken 2.5mm brown cable broken within rubber boot - easy so far, resoldered a splice and was very proud

Now the bit i need advice on - I to had the A pillar female connector come loose and pop into the inside of the A pillar - sorted that bit ....

trouble is I cant get the darned plug back onto the A pillar connector is it a "push" - make connection then turn? or a turn make connection through its travel and job done?

Any help appreciated with this...

oioi Edited July 13, 2007 by oioisavaloy

[Mike P]

You just locate the keyway push gently and turn the collar, the collar pulls it in to locate and make connections.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

It's not that the wire is poor quality, it's the design that places too much stress on the wires. There needs to be a height difference between where the wires emerge on the door pillar and where they go into the door, so they twist more than stretch/bend. Unfortunately whoever designed this bit of the car didn't quite get it right, just like the person who designed my parents' first dishwasher. I ended up buying special flexible wire to sort that one out - and at mains voltage there was an interesting bang each time one of those wires shorted out !

[seatkid]

Thats partly true Ivor, but the fact that brittle/perished sheathing and broken cores are common , is indicative of material degrading. This is poor quality or incorrectly specified wire (wrong core no/ size and covering material).

A lot of electrics used by VAG in the period 1995 - 2003 were of a poor quality due to outsourcing to piss poor contractors. i.e. the saga of the South African coil packs etc. Basically the contractors QA were lying about how the goods were manufactured and to what standard.

[Klark]

Perhaps ironic, but I just registered on this board precisely because of this problem, and it's the first post I see.

The main line dealer just charged my wife 100 quid to 'diagnose' this while I was away...

Is a known problem with cars of this age? (w reg)

what are the possible remedies? the dealer quoted her 600 quid to replace the door looms and the main window control switch on the drivers door.

I'm not scared to do the work myself, sounds like it should be simple to replace wires: I was considering soldering them if they are just broken. Haven't examined them myself yet, as I thought I'd research first.

TiA!

bb

[Klark]

ok, i found a faq on inspecting the wires, but I can't view the pictures. DO I have to have posted a number of times before I can do this?

[Klark]

well now they work, so must have been a temporary problem!

[Klark]

[quote name='Klark' post='112099' date='Jul 28 2007, 11:28:38']well now they work, so must have been a temporary problem![/quote]

BTW I meant the pictures, not the doors.

used the FAQ to get the harness connectors off, but didn't need to I think, as the boot was loose at the other end. There was a broken (completely broken) red and yellow wire. One of the brown wires had a crack across it too, but have left that for now. Should mention the symptoms: drivers window not working, other windows would only go down from central control, but not up again, but worked completely from their on-door controls. Answer, the red and yellow wire!

Dealer charged around 100 pounds to diagnose problem. They diagnosed a faulty switch, and three worn wiring looms. They estimated 600 pounds to fix, including parts and labour.

My charge to diagnose: 10 minutes to register for forum site and find problem, approximately sod all pounds. To fix, 25 minutes of mucking about, mainly trying to get the connector back out of the 'a'pillar, three minutes to solder wire, and 10 minutes explaining to the kids why they shouldn't use the words that Daddy was using. Not the best fix I guess but I can replace the loom if I want after I research how to get the door off. Cost was scraped knuckles (again trying to get the connector back in),and a couple of drops of solder. But, oh, the fun I'll have trying to get the money back from my dealer! Priceless.

thank you all!

bb

[katman]

About a month after I started this thread I lost the drivers door speaker again and assumed the wire must have broken off from the connector as had been the case with some other wires when I looked the first time.

I didnt think it could be the cable as only about an inch of original wire was left from where I joined the new speaker lead on.

I knew it couldnt be the stereo as the tweeter on the dash was working.

I was quite surprised by the outcome today......

Wiring in the boot was OK so I removed the speaker to find.... NO WIRES ON IT !!!!

When I replace the cable I left slightly too much cable and didnt fix it to the existing harness with enough cable ties. It would appear that the window mechanism snagged the cable and pulled the connectors of the speaker.

Have now cable tied it and checked that the window clears all the wiring.

All 4 speakers now sounding good

[mumof4]

[quote name='Klark' post='112097' date='Jul 28 2007, 11:19:19']ok, i found a faq on inspecting the wires, but I can't view the pictures. DO I have to have posted a number of times before I can do this?[/quote]

Appologies Klark....Didnt view this thread so never saw this question.

Yes you did have to have a certain number of posts to view attachments/pictures..
Glad you are getting the problem sorted out..and if you have any luck with getting your spends back from the main dealers..then please let us know..Would be great if you did.lol.

I do believe someone on here took their door off completely..but i cant remember who at the mo....Unless you are meaning just the door card off??..

[eddie2008]

[quote name='Klark' timestamp='1185623064' post='112100']
[quote name='Klark' post='112099' date='Jul 28 2007, 11:28:38']well now they work, so must have been a temporary problem![/quote]

BTW I meant the pictures, not the doors.

used the FAQ to get the harness connectors off, but didn't need to I think, as the boot was loose at the other end. There was a broken (completely broken) red and yellow wire. One of the brown wires had a crack across it too, but have left that for now. Should mention the symptoms: drivers window not working, other windows would only go down from central control, but not up again, but worked completely from their on-door controls. Answer, the red and yellow wire!

Dealer charged around 100 pounds to diagnose problem. They diagnosed a faulty switch, and three worn wiring looms. They estimated 600 pounds to fix, including parts and labour.

My charge to diagnose: 10 minutes to register for forum site and find problem, approximately sod all pounds. To fix, 25 minutes of mucking about, mainly trying to get the connector back out of the 'a'pillar, three minutes to solder wire, and 10 minutes explaining to the kids why they shouldn't use the words that Daddy was using. Not the best fix I guess but I can replace the loom if I want after I research how to get the door off. Cost was scraped knuckles (again trying to get the connector back in),and a couple of drops of solder. But, oh, the fun I'll have trying to get the money back from my dealer! Priceless.

thank you all!

bb
[/quote]

[eddie2008]

I am new to this site and signed up because I have the same problem with the door harness. Currently off side windows and locks not working.
Dealer also charged me

[Mirez]

[quote name='eddie2008' timestamp='1314118800' post='167181']
I am new to this site and signed up because I have the same problem with the door harness. Currently off side windows and locks not working.
Dealer also charged me

[eddie2008]

No one other than the dealer has looked at the pins but feel it is very unlikely they would own up to this?
Pretty much resigned to sorting it myself given this and delay in getting parts. Assuming the cabling can be sorted out are you saying it is possible to solder another pin or two to replace missing damaged ones?