Yet Another Tailgate Wiring Question...

[ric220]

Hi all and happy Christmas! Before I embark on an 800 mile uk tour visiting family, I'm trying to patch up the dreaded tailgate wiring on my '99 sharan 1.8t. I've wrapped the frayed wires in tape for now but 1 wire - black and green - is broken and the end has disappeared into the rear wing! Does anyone know what it operates? Thanks a lot.

[BrianH]

Theres a lot of that colour wire used in the door locking circuits, specifically the haynes manual shows a 0.35 one running to the tailgate lock though it shows this connects to a green 0.5 wire somewhere along its length. I seem to remember when i had issues with it that that particular wire on mine was very broken (same thing couldn't immediately find the end of it).

 

If it does go to the tailgate lock your should find that either you have to use the key to open it all the time, or it will always open when you pull the handle if its the same one i had issues with. It took around 5 minutes to remove the panel on the door to check though theres just a few screws holding it in place.

[ric220]

Excellent many thanks. One of my many new years resolutions is to fix the bloomin wiring so that'll come in handy.

[BrianH]

If you can get hold of some trailer board lighting wiring that makes the job a lot easier. use that to replace all the smaller wires then.

 

This is what faced me when i decided to investigate mine. It probabbly would have worked better if the previous person to meddle with it had left it alone!

[gregers]

bloody hell thats a mess,wouldnt be surprised if it was owned by a sparkie :lol:

[BrianH]

bloody hell thats a mess,wouldnt be surprised if it was owned by a sparkie :lol:

 

Not sure what was worse the earth sleeving over the several broken wires, the melted boot where he had tried to use heatshrink (or maybe tried to shrink the earth sleeving) or the bathroom silicone he'd tried to use to stick the melted boot back in place!

 

Thats all gone now except for the boot - had I realised how bad it was before starting I'd have changed it as well.

[seatkid]

Can you get replacement boots?

[BrianH]

From another car yes. Both ends unclip from the body/boot. No idea if they are purchasable (given that the local ford dealer couldn't get bolts for the con rods on a newer car or the gasket for the oil pickup i'd doubt it would be easy to find). Does mean you need the wires out of the boot to install it though, hence why its had to be stuck back in again.

[seatkid]

Does the loom terminate at a plug in the boot? I.e. can it it be unplugged and pulled back to fit through a new boot?

[BrianH]

Nope. Which makes it a pain hence why i didn't change it at the time (its only possible to change if you cut the wires that run though it). Theres a couple of plugs on the loom but most of them are too big to fit through the boot, and they only connect bits of the loom anyway.

 

Of course it wouldn't have needed changing if he hadn't melted it in the first place so its not a problem thats going to come up often.

[sparky Paul]

bloody hell thats a mess,wouldnt be surprised if it was owned by a sparkie :lol:

 

Not this bugger!

 

Might be worth trying VW for the boot, I believe same boot is used on other VWs.

Edited December 29, 2014 by sparky Paul

[gregers]

no you wouldve used  bit of mains cable :D ;)

[SilverBeast]

As he knows it's prone to wear he would have probably used armoured! He would have needed to drill more holes and get more flexi boots though to get the right number of conductors though!

[gregers]

oh cmon silver talk about going over board,just add a bit of earthing sleeve and away you go.

[sparky Paul]

As he knows it's prone to wear he would have probably used armoured! He would have needed to drill more holes and get more flexi boots though to get the right number of conductors though!

 

What's wrong with that? Mine still works :P

[ric220]

Stupid question time (I know NOTHING about electrics), but does the wiring need to be of a particular type / thickness? If it's just a case of taking off the rear wing / bootlid trim, cutting each wire and replacing it with one a couple on CM longer than the original then I hope to do it this weekend. Cheers

[BrianH]

Try to make it the same thickness as the existing. They vary in thickness so you may need a few options to pick from. The thinner ones can be replaced with lighting board or trailer wire. As long as what you get is stranded wire it should be ok. Don't use the solid stuff like twin + earth wire it won't bend easily enough. And unless you want to do it again soon replace the lenghth that bends - cut it inside the car and boot lid so your joins aren't being bent on opening the boot.

[BrianH]

There is a good set of a instructions in the Faq section on doing it.

[ric220]

Thanks all. I've set aside time this weekend to attack the wiring. Just 3 more questions (honest);

The description in faq doesn't describe how to access the ends of the wires. On the boot lid do I remove the main grey plastic panel and start there, and on the rear wing do I need to remove the whole panel (including the lidded storage box) or can I access what I need through the Jack storage door?

Secondly, I've seen reference to complete boot lid replacement wiring looms. Does anyone still sell them? Nothing on Fleabay.

Finally, the rubber boot is in bits and useless. As a fix I'm thinking of wrapping the new wires in plastic (carrier bag?). Does that sound reasonable?

Many thanks all for your patience!

[bigdave982]

Make new ends to wires,when you find the broken ones youll cut into it anyway,be sure to splice a new bit in, dont just join the 2 ends as itll be shorter than before.

I remove the whole tailgate trim panel and release loom from clips,this allows a bit of movement and gives more to work with

The boot was in the way, i just cut it along its length then bound it tight with tape when finished. Inside the wing you can release loom from clips to pull it up a bit but i found it to be a PITA and didnt bother

Edited January 22, 2015 by bigdave982

[viperclive]

Scrap yard visit, rip out good wire down rear pillar or in rear hatch, also rubber gator, cut out defective wire and connect new in rear hatch and down rear pillar, remember new boot! Easy job as the wiring color code should match. Either crimp or solder as you have lots of room to play with, remember any bare wire to cover with heat shrink sleaves.

[ric220]

Thanks all for your replies. Me and a friend spent 3 hrs on Sunday cutting splicing and occasionally swearing and replaced all the wires from the Jack area into the tailgate. Connected everything up and... exactly the same problems!! Aaaargh! After more swearing in desperation I replaced every single bulb on the rear and hey presto - the problem had vanished! I knew one of the tail lights (the single element) and poss a reversing light were blown but still I can't understand why that should create such mayhem with the other lighting. For my sanity I'm telling myself replacing the loom solved several problems and the blown bulbs was just coincidence but I'll never know. Anyway thanks again for the pointers!

[BrianH]

only thing i can think is if you had a single filament bulb jammed into a fitting for the stop/tail light type bulb though even that shouldn't cause issues which much besides the lighting.

 

If the wires were broken they will cause trouble sooner or later (i couldn't get the boot to stay locked with mine was the main reason i had to tackle it, though the rear heated screen not working and some other annoying problems were there as well).