vlkswgnbgmn66
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- Fresno, CA
- Car(s)
- Fahrenheit GTI #473
So to start the story, I've been in the process of moving and I left my last load of stuff in my trunk overnight. I come out to my car in the morning and the hatch won't pop and my bulb out warning is on for not reverse lights not working. Being a body electrical and squeak/rattle/water leak tech in the past I knew I was going to be looking for an open ground wire because that's what all these things have in common. Based on previous experience knowing how $#!tty German wires are, I went straight for body harness area that connects the wiring from the body through the accordion hose to the hatch. And VIOLA!!!
As you can see, there are a bunch of wires that need to get spliced with new wire. It's a pain in the butt to do this repair with the wires tight and fighting the rubber hose so I went ahead and removed the harness from the body and out of the hatch to make long enough splices to help avoid this problem again.
In order to get the wiring out for easy repair, you'll need to remove the hatch panel and trim(there are DIY's out for this for doing a rear wiper delete) and then the headliner trim piece that spans the width of the opening of the hatch opening. Then remove the 10mm nut that holds the left quarter panel trim panel at the top
Pull that panel back enough to disengage the clip that is behind there. After its disengaged, pull the panel back enough so you can remove the three wiring connectors behind the panel. It's a tight squeeze but you can get your hands in there with a pick or pocket screwdriver to disengage the connectors.
After the connectors are disengaged you'll need to pry a plastic retainer that secures the wires to the quarter panel of the body. I pried that out with some trim tools I have.
Now it's just a matter of fishing the wires out of the holes. To get the rubber hose through the hatch, you might find it easier to spray it with some WD-40 but I didn't need to. Patience is a huge thing to have when it comes to this stuff and to not get any more frustrated then you already are because you're having to fix this $#!t in the first place!
After I go get some of the correct gauge wire, I'll post more pics and info about this repair.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
As you can see, there are a bunch of wires that need to get spliced with new wire. It's a pain in the butt to do this repair with the wires tight and fighting the rubber hose so I went ahead and removed the harness from the body and out of the hatch to make long enough splices to help avoid this problem again.
In order to get the wiring out for easy repair, you'll need to remove the hatch panel and trim(there are DIY's out for this for doing a rear wiper delete) and then the headliner trim piece that spans the width of the opening of the hatch opening. Then remove the 10mm nut that holds the left quarter panel trim panel at the top
Pull that panel back enough to disengage the clip that is behind there. After its disengaged, pull the panel back enough so you can remove the three wiring connectors behind the panel. It's a tight squeeze but you can get your hands in there with a pick or pocket screwdriver to disengage the connectors.
After the connectors are disengaged you'll need to pry a plastic retainer that secures the wires to the quarter panel of the body. I pried that out with some trim tools I have.
Now it's just a matter of fishing the wires out of the holes. To get the rubber hose through the hatch, you might find it easier to spray it with some WD-40 but I didn't need to. Patience is a huge thing to have when it comes to this stuff and to not get any more frustrated then you already are because you're having to fix this $#!t in the first place!
After I go get some of the correct gauge wire, I'll post more pics and info about this repair.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
