Rear door electrics

[Lovejoy]

First of all, lets get this out of the way

Okay, that said, when I put my rear curtain rails in recently I must have screwed through some of the wires which run inside the rear door panel, as ever since, whenever I try and activate the rear wiper/washer, it blows the 10a fuse.

I have had the rear panel off and see that most of the wires seem to run up to the offside top of the window and out through a grommet into the vehicle.

I have no idea which screw hole or screw has done the damage, and hence where the cable is broken. It could be in the top curtain rail or the bottom - it is impossible to see up into the space where the wires run, or feel with a finger, as the space is so tight.

Having taken an initial look last week (heavy with 'man flu' so couldn't do much), it looks like a complete nightmare job to do, which may involve extracting large amounts of cabling from the rear door and then trying to feed it all back in again - I never knew there were so many cables in there !

But this week-end I have to find out, as Mrs Lovejoy is pretty annoyed with me that I could have been so stupid, and I have to put it right.

Does anyone have any handy hints where to even start to find where the wire break is, or how to get to it to fix it ?

Does the fact that the washer squirty thing doesn't work either point to the fault being in a particular place ? I can't work it out as I assumed the pump would be at the front and just send the water to the back without any wiring. But maybe I am wrong. Unless the washer pump is on the same (blown) fuse as the rear wiper motor?

Failing that, is there a competent vehicle electrician living within an hour's drive of Launceston Cornwall who could quote me for sorting it out for me? If there is, then there are a couple of other electrical jobs I need sorting at the same time (not faults but new bits and bobs I want sorted)

[dreamwarrioruk]

i did a fact sheet regarding all the colours of cables and how to strip down to get to the cabling as ours did the same.
i believe it will be in the either factsheet or clinic section of the members area.
or failing that im in cornwal at the beginning of september nr st ives

[Steve L]

The pump for the rear washers is on the water bottle under the bonnet so there is no wiring for it going to the rear of the vehicle (only tubing).
How long are the screws you put in?
Did the fuse blow when using the wipers or using the washers?
I would be tempted to unscrew the bottom rail which is near the wiper motor and see if this cures it. If it does then either go for some shorter screws or cut the ones down that you were using.
Hopefully its something simple.

[Lovejoy]

Now that sounds like the sort of fact sheet I could do with printing off. I shall go and seek it out now

[Lovejoy]

Hi Steve,

That's what I thought about the water system, maybe there is something unconnected going on there. I will treat it as a red herring until the wiper is fixed then take a look at it.

I used 4mm screws sent to me by a very kind chap from this fourm. They were actually shorter than the original ones from Mazda. Mind you, I did push the drill through quite a way - well it sort of goes with a whoosh once it has made the hole doesn't it

The fuse blows either when you use the wipers - or possibly as soon as the fuse is put in. They are very difficult to see in situ, so I put the one for the horn in (same rating), tried the rear wiper, took the fuse out and it had blown. So I stopped my testing there as I then had no horn, no rear wiper and bloody man flu.

Do you think that removing the screws one at a time will cure it, even if I have drilled a hole through one of the wires ?
Certainly worth a try, as if it does the trick, i'll just put a new hole in and put the screw somewhere else. (and probably screw through the number plate instead )

Thanks for your pointers

[smartmonkey]

When drilling into a cavity put a bit of tube over the drill so you only expose 1/4" of drill bit. That way you cant go too deep.

[Lovejoy]

That's a good tip, thanks i'll remember that.

[Steve L]

Just thinking that one of the screws might be earthing a wire to the car body.
I've had a look at mine which has the holes but no curtains .
They look very neat as though factory drilled. The holes at the top start 6" in from the edge of the window (just inside the outside edge of the door hinge). The are four holes roughly 10" apart finishing at the same position on the other side of the door.
On the bottom of the door the holes start 3" in from the edge of the window and then a further hole 10" in from this. It is the same at the other side (four holes total) but there is a large gap in the middle. Might be if you have drilled a hole here that might be your problem.
Hope this helps.

[Lovejoy]

Yes I have put one in the middle.

What i'll do tomorrow is get a handful of 10a fuses, take all the bottom screws out and see if the wiper works. If it does i'll put them back one at a time and see if the wiper works after each one is in.

Then I can repeat the process for the top rail.

This has to be easier than pulling out all the wiring.

If after all that the wiper still doesn't work then I will have to bite the bullet and start trying to strip the cables out.

I know now it is the purple/white cable, but I bet it's all taped up in a big bundle with all the other cables.

Thanks again for all the advice - much appreciated.

[dreamwarrioruk]

you can find the bottom cables easy enough by just removing the rear door card, this will gain you access to the wires, however there is hardly any access to the top of the door so i hope you have just drilled a bottom cable, as you look at the rear door from the back of the bongo all the cables run up the pillar on the right hand side and pass through the grommet into the van body just below the spoiler.
there they travel down the a panel to behind the rear seat right hand card and enter the loom there, if i remember rightly there is no multy plug to enable a quick disconection.

12
12

[Lovejoy]

If the worst comes to the worst, I am assuming I can locate the white/purple wire at the gromet, cut it there, cut it again near the connector (which I can get to quite easily), then run a new length of twin cable through and connect it up, hence bypassing the damaged bit.

That's the latest plan anyway if removing the crews fails to fix the problem.

[Big Rich]

Hi i have a small ottoscope its around 1/2 mtr long flexable with an eye piece i use it for looking down booms { i am an access engineer) its an optic fiber with an inbuilt very bright light, ok its not as good as what the doc pushes up your ass, but a good second best, do you want to borrow it ? i will post it down to you if you want ......ps no looking up or down naughty bits Rich pps just post it back when done

[Lovejoy]

Hi Rich,

I can't believe how helpful you guys all are, what a brilliant offer.

On the basis I wouldn't get it until after the weekend, I will have a look at the situation on Sunday and see if it is something relatively simple.

If I can't find the fault or see an obvious (and easy) solution, then I would be delighted to take you up on your offer, as I would not be able to have another go until next week-end.

Besides, I always wondered what my colon looked like
(Now that would make a picture for MySpace)

I'll let you know how I get on.

[Big Rich]

No problem its the sort of thingy you can look down the spark plug / injector for a hole in the top of the piston ...... anyway if you need it its here . GOOD LUCK WITH THE PROBLEM Rich


PS IF ANYONE ALSO WANTS THE USE OF A SUCTION PUMP / TANK FOR SLURPING UP THE ATF OIL OUT OF THERE GEARBOX ANY ONE CAN BORROW IT COLLECT FROM MY HOME AND DROP IT BACK WHEN DONE PS IT WILL SLURP IT ALL UP IN 60 SECONDS .....THANKS Rich

[Lovejoy]

PS IF ANYONE ALSO WANTS THE USE OF A SUCTION PUMP...

Can I just ask, does that device work on ......

No no no I won't go there, sorry, that would be rude...wouldn't it