Boot Loom Repair
Boot Loom Repair
I noticed a few weeks ago that my boot was no longer locking with the rest of the car when using the remote and guessed from having read previous posts that my boot loom had finally succumbed. Sure enough a cursory check revealed a breakage in the loom sleeving.
I read through several threads on here and on various other sites to see how people had tackled this in the past. There was one about rerouting the loom as part of the repair which caught my attention and several different methods for repairing the wires. I can't use a soldering iron to save my life and wanted something a little more elegant than spade connectors and insulation tape.
So a I had a bit of a route around the old interweb and found ECS, a company in Maldon, Essex that specialise in classic car wiring, bought some bits and waited for the rain to stop.
Disconnect the Battery first!!!!
Inital investigation shows a couple of broken wires.
Closer inspection reveals the full extent of the damage.
These are the connectors I decided on, SuperSeal 1.5mm 5 way connectors. They come in both Male and Female varieties and include plugs, terminals and seals. Along with some Braded Sleeving to keep eveything tidy.
I was lucky in that one of the two plain brown wires was still semi-intact so I was able to mark that before I cut the remaining wires and rerouted the loom.
Braded Sleeving goes on first, then the seals and finally the terminals.
ECS sell a crimping tool for the terminals, but £38 for the tool when everything else was less than £15 tempted me to see how I got on with a pair of needle nosed pliers. The pliers were a bit awkward at first but by the time I'd trimmed and fixed terminals to 18 ends of wire I was getting pretty good with them
With the wires all terminated, the plugs go on and the seals are pressed home. The plugs and the terminals are designed so that the terminals lock into place inside the plug, as long as you fit them the correct way around, which makes this bit a lot less fiddly. Even if the plugs probably are a bit big for this purpose.
A few cable ties and a quick trim to tidy the Braded Sleeving, wouldn't you beleive I'd have run out of Black ties
Tuck the loom back into its corner, reconnect the battery and T'Dah...
So feeling all proud of myself I closed the boot, grabbed the keys, pressed the remote and........nothing happened Fortunately that turned out to be a blown fuse so now my central locking works and I even have an interior boot lamp that hasn't been working for as long as I can remember
I read through several threads on here and on various other sites to see how people had tackled this in the past. There was one about rerouting the loom as part of the repair which caught my attention and several different methods for repairing the wires. I can't use a soldering iron to save my life and wanted something a little more elegant than spade connectors and insulation tape.
So a I had a bit of a route around the old interweb and found ECS, a company in Maldon, Essex that specialise in classic car wiring, bought some bits and waited for the rain to stop.
Disconnect the Battery first!!!!
Inital investigation shows a couple of broken wires.
Closer inspection reveals the full extent of the damage.
These are the connectors I decided on, SuperSeal 1.5mm 5 way connectors. They come in both Male and Female varieties and include plugs, terminals and seals. Along with some Braded Sleeving to keep eveything tidy.
I was lucky in that one of the two plain brown wires was still semi-intact so I was able to mark that before I cut the remaining wires and rerouted the loom.
Braded Sleeving goes on first, then the seals and finally the terminals.
ECS sell a crimping tool for the terminals, but £38 for the tool when everything else was less than £15 tempted me to see how I got on with a pair of needle nosed pliers. The pliers were a bit awkward at first but by the time I'd trimmed and fixed terminals to 18 ends of wire I was getting pretty good with them
With the wires all terminated, the plugs go on and the seals are pressed home. The plugs and the terminals are designed so that the terminals lock into place inside the plug, as long as you fit them the correct way around, which makes this bit a lot less fiddly. Even if the plugs probably are a bit big for this purpose.
A few cable ties and a quick trim to tidy the Braded Sleeving, wouldn't you beleive I'd have run out of Black ties
Tuck the loom back into its corner, reconnect the battery and T'Dah...
So feeling all proud of myself I closed the boot, grabbed the keys, pressed the remote and........nothing happened Fortunately that turned out to be a blown fuse so now my central locking works and I even have an interior boot lamp that hasn't been working for as long as I can remember
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Dave your pictures are broken They don't appear to be public as trying to goto the URL presents you with a windows live login screen. Long live Photobucket!
Edit: Now that they're working, looks like a great fix. Grats!
Edit: Now that they're working, looks like a great fix. Grats!
Last edited by XVar on Sun 10 Jun, 2012 11:05, edited 1 time in total.
1997 2.8 Z3 | Gallery Thread
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Great looking fix, those connectors look really good, great find
Re: Boot Loom Repair
yes a good job you did .even I could attempt that sort of job ......... but my loom is OK in the boot .
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Can't see the images from here at work (will try to view them from home), however I note my boot has never locked with my alarm fob, I have always had to lock it by key. When I have set the alarm off several times by opening the boot (with or without the use of the key) when the rest of the car is locked/alarmed.
I thought this was a normal feature. Does this suggest I have a boot loom issue? My boot interior light does work but I have taken the bulb out as I don't want to flatten the battery when the boot is open for prolonged periods.
My alarm is the old style one with the seperate "brick" fob used on a pre-facelift model.
I thought this was a normal feature. Does this suggest I have a boot loom issue? My boot interior light does work but I have taken the bulb out as I don't want to flatten the battery when the boot is open for prolonged periods.
My alarm is the old style one with the seperate "brick" fob used on a pre-facelift model.
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Yes, the boot should lock remotely on both types of alarm system. If you can hear it try to lock, then it a problem with the actuator linkage, if you can't hear it, then it is either the wiring or a dead actuator.
Cheers R.
Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Robert T
Thanks.
No sound, so wiring or dead actuator. Always thought it was funny that the boot wasn't electrically locked with the doors. Something else to check; one of my headlights doesn't move when the dash adjustment wheel is used and I still have the (stop the) seat moving/rocking mod to do.
Is the boot lock actuator easy to get to?
Thanks.
No sound, so wiring or dead actuator. Always thought it was funny that the boot wasn't electrically locked with the doors. Something else to check; one of my headlights doesn't move when the dash adjustment wheel is used and I still have the (stop the) seat moving/rocking mod to do.
Is the boot lock actuator easy to get to?
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Robert T
No need to reply, have found a post on it, and can now also see Dave L2's images (looks good) so know what to look for. My money is on the loom wiring.
No need to reply, have found a post on it, and can now also see Dave L2's images (looks good) so know what to look for. My money is on the loom wiring.
Re: Boot Loom Repair
That's a good fix and it will make it easier to get the bootlid off if you need to.
My only neg point is that you need a grommet where the wire goes through the bootlid hole. I'd try using the old one. Cut it radially and it should fit.
My only neg point is that you need a grommet where the wire goes through the bootlid hole. I'd try using the old one. Cut it radially and it should fit.
Pingu
Re: Boot Loom Repair
I thought the same thing, but let's hope I never need to remove it. I can't think of a good reason why it would need to come off only bad ones.pingu wrote:That's a good fix and it will make it easier to get the bootlid off if you need to.
I also realised this after I'd finished, however I don't think the sleeving would go through a grommet without unravelling completley.pingu wrote:My only neg point is that you need a grommet where the wire goes through the bootlid hole. I'd try using the old one. Cut it radially and it should fit.
Froggy, before I repaired the loom, locking my boot with the key would trigger the rest of the central locking, although unlocking it would not. It did not arm the alarm but then I wouldn't expect it too. Not sure if this extra info helps you at all though.
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Dave L2
Thanks for the tip.
Just tried it; my boot lock seems to have no electrical linkage to the central locking , so locking the boot with the key (with central locking off) just locks the boot.
However with the central locking/alarm off, and then opening the boot and it open; on activating the central locking (from the fob) the central locking works, the alarm is on but I do get the warning alarm beep, so the boot sensor switch is working.
Thanks for the tip.
Just tried it; my boot lock seems to have no electrical linkage to the central locking , so locking the boot with the key (with central locking off) just locks the boot.
However with the central locking/alarm off, and then opening the boot and it open; on activating the central locking (from the fob) the central locking works, the alarm is on but I do get the warning alarm beep, so the boot sensor switch is working.
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Dave L2
Can I ask you what size braided sleeving did you use?
I checked voltages on the boot actuator connectors, nothing. Checked voltage on red/geen core in boot, 12V there. Stripped back sleeve on cable between boot and body and hey presto three broken cores and two with copper showing. Fixed by soldering (and now have boot central locking for the first time!) but want to tidy it all up with the connector/braid route like you, hence braid size question. Putting the connectors back on the boot actuator was a left-handed sod, though the hole in the boot.
Can I ask you what size braided sleeving did you use?
I checked voltages on the boot actuator connectors, nothing. Checked voltage on red/geen core in boot, 12V there. Stripped back sleeve on cable between boot and body and hey presto three broken cores and two with copper showing. Fixed by soldering (and now have boot central locking for the first time!) but want to tidy it all up with the connector/braid route like you, hence braid size question. Putting the connectors back on the boot actuator was a left-handed sod, though the hole in the boot.
Re: Boot Loom Repair
Dave L2
A belated many thanks.
Always have fun with cars, everything takes twice as long as expected: the 80/20 rule applies (80% of the work takes 20% of the effort/time and then vice versa).
A belated many thanks.
Always have fun with cars, everything takes twice as long as expected: the 80/20 rule applies (80% of the work takes 20% of the effort/time and then vice versa).
Re: Boot Loom Repair
The boot wiring loom contains 9 wires with the following colours and functions:
If two colours are given, main colour is first, stripe is second. If a third colours are given, then there are bands of this colour every few cm along the wire.
Cheers R.
# | Gauge | Codes | Colours | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc