Wire harness repair [Archive]

vjborelli

03-01-2013, 07:39 AM

So my central locking stopped working on the driver's door, and then the window stopped working. So I decided to stop being lazy and take a look at the harness.

This is the door wiring harness connector that links up on the frame. This wasn't even the bad part, as this cleaned up pretty easily. Though i'll still be ordering a new one... they are only $10 for the connector.
http://imageshack.us/a/img708/8568/imag0108my.jpg

So i pulled the interior trim back to get a look at this connector 8E0972701 (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/8E0972701/ES441517/) there should be 12 active pins on this harness for me... There were only 6 pins remaining. So i'm guessing the water damage just rusted them off.

I looked up the wire harness this connector goes to hoping it was just a small on that connects to the main interior harness, and no such luck. It is part of the interior harness and i really don't feel like spending that kind of money. Does anyone know which repair wires I can order and solder in that would be the correct pin size? The pins that are broken are for the small 8 wires that control the door control module/window regulator.

iamshayan

03-01-2013, 01:16 PM

Nice. Mine looked similar. I think I wrote a thread on it. Its a 300 $ harness from the dealership but I rigged one together. Check my posts created. I'm on my phone otherwise id link u directly.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Charles.waite

03-01-2013, 02:12 PM

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/492789-Door-wiring-nightmare
Iz dis?

vjborelli

03-01-2013, 02:19 PM

diagnosticator

03-01-2013, 06:34 PM

Not the harness in the door. That is the picture I took, yes... but I was able to salvage the door harness. The harness I'm looking to fix is in the kicker panel under the fuse box. It is the harness that runs everywhere inside the car. I just want to repair the wires and connector socket on that harness instead of replacing the entire harness.

Sent from my Banana Phone

If the chassis side connector was damaged, then you should replace the door side harness as well. Even if it is not causing problems now, considering the condition of the chassis side harness connector, the wires between the chassis and door at the door jamb are likely near the breaking point.

customa4

03-01-2013, 06:41 PM

There's a couple part outs on vortex, you should ask if one of them has this available still. Your best luck getting one cheap is someone with a part out. There's also someone parting a B6 out in northern CT if your willing to take the ride or convince the guy to ship it.
http://hartford.craigslist.org/pts/3641954386.html

MikTip

03-01-2013, 07:05 PM

Audi uses the VAS 1978 Harness Repair Kit...

Type VAS 1978 into Google.

MikTip

03-01-2013, 07:15 PM

Audi Electrical Harness Inspection and Repair Manual in *.pdf.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=vas%201978%20manual&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.1stcallhosting.com%2Ftech%2Fa udi%2Findex.php%3Fdir%3DElectrical%252F%26download %3DWiring%2BHarness%2BInspection%2Band%2BRepair.pd f&ei=TW4xUcO7IOOYiQK4r4HIDw&usg=AFQjCNEj4hFmEwVoDiKiSl3Z78zqnuXD_g&bvm=bv.43148975,d.cGE

vjborelli

03-01-2013, 10:18 PM

I pulled the entire harness out of the door... cleaned and inspected it for damage. The only problem there was with the door was the connector having a all that stuff all over it in the picture I showed. That all cleaned off with some electric parts cleaner.

Essentially all I need is the contacts on the chassis side of the harness. The 4 large contacts in chassis harness are fine. There are 8 small contacts that run down the connector that were damaged... well 6 of them were damaged and broke off.

vjborelli

03-02-2013, 10:36 AM

So i'm going to order this repair tool, since i'm not shelling out $2,500 for the VAS kit:
CE-70-2 (http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_A4-FWD-1.8T/Tools/Electronic/ES11414/)

And i'm thinking this would be the repair wire.... but I think I'm only going to need the terminal ends. Anyone have the part number for just the terminal ends like these ones?
000979012A (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/000979012/ES265365/)

Could be this one too I guess? 000979017 (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/000979017/ES265374/)

vjborelli

03-02-2013, 01:15 PM

Ok, so I went down to the deal to verify the repair wire numbers and I was right with the 000 979 012 (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/000979012/ES265365/) being the correct one. And the new connector, 8E0972701 (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/8E0972701/ES441517/), will be in on Tuesday.

Each of the wires was $12.90 and completes 2 possible connections when you cut them in half.
http://imageshack.us/a/img692/9553/imag0005jn.jpg

This is everything I picked up today to get ready to repair it when the new connector comes in on Tuesday.
http://imageshack.us/a/img692/9762/imag0001eu.jpg

vjborelli

03-04-2013, 02:09 PM

Ended up ordering the schwaben electrical repair kit through sears. It was on sale for $63 and they offer free shipping. I also had some of sears rewards points to use and brought the price down to $52.

http://www.sears.com/schwaben-terminal-removal-tool-set/p-00929908000P?prdNo=20&blockNo=20&blockType=G20

Sent from my Banana Phone

Charles.waite

03-04-2013, 02:16 PM

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-56500-Terminal-Tool/dp/B0009OR906/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362435341&sr=8-1&keywords=electrical+connector+tool

That works FYI. Used it on the connectors for my Sub and I'll be using it to replace the connectors for my broken MAF connector and Coil pack connectors.

walky_talky20

03-04-2013, 02:23 PM

^Yep. I use that one too. Takes a tiny bit of finesse, but works good.

And those repair wires are highway robbery at the dealer. Yikes.

vjborelli

03-04-2013, 03:21 PM

^Yep. I use that one too. Takes a tiny bit of finesse, but works good.

And those repair wires are highway robbery at the dealer. Yikes.

Yeah, they are very pricey. I wish I could order just the terminal contacts and use my own wire. would be much cheaper. No clue where to find just the contacts though.

Sent from my Banana Phone

walky_talky20

03-04-2013, 03:26 PM

I have several scraps of VW harness around. I'd be happy to harvest "repair wires" and send them out.

vjborelli

03-18-2013, 07:11 PM

So here is some of the stuff I have put together. I got everything working again, and now that I have the correct tools to repair harness problems, I feel much better knowing I won't have to pay someone else to do the work. I absolutely hate paying other people to do things I feel I should be able to do myself. I will say that it is mind numbing going through the Audi wire diagrams, lol.

Driver's Door Harness Repair
Door Terminal Part # 8E0 972 702 (T20) (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/8E0972702/ES441518/)
Chassis Terminal Part # 8E0 972 701 (T20) (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/8E0_972_701/ES441517/)

NOTE: (T20) is the designated name, in the Audi electrical wiring diagrams, for the 20pin terminal housing located in the A pillar for the driver's door wiring harness.

1. Brown (2,5mm) -> Ground # 44 (Lower left A-pillar)
2. Blue/Yellow (1,5) -> T8a/6 (Radio)
3. Red/Yellow (0,5) -> S22 (Fuse in fuse holder/relay)
4. Red/Grey (0,5) -> B207 (Connection "comfort", in passenger compartment wiring harness)
5. Orange/Green (0,35) -> A146 (Comfort System High-bus Connection)
6. Orange/Brown (0,35) -> A147 (Comfort System Low-bus Connection)
7. "Door" Lilac/White (0,35) -> "Chassis" Lilac/White (0,22)
8. "Door" Lilac (0,35) -> "Chassis" Lilac (0,22)
9. ** Green/Lilac (0,35) -> T17g/13
10. *** Green/Black (0,35) -> T10o/5
11. Red/Black (2,5) -> S37 (Fuse in fuse holder/relay)
12. Brown/Green (1,5) -> T8a/5 (Radio)
13. Empty
14. Empty
15. Empty
16. Empty
17. Empty
18. Empty
19. * J526 Lilac/Green (0,35) -> T20/19 Lilac/Red (0,35) -> B136 (Open-comfort system)
20. * J526 Grey/Lilac (0,35) -> T20/20 Blue/White (0,35) -> B137 (Closed-comfort system)

Schwaben Tool CE-70-2
ECS Tuning (http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_A4-Quattro-1.8T/Tools/Electronic/ES11414/)
Sears (http://www.sears.com/schwaben-terminal-removal-tool-set/p-00929908000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1)

Repair Wire - Chassis side (each wire repairs 2x terminals)
ECS Tuning (http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/000979012/ES1008989/)

Here are some pictures I put together. Let me know if you have any questions, would like to add any info here, or correct any mistakes I may have made.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9839/doorterminalrepairt20.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/2274/imag0034un.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img59/2103/imag0032yo.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img705/9702/imag0029iy.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img254/227/imag0021tl.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9173/imag0019bg.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img33/2054/imag0018xw.jpg

trj

11-05-2014, 12:28 PM

Bumping this thread for an answer.
How did you remove the connector at the chassis end? Is there a certain tab or clip I need to remove? Removed the foam insulation from the inside, unplugged the harness coming from door control module.
I am trying add a 3 wires to the connector to get the memory seats and auto dim retrofit done.
Excuse the wire tap. Thats what I am trying to avoid, since I am going to add 2 more wires and tapping would not be ideal.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b589/finetrj/Audi/Memory%20seat%20and%20mirrors/e8ff37c9-fab5-4f2a-a6c2-8fd3cf8a77b5_zps87e5daeb.jpg (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/finetrj/media/Audi/Memory%20seat%20and%20mirrors/e8ff37c9-fab5-4f2a-a6c2-8fd3cf8a77b5_zps87e5daeb.jpg.html)

customa4

11-05-2014, 01:11 PM

I beleive that purple clip has a some type of latching mechanism to it. Should lift and then be able to pull the harness. Not 100% sure but that's the best I could do for ya.

walky_talky20

11-05-2014, 01:55 PM

It's too bad about this common problem. The lucky MK5 guys got a class action settlement over this (deadline ends in 2 weeks):

http://wiringharnesssettlement.com/

trj

11-05-2014, 02:03 PM

I beleive that purple clip has a some type of latching mechanism to it. Should lift and then be able to pull the harness. Not 100% sure but that's the best I could do for ya.

Thanks, I tried to pry the purple tab, not too hard though. Scared that I will break it. These cars break even if you look at it the wrong way. Anyone else who have taken a dab at this?

FIY: Its a B7, but I am sure B6 and B7 use the same connector.

Right now, my interior is in pieces trying to sort this retrofit.

Spike00513

11-06-2014, 12:15 AM

OP, how do you like the Schwaben tool kit?

It's too bad about this common problem. The lucky MK5 guys got a class action settlement over this (deadline ends in 2 weeks):

http://wiringharnesssettlement.com/

Wait...so this is common, and happens over time due to repeated door opening and closing???

trj

11-06-2014, 10:06 AM

Update:
That little pink or purple plastic piece on chassis side of the T20 connector has to be slid towards the front of the car. That allows the clips on the top of the T20 connector to be depressed and push/slide in to the body of the car.

Now to figure out how to install the new repair wires. There are pink or purple tabs. I am sure it needs to be slid to get the wires installed. Well if anyone knows, please update. I will try to figure it out as well.

walky_talky20

11-06-2014, 10:30 AM

Wait...so this is common, and happens over time due to repeated door opening and closing???

Yeah. It's somewhat common on all cars, really. Wires don't like to repeatedly bend in the same place forever. The MK5's got it worse than most due to the factory harness being made too short. When like half the cars have problems at 60k miles, you get unhappy people. And then you get a class action lawsuit.

Puddin Tane

01-06-2022, 06:40 AM

The driver window on my 2005 A4 stopped working, leading to discovery of the same problem. Any kind of splice in this location is clearly NOT going to last. So priced new harnesses only to run screaming from the sticker shock. Then there's junkyard harnesses. No thanks. How long before that insulation fails in turn? Then I found this:
eBay-- Audi FLEXIBLE Door Harness Repair Kit (https://www.ebay.com/itm/284162691108)
which puts 20 centimeters of SILICONE insulated wires in that spot to do all the flexing. This holds out the best promise, I think, of fixing the problem for good without spending a stupid amount. It will put a mass of splices in one spot in the harness, but that spot will be well inside the door and stationary.
Common wire insulation is VINYL, which when pure is not flexible. It's hard, rigid, and brittle a la vinyl records or PVC pipes. It can be made flexible for things like upholstery and air mattresses by the addition of plasticizers, but over time, especially when heated, those additives evaporate away and the vinyl becomes stiff and brittle again. That's what leads to this failure. The multi-strand copper conductors fail due to metal fatigue only because the insulation is cracked at that spot and rigid on either side of it, causing all of the flexing to happen at that one point.
Basically, vinyl is a miserly cheapskate engineering solution for insulating any wire that must remain flexible. Silicone is a much better choice of material.
The downside is soldering and heat-shrinking 20 butt splices.
I also found great YT resources for this job:
How to Remove Door Card Panel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyqrg33zH8Q)
How to Remove Door Wiring Looms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKK0Mrr2NZA)
How To Replace Front Power Window Regulator (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xra6Fqd5ffs) (includes removing the regulator gearmotor, a step in removing the door loom versus patching it.)

Turbo510

01-06-2022, 12:15 PM

Spot-on technical description of why these wires at flex points can eventually fail. I recently had to repair trunk wires due to the severe twisting those things experience. My only comment is: if the original Vinyl insulated, copper stranded wires can last 15 years, why not just replace the flex-section with another set of 15-year wires?

old guy

01-06-2022, 01:00 PM

That is a nice find for a harness repair! I just replaced mine a few months ago. The harness was rather expensive but it was a fairly quick and painless replacement. I considered splicing wires but it just looked like too much of a pain in the ass. I figured, if I made it 18 years with the original harness, the replacement should last as long as I have the car.

https://i.postimg.cc/3NqQtZCf/Harness-Repair.jpg

Puddin Tane

01-07-2022, 07:29 PM

if the original Vinyl insulated, copper stranded wires can last 15 years, why not just replace the flex-section with another set of 15-year wires?
I'd be fine with that except new vinyl-insulated harnesses with 15-yr lifespans from date of install are psycho expensive, while the "pre-owned" ones are all at least 14 years old (B7) and thus pre-deteriorated as well. I'd like to not do the repair again in a year or two. So both of those solutions have big drawbacks.

Perhaps you mean splicing in NEW vinyl primary wires just in that flexed section? The mid-harness butt splices would be fine but I really don't want to do splices at the terminals, which means crimping new terminals to that end of each wire. With the silicone kit I don't have to deal with that, those crimps are done for me.

If there's another option I'm not thinking of, I'm all ears.

Turbo510

01-09-2022, 10:48 AM

Perhaps you mean splicing in NEW vinyl primary wires just in that flexed section? The mid-harness butt splices would be fine but I really don't want to do splices at the terminals, which means crimping new terminals to that end of each wire. With the silicone kit I don't have to deal with that, those crimps are done for me.

Yes, I did mean replacing the broken wires, or all of them if preferred, with new wires of the appropriate gauges, leaving all crimp-splices or soldered joints away from the flexing area. But if you can buy a new harness section ready to plug in, that sounds like a faster solution.

How's are things in Athens? I've got family in Roswell (my daughter), and cousins in Duluth, Loganville, and from Alpharetta.

Puddin Tane

01-09-2022, 04:52 PM

"How's things in Athens?"

Not great. It was a more wholesome, sane place when I moved here 30 years ago. I lived on Athens' east side then. It was solid working class suburbia, mostly wholesome hard-working folks. There's a big subdivision there actually called Green Acres, and that's what it was like. It's all gone sketchy there now. Athens is... increasingly polarized, like so much of the country these days. You have all the hardcore Trumpies out in the boonies where I live and the "woke" types mostly concentrated in Athens proper and Oconee County. Athens is a blue island in a sea of red. Both sides seem to be itching for Civil War II, and they just might get it. I'm sort of caught in the middle, wishing both would grow up and realize what they're throwing away by letting teevee and "social media" play them like violins. What is it about a turd world destabilized hell-hole that calls them so? "Interesting times" is no doubt a hellish curse.

Greater Atlanta is worse in this sense, much worse, from what I can gather. I don't know about Duluth, but most of deKalb is nowhere you want to be at night.

Turbo510

01-09-2022, 08:08 PM

Athens is a blue island in a sea of red. Both sides seem to be itching for Civil War II, and they just might get it. I'm sort of caught in the middle, wishing both would grow up and realize what they're throwing away by letting teevee and "social media" play them like violins. What is it about a turd world destabilized hell-hole that calls them so? "Interesting times" is no doubt a hellish curse.

Greater Atlanta is worse in this sense, much worse, from what I can gather. I don't know about Duluth, but most of deKalb is nowhere you want to be at night.

Definitely strange days. And the mainstream media plus much of social media outright wants to instigate violence, it seems. The major broadcast "news" outlets, and cable channels traffic in lies-of-omission and inuendo. The BS is off the charts!

Anyway, some years ago my wife and I drove downtown to meet a friend of hers, staying at a hotel adjacent to Underground Atlanta. Being from California, we were unfamiliar with the area and borrowed my cousin's car to go there. We parked in a garage a couple of blocks from the hotel, and in daylight it was nice and pleasant. After dinner and sundown, the scene had changed, and was a lot more crowded. While we stood on the sidewalk talking, a hooker in heels and fishnet stockings came up behind me and barked like a dog, right behind my ear. Our walk back to the car was uneventful, but I was on heightened awareness, so to speak.

Puddin Tane

01-11-2022, 11:26 AM

And the mainstream media plus much of social media outright wants to instigate violence, it seems.
Exactly. I haven't watched television at home at all in most of 30 years, don't even own one. Don't do social media, never opened a single account. My GOD I wish more people would do that! None of it "informs" or "entertains" them. It's all Orwellian propaganda that's socially engineering this country into an inescapable lunatic asylum. People need to realize: if they let "media" jackhammer raw sewage into their brains all day every day, eventually they are going to believe it as if they thought of it themselves. How much more proof do they need?

While we stood on the sidewalk talking, a hooker in heels and fishnet stockings came up behind me and barked like a dog, right behind my ear. Our walk back to the car was uneventful, but I was on heightened awareness, so to speak.
She was probably whacked on 15 different street drugs. Atlanta is a frikkin ZOO. I witnessed similar goings on back when I did the tourist thing there, before I reached my limit for gross.

BTW, ECS carries the only new door harness I could find. All other parts houses say "discontinued." ECS wants 327 bucks. No way in hell...

Charles.waite

01-12-2022, 10:27 AM

I watch plenty of TV, but never the news.

For current events I only read stories in my Fox News and QAnon Facebook groups. /sarcasm

The whole mainstream media is all lies is sorta right sorta wrong. Plenty of outlets have really awesome journalism and actual truthful shit. But many more operate on “maximize eyeballs and clicks, truth isn’t relevant”. Most Americans have terrible BS detectors though so that stuff gets views and then get propagated everywhere. Social media in general is a cesspit of polarized nonsense that’s intentionally hyperbolic (or straight up lies) just to get more ad revenue. It’s a mess.

Meanwhile nearly half our elected politicians are doing their utmost to gut our education system in an attempt to return to some sort of quasi/feudal system where the .1% calls the shots and the rest of us just live here in blissful ignorance.

Turbo510

01-12-2022, 12:49 PM

...nearly half our elected politicians are doing their utmost to gut our education system in an attempt to return to some sort of quasi/feudal system where the .1% calls the shots and the rest of us just live here in blissful ignorance.

Mandatory school attendance for all kids was at one time the secret of the United State's success. But an educated population, with the skills of critical thinking, is an impediment to those who want to control those same people. Look to Cambodia's Pol Pot regime for an extreme, opposite example: People who looked smart were eliminated. The U.S. founders knew how important education was, because of their familiarity with the kingdom's in Europe, and so designed the new government to have limited responsibilities, such as national defense and relationships with foreign countries. It was supposed to be the people's government.

The situation today, sadly, seems to be the deliberate gutting, as you say, of that education system. Covid, which has almost no effect on normally healthy kids, is the excuse for them to not attend school. What instruction many of them do get is that the United States is a nation of hatred and oppression, and where the flag is often not allowed in the classroom. Parents who complain about that, or the current fascination with transgenders, or of the teaching little kids of oppressor vs. oppressed groups, were called domestic terrorists by the American Federation of Teachers. A number of moms and dads have been arrested at board meetings, with even the FBI being involved to investigate these parents for terrorism. So no, I don't think any of this is just coincidence (apologies for the non-B6 rant).

Puddin Tane

01-12-2022, 05:11 PM

Plenty of outlets have really awesome journalism and actual truthful shit...
Stuff like the Stalinist handling of Darrel Brooks and the Waukesha Massacre has me totally and permanently alienated at this point, and it's been going on for a looooong time all across the board. Remember Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter who killed 60 people and injured hundreds by firing on a country music concert with automatic weapons? He was a LEFTY with a Latina wife who wanted to murder lots of Trump voters over the Border Wall, etc., and so he did, and he had planned it for months, but when a lefty gun nut goes on a politically motivated killing spree or a black goes on a hate whitey rampage, "our" traitor government and the WHOLE media, ALL outlets are like "duh, we dunno why he did it. Who knows? It's a MYSTERY. We'll never know." But when a white guy does an Eric Rudolph or kills a black for ANY. reason. whatsoever. we never hear the end of their screeching and posturing about white supremacy, domestic terrorism, systemic racism, blah blah blah... Excuse me, why didn't Stephen Paddock have them doing that over leftist terrorism? They're so blatantly corrupt and biased they make me puke. You had to totally distrust them in the first place to catch their Orwellian sanitizing of Paddock, otherwise it went right under your radar.

Charles.waite

01-12-2022, 09:39 PM

What is a leftist? Or rather, what do you define as a leftist?

Extremists are extremists, regardless of which side they’re on. Personally I view it as a circle go too far either direction and they circle back on themselves.

Gin+

01-13-2022, 07:05 AM

Personally I view it as a circle go too far either direction and they circle back on themselves.

100%

Turbo510

01-13-2022, 08:30 AM

Remember Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter who killed 60 people and injured hundreds by firing on a country music concert with automatic weapons? He was a LEFTY with a Latina wife who wanted to murder lots of Trump voters

There are the preferred narratives, and there are the inconvenient facts. The Las Vegas shooting episode is a great example. I grew increasingly dubious as time went on and the official story never changed: "there is no known motive". Or how about the George Zimmerman/Travon reporting - NBC edited the 911 audio to take out the operator's question to Zimmerman: "OK, is this guy White, Black, or Hispanic?" The broadcast version was "There's a real suspicions guy, he looks Black". Or another classic. Katie Couric's documentary "Under the Gun" was deliberately manipulated to make gun rights folks look stupid when asked a simple question about background checks. That group was asked to be absolutely silent for 10 seconds for an audio equipment calibration, when in fact that was the ruse to get video of a bunch of "gun nuts" looking clueless when asked an obvious question. And I could go on and on, but I've bored you guys enough.

Puddin Tane

01-13-2022, 09:34 AM

...but I've bored you guys enough.
You ain't boring me. Thanks for understanding.

Puddin Tane

01-13-2022, 11:01 AM

What is a leftist? Or rather, what do you define as a leftist?
I use "left versus right" as a matter of convenience because it communicates, but I actually think it's a false paradigm. Those are really names of two large herds herd-thinking in reaction to each other in ways that make both a single set of mental captives serving a single program comprehended by neither. Meanwhile there are two objectively real poles that vaguely correspond and can be demonstrated throughout the entirety of civilized history, but if I used accurate terminology for them, such as "Sargonites" versus "their pathetic winged monkeys," no one would understand what I'm going on about.

Turbo510

01-13-2022, 02:46 PM

"What part too "hard" you no unnastan, round eye?"

Your text at the bottom of your posts reminded me of when I worked for Mazda's R&D center years ago, mainly trying to get U.S. supplied A/C systems to work as well as the Hitachi systems they previously had. Anyway, I was one of the Round-eyes as we called ourselves, part of the job was communicating with the Car & Driver, Road & Track magazine guys who came by occasionally. My boss, Kunikata-San, spoke English (or en-grish as he called it) reasonably well. I asked him how to say various words, for instance "car" in Japanese, which is jidosha. When I asked "how do you say turbocharger in Japanese?" he said, "that same as engrish, tuba-CHAR-JA!".

Puddin Tane

01-18-2022, 08:39 PM

I didn't see there was a page 2. I hope you're still around.

he said, "that same as engrish, tuba-CHAR-JA!".
Their mangulations of engrish are comical. "Brown lice or flied lice?" But I have only respect and admiration for them, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. You know, right after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake knocked Japan flat on its back THERE WAS NO LOOTING. That is some high quality humans. Just picture a U.S. coast getting hammered like that. The rats would boil out of the woodwork in droves. I've got lots of rats for neighbors, I am positive. Nothing short of shoot-on-sight would stop them. And if I tried to master their languages, it wouldn't just be comical.

Puddin Tane

01-20-2022, 02:55 PM

The U.K. silicone harness patch kit from eBay actually has all 20 pin positions filled with terminals and wire pigtails, but the harness I'm repairing only has 12 wires. Rather than cut the extra eight wires off the repair connector, I'd rather de-pin them and save them for repairing the other doors as needed. Doing so gets into de-pinning this particular connector, which is a bit of a puzzle, so here's how it's done for anybody else who goes this route. This is ONLY for the 16 tiny wires, which is where all the variations are (I think). The four large wires are set up different and will always be there (I think):

There is a secondary lock, a.k.a. core, inside the connector body that needs to be manipulated first. It's purple plastic and located at the bottom end of the black plastic connector body. One side of it has detents visible through a little window. This is the best spot to attack with an awl to start the lock moving. The purple lock can be pulled out of the connector completely, but that's NOT what you want to do. You only pop it out to the first detent position, the de-pin position, where it actually helps you.

There is a single TINY metal barb coming off each pin that needs to be depressed to release that pin, which will then pull out of the connector. These barbs are between the two rows of terminals, down in that little trench on the "connection" side of the connector (versus the wire side). To release these barbs, you don't need any special tool. A fine paper clip works well as does a very fine pick tool, dissecting probe, T-pin, etc. Push that wire into the connector to unload the barb then stick your pointed tool into the trench alongside the pin to depress the little barb. If you can't feel the barb spring up and down as you press, you're pressing in the wrong spot. With the barb depressed, the pin will slide right out of the connector.
If you had pulled the purple lock out completely in step 1, the barb would catch a second time on its way out, in a spot where it's harder to get at.

When all pins are where you want them, be sure to push the purple core back to its "lock" position.

Turbo510

01-20-2022, 04:00 PM

Post a photo or two from your job; it would be interesting to see what this repair setup looks like.

Charles.waite

01-20-2022, 04:16 PM

An extra tip for your tip #3: don’t force the purple locking tab back in. It should snap back in with almost zero resistance. If it won’t go make sure all the pins are all the way in. If you’re needing to force it, you’re doing it wrong.

(That sorta goes without saying for everything wiring/plug related with our cars, but you’d be surprised…)

Puddin Tane

01-21-2022, 12:31 PM

259949
The problem: tiny red wire w/ white tracer already broken, which made
the driver's window conk out. Heavy brown wire up top (ground) starting to go.
You can see the "little window" I mentioned at the bottom of the connector.

259940
stick a stout pointed tool into the window and push the purple lock "up"
(relative to this image). The lock moves easily this way.

259935
What the first detent position looks like. The lock stays here for the de-pinning.
Visible in this picture you can also see the "trench," or slot, in the connector
between the two rows of terminals, where all the tiny barbs live.

Apparently some T20 connectors are different in this detail. The connector offered by ECS (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-volkswagen-audi-parts/20-pin-connector-housing-priced-each/8e0972702/)
doesn't have this trench. Instead it has a tiny hole for inserting a de-pinning tool next to
all 16 terminals in these rows (I bet a fine paper clip would work). This is actually better-- less fiddle-y.

More to come later.

Puddin Tane

01-22-2022, 12:38 PM

260035
The harness repair product from Cumbria, U.K., demonstrating how supple the silicone is (limp as overcooked spaghetti).

To my dismay the little barbs on the terminals have changed since the B6 generation.
Now instead of a very fine, easily depressed micro leaf spring to one side, the whole side of
the terminal serves as the "spring," with a domed portion at the tip that locks over the same ledge.

You can see the little domes in this view (open the image in its own browser tab and zoom in)
260033
This revised barb is an absolute pain in the arse to depress. The "de-pin" position of the purple lock
doesn't seem to work the same either. So much for not using (or buying) purpose-made
de-pinning tools.

260032
A first attempt at depressing these barbs. This worked on the B6 vintage barbs, but not on these new ones.

That's all the photos I'll post. De-pinning these muthas is a bitch. Taking good photos of this subject is a
separate bitch. Doing both at the same time is a bitch too far.

DPDISXR4Ti

03-17-2022, 06:28 PM

To my dismay the little barbs on the terminals have changed since the B6 generation.
Now instead of a very fine, easily depressed micro leaf spring to one side, the whole side of
the terminal serves as the "spring," with a domed portion at the tip that locks over the same ledge.

Thanks for posting these details. Just for a little more clarity, are you talking about the individual connectors on each wire or the whole quick-connector?

Spike00513

03-18-2022, 10:41 PM

DPDISXR4Ti

03-19-2022, 07:02 AM

Bruh that is a door harness that breaks where the wires bend over time.

I've always wondered, what's the difference between "Bro" and "Bruh"? I suppose it doesn't matter much, as typically there's no valuable content in the post either way when that's how it starts.

Back on topic, I'd suggest reading above about the harness repair product from Cumbria, and why it is an improvement over the stock harness.

Puddin Tane

04-23-2022, 06:33 AM

Thanks for posting these details. Just for a little more clarity, are you talking about the individual connectors on each wire or the whole quick-connector?
Hey, sorry I missed you. I mean the individual terminals, a.k.a. pins, on each wire. They're crazy tiny and pop into little sockets in the plastic quick connector. It would have been better to take pictures of the old versus new pins, but such a tiny subject is beyond the ability of my phone.

Also, thank you for stating the obvious to "Spike." I'll just reiterate (for any other "Spikes") that...

NEW harnesses with long lifespans are NOT "$100." ECS is the only source for these now and they want over $300. I can't justify spending that much.
I think you must mean salvaged junkyard harnesses, which are as old and brittle as what I'm trying to fix
With any ready-made replacement harness, you're still stuck with VINYL insulation, which sets you up for needing another harness in... how many years? Who knows? Maybe the "new" factory harness is actually new-old stock as old as the one in your car. I'd rather do a repair that I never need to repeat.
All of which is why the eBay product is an excellent solution. The wires in the entire door pillar area of my repair are now super-flexible conductors covered with SILICONE insulation. They'll NEVER break. And the part cost was 1/4 that of a "new" factory harness.

EuroxS4

04-23-2022, 07:29 AM

Just repair existing harness. A good repair will last another 10 years easy.

Kevin C

04-23-2022, 09:36 AM

A few comments:

1: If a harness is still available OEM, try cars245.com. The same parts that listed for $370 on ECS is about $150 new.
2: A new harness that sat for 10 years will still work just like a new harness.
3: Most of these are failing above 150,000 miles and 20 years. I'm saying that any repair that makes it 10 years is fine. Super flexible wire does not mean that its better at standing flex cycles. Some wire for flex applications seems stiff but will out perform standard test lead wire by a large margin. Non of this really matters since any properly done repair will probably outlast the car. I use super flexy wire at work, fun stuff until you try and make a twisted pair out of it.