The Mrs went out in our 04 Meriva this morning and on her way home someone knocked on her window to tell her her brake lights were out (well, the cars ...). ;-)
I had a quick look and the 15A fuse that covered the brake lights (and a few other things) had blown and replacing it revealed that the two conventional brake lights were fine but the high-level one was out.
Would I be right to presume that as that 'blew' it took the fuse with it?
Now if it was a conventional incandescent lamp that might make sense but would that age car be incandescent or LED? If LED I'm guessing something could have gone wrong with it or maybe it's just the flexible cable that has broken in the colder weather?
If it's not raining I'll have a look at it in the morning but till then I just thought if anyone had been there and done that please?
Doubtful on a 12 year old vehicle that they would be LED.
Commonly on many vehicles they use five 5W wedge caps, so one or two failing ought to have been noticed before they all went. Perhaps the handbook will tell you?
Funnily, it looks like there are two cables completely broken, a fairly thin one (probably the high level brake light as there is no power to the brake light connector) and a heavier one [1] plus the insulation split on another hd one (explaining the fuses blowing issue).
I think I'll dig out some silicone 'extra flex' cable and possibly some glue lined heat shrink and see when my mate has a slot in his (heated) garage to have a bit of a rewire.
Are the cables that run into the tailgate normally part of the main loom or do they plug into it a some point? I'm not sure I imagine them poking the wires into the tailgate and connecting them up in the factory but then the multipole plugs they use probably wouldn't go though the holes in the body or tailgate?
Cheers, T i m
[1] The strange thing is that everything (else) tailgate mounted seems to work, inc the rear screen heater, bidet and central locking. I wonder if the broken HD wire is another earth?
There's usually connectors between any given assembly and another to aid manufacture but tailgate ones can be lost inside the metalwork and then hidden by trim or spoilers giving the impression of contiguous wiring.
Thickest wire is probably earth (often brown, not sure with Vx's) but it's only there to guarantee earth continuity so it's probably conducting via the hinges which is why it's all working.
Understood. I'll probably pull the n/s rear lamp cluster and vent grille out first as I think I can get my hand in though the vent hole then if not, try the inner trim / boot lining.
They all looked black to me (seriously)! ;-)
Ah, good point.
So, the other hd wire (with the split outer sheath) is probably the feed to the rear screen heater.
Well, I actually got chance to look into it properly yesterday and you were pretty close all round. ;-)
There is a link cable that goes from just inside the n/s/r upper body trim (plug and socket) out through the concertina boot thing to inside the tailgate and up to another plug / socket near the central locking and other stuff.
I disconnected the high level brake light wire and tied a string on the end and then pulled the loom section out through the tailgate (again with line attached).
It seems the high-level brake light had failed and was initially shorting to the failed earth (as you say it's brown ... well it starts off brown then goes black at the joint for the brake light return ), and another couple (possibly the heated screen and a smaller one) were showing cracks on the insulation.
I see you can get a short repair loom on eBay for about 25 quid but I think I'll just cut the damaged / hardened wires back a reasonable distance outside the flexing area and run suitable gauge wires and hook-loop, solder (staggering the joints) and self-adhesive heat shrink the joints.
He-he! Work on enough random cars and you see the patterns. I don't think I've worked on a Vx since I owned one about 18 years ago!
Chances are it'll never be problematic again so no-one else is likely to have to deal with the rainbow of odd colour wires :-) I feel more inclined to do things "properly" if it's a) a newish car or b) going to be obviously visible to some other mechanic!
I only got this one because Dad passed away and although Mum had a licence and was on the insurance, she never drove it so gave it to us.
Whilst it's the newest and cleanest car we have ever owned, it's had it's fair share of expensive issues (inc having the ECU re-manufactured) but Mum likes the fact we keep it running and we often run her about in it.
Whilst it's no drivers car ... it is a handy vanette and surprises people when you pull a full size 3 draw steel filing cabinet and 3 big people out of it ... or fit a very large Thule roofbox diagonally across inside the back. ;-)
Well, they are all (still) black as I bought a 30m roll of the same gauge this morning and have just finished patching all the broken wires out. ;-)
I tend / try to do things properly if it's mine or anyone else's, or at least the way (like you), most people who knew what they were doing might consider such.
If I had to charge my own time out doing what I did wouldn't have been cost effective. But doing what I did allowed me (hopefully) to get the car back on the road before I could if I had to order even a second hand loom off the net and who knows if that would have been in any better condition. I'm guessing a new loom section wouldn't be cheap but again, how many dealers would have them in stock?
I can plug most of the repaired loom back in to test before I thread it back through the car and tailgate and pop the panels back on (bought new clips as most broke of course). ;-(
As you say, hopefully that will be the last time I have to deal with that particular issue so I can just look forward to the next one. ;-)
The kitcar goes in for an MOT tomorrow, so even gave it it's annual wash today!
My first car was a Nova inherited from my grandfather. B-reg, 10 years old & 29k miles. The ancient pushrod 1.0 but it ran, once I set the timing correctly, terribly well the next 30k miles I put on it. Nice to keep it going well. Got sold to a B-i-L who had it until it was nearly
20 years old and the rust had got to it.
Must have been a lot bigger than the Nova then ;-)
I'm always rather poor at charging out my time as some jobs seem to rattle on far longer than they ought! Looms tend to be v. expensive at dealers - I presume there's very little call for them and they're exactly the sort of thing that factors don't supply.
Could be worse, could be a Land Rover - the next issue's already present and you're aware of it but has been put off while sorting the previous issue!!
And that's how have ended up with most our cars (family / friends) and as long as they keep running we generally keep them.
The Rover 218SD turned out to be a surprise as to how useful (big inside when in hatchback guise) and economical (~50 mpg) it was. Especially after the 2L Sierra Estate that only did ~25 mpg). ;-( Paid a mate 100 quid for it and hardly spent much on it for the next 7 years / 50k miles. We probably got back more in scrap (at the time) than it had initially cost and we had spent in spares. ;-)
For sure. That said, I designed and built a solid wooden bench that would both take and support a wood turning lathe that would, in flat pack form, fit in the back of daughters diagonally across the back of daughters Corsa C (to take with her up to Scotland). ;-)
Often the case when working on anything that may have other ideas about being fixed. ;-)
Quite.
Hehe. Always thought I'd like a LR (late series summat) and a mate thought the same but he went out a bought an old but tidy Defender of some sort (to carry his big dogs around in), had it a month then sold it because it was too noisy, slow and juicy. He replaced it with a Suzuki Jimny (sp?) and has had that for a good few years now.
We built a Suzuki SJ410 look-alike kitcar 30 years ago instead of buying the LR and I think that was the right decision. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
p.s. Tailgate loom back in the Meriva and everything seems to work ok again. Just waiting for the Vauxhall panel clips to be able to put the tailgate lining back in.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.