Removing old alarm wiring on Mk2GT

[MacColl]

I really want to get rid of this old alarm wiring, I mean look at the state of it

So if I follow each wire to the blue blocks that seem to litter the bay (see the right of the picture) I can just remove them without any concerns?
A fault with one front fog seems to point towards this where this terrible wiring seems to be spliced in just where the front offside fog comes through the front panel.



CV joints were out of my comfort zone, this is nose bleed territory lol. I may add though that I can solder and use shrink tubing so if someone can give me the confidence to just cut these wires away then thanks.

[Funky Diver]

You have to remember one thing... the wiring on the alarm has replaced some connections. It may not be as simple as you initially thing of cutting out the alarm wiring. If it were that easy, thieves would just cut the wiring loom to the alarm and nick your car. You basically need to spend some time and effort either...

1. Retrace the colour coding on the wiring and resplicing those parts.
2. Get a new wiring loom and fit that in place of hte old wiring.

Odd as it sounds, the second option is probably the easiest to do!!

[Nate]

depending on what alarm was fitted will let you know how easy removing it is going to be. it will joint into the original loom in various points. what you need to do is trace each wire back to the point it joint the original loom and remove it there. if it had a built in immobiliser, this may have been "removed" by just shorting out the appropriate wires so that the immobilised bits will still work.

once you start, you'll probably find there is less wires than you think. you'll have one or more +ve connections (probably with the fuse in line), earth connection, door switch, bonnet switch, connections to left and right indicators, possibly connections to the headlights or foglights.

are those scotchloks in the picture in the fog light wiring? they are notoriously troublesome, and would be better removed and soldered

[MacColl]

They were scotchlocks and now I believe I have removed everything apart from one single wire which seems to lead to the fuse box..??


Where the scotchlock things were there are breaks in the outer shielding of the wire, can I just cover with electrical tape?

Only thing that concerns me now is whats going on with the fog wiring? has this just been a bad repair?

[Nate]

where the shiteloks have been if it were mine i would cut the wire, solder and then heatshrink. you may find the wire is a bit mank though, as there may have been water getting in to it. tape will certainly do for the time being.

the 1 wire going to the fusebox is more than likely a +ve feed switched with the ignition

yes, that does look like the wiring has been 'repaired' at some point. probably worth checking the wires behind that tape have actually been soldered and not just twisted together

[MacColl]

Appreciate your input thanks

Well if that wire is linked to the ignition it is hopefully long disengaged as I have certainly been driving the car, hope it fires up once I get other stuff sorted.

Yes shitlocks fits the bill, they have left verdigris deposits so I will be cutting and re-soldering when I get a chance.

I'll unpick the tape on that fog wiring and see what it looks like. I know I'm probably asking obvious questions just don't want to do something that may cause more harm.

[Nate]

Well if that wire is linked to the ignition it is hopefully long disengaged

could well just be a spade connector plugged into the fusebox.

[MacColl]

Cheers, not checked where that wire terminates yet but I did as you said, cut and re-soldered where the scotchlocks were (see bottom of pic) I also replaced the wires that lead to the offside front fog (same pic). Unfortunately it still doesn't work but the drivers side one does. So the fault must be where? it wouldn't be a relay or fuse would it?

I should get some sort of volt meter light tester thingy.

[Nate]

I should get some sort of volt meter light tester thingy.

an indicator or tail light bulb with 2 bits of wire soldered to it will do the job.

have you actually checked the bulb? are the connections inside the back of the lamp tight and corrosion free?

[MacColl]

Ended up using the fog itself as a test light.

Got there in the end, found that on one of the wires the copper had turned a peculiar black colour probably to do with moisture/corrosion so I replaced the wires back to where both fogs meet in the loom. It actually ended up being the block that joins the four wires to two, it had a fault with the crimp connectors.

I quickly bypassed that with some soldering and some more shrink rap job done. When I have more time I'll look at making it look more oem now I have the confidence to sort this kind of job. Thanks again Nate

[Nate]

nice easy fix then. goodo :)

if you've got more of this sort of stuff to do, it would be worth investing in one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0171397677