Audi A3 door wiring

[Eric the chicken]

A neighbour of mine has a problem with his Audi A3. Central locking has failed on the driver's door and rear offside passenger door. After investigation the wiring loom from the driver's door to the 'A' post has two broken wires and several showing signs of chafing with the copper inner exposed. The wires pass through the 'A' post via a connector block. In order to repair the wiring, need to detach the connector block from the A post.
Before attacking the connector I thought I'd ask if anyone's taken one these connector blocks out. The connector has a mauve clip or slide at the top which looks as if it may slide move, but after a bit of pulling and pushing it hasn't budged. As I said before I'm not keen on using too much brute force and I've already got the ignorance. So any help greatly appreciated

Regards Eric.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Try releasing the clip then unscrew the main body .

 

[Slowcoach]

Some plugs need pushing together and then playing with the clip, pulling apart, they are a sod and sometimes they release without realising how you’ve managed it.

 

[fnlvder]

View media item 10253Don't mess with the purple bit on the socket. If it's anything like 2004 a4 that holds it into the a frame. There is a clip on the side of the plug that needs to be pressed in

 

[hotponyshoes]

The clip needs to be pulled at the same time as the connector is removed from the housing.
Kind of hard to explain but might help if I said as you push the connector back in the clip would go down and lock back in by itself.
(It won't as you will have to push both at the same time )

Basically, try pulling the clip up a little bit, then you should be able to pull the connector out a little bit, then pull the clip up a bit more, the connector and so on.
Once you have figured it out it's easy to do it in one go but you don't get a lot of space to get both hands in there so you might have to do it wiggle at a time.

Worth mentioning that by the time 1 or 2 wires have gone the others won't be far behind. Also they will be starting to go aside from the splits you can see. Unless you are just after a quick fix it's worth replacing a length of cable at the least, or do them all if you have the time.
Unless it's a higher spec one some of the door wiring looms are not theat expensive to buy new and probably in stock at the local dealer

 

[hotponyshoes]

Ps, if it is the type of connector I am talking about you will be able to see a slot in the side with a round peg of the mauve clip part in it and that of bit will move along the slot as you pull the connector out.
If it's the same as the one in the photo above then, as said I that post, it's the lug that you can see on the long side.
You might have to push that in with something and push the connector in to get it to release fully before pulling the connector out.

 

[anto44]

Hotponyshoes is spot on about the way it releases. It's a common problem to break wires in that part of the loom. Looms aren't crazy money or you can buy the pins with about 12" of wire attached to it, that's the way we do it in the dealer where I work

 

[Eric the chicken]

Dear All,
Thanks for your advice, connector disconnected and wiring loom removed. New wiring loom to be ordered.

Regards Eric

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Dear All,
Thanks for your advice, connector disconnected and wiring loom removed. New wiring loom to be ordered.

Regards Eric

Is it that bad?

What caused the damage?

 

[hotponyshoes]

Is it that bad?

What caused the damage?

Just opening and closing the door causes the wires to break eventually.
You can repair it but it needs to be a watertight repair and if you just repair he couple of broken ones the others will be close to breaking soon anyway.

You can buy the connector pins and run all new lengths of wire but if I was doing the job I would just be vying a new loom. They are not expensive and it will last the remaining life of the car I expect.

 

[Eric the chicken]

Yes, what hotponyshoes said. Initially the idea was to solder and sleeve the broken wires, but when we got the moulded rubber sleeve between the door and the car body off there were two broken wires and about four where the insulation was split. If we'd soldered and sleeved we'd have introduced a rigid section into the loom at the point where the maximum amount of movement occurs. So a new loom seems the best way ahead. Added advantage was I had all the fun of taking it apart but no financial input as it's not my car!

Eric

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

fun of taking it apart but no financial input as it's not my car!

The best way. No hit on you wallet.



One way in the past I have done
I have cut out a length of cable, so the joints was on both sides. That way you eliminate the rigid part. But means making 2 joins.

 

[hotponyshoes]

It's always a bit tight to join as the break is often pretty close to the A post.
If you put too many joins in one place they all rub together when the door moves and don't last long.
Solder and heatshrink is the common way but the solder tends to run along the cable and create a rigid length that either snaps or rubs on other wires.
The self-soldering crimp shrink sleeves work but they are pretty bulky if you need to do more than one wire.
You can track down the proper terminals for the A post connector and then run new wires from there to the inside of the door but by the time you have bought them, the wire, and the tool to crimp them with i would just go for the loom.
Having said that, if it was a back door that has gone because the previous owners kids were getting in and out 6 times a day and I was only going to use that door once a month then I would probably repair it.

 

[ibrooks]

Seems Audi have been cutting costs on wiring. The number I've seen with lighting problems at the rear clusters and it's down to the earth pin in the plug having melted is mad. I've seen it on A2s, A3s, A4s and TTs