[GTiJohn]

My rear washer, wiper and possibly heated rear window have stopped working. I have power at the rear wiper relay behind the OS taillamp, so I suspect a break wiring harness, probably in the grommet between the body and the tailgate.

Has anyone else had the same problem and found the cause?

Has anyone replaced this particular harness? If so, how easy is it to do?

[Montegoman]

Almost certainly a break in the harness at the tailgate hinge point. As they say... "They all do that Sir"! Each time you repair it, the wires get shorter until you need to splice a wire in.

[itcaptainslow]

As Jeremy says, almost definitely a number of broken wires in the harness.

Replacing the harness is an utter ball ache - an in situ repair is much easier. I repair them by cutting out & stripping back the broken wires and letting in longer repair sections to extend the harness, hopefully making it a bit more “future proof”.

Bullet connectors and the like are a bit of a bodge, and makes the harness bulkier than ideal. I always solder the joints and use heatshrink for a neat repair.

If you’re not confident doing so, you’re welcome to bring the car down and I’ll assist. Might even make coffee & bacon sandwiches!

[Johnny 216GSi]

My rear washer, wiper and possibly heated rear window have stopped working. I have power at the rear wiper relay behind the OS taillamp, so I suspect a break wiring harness, probably in the grommet between the body and the tailgate.

Has anyone else had the same problem and found the cause?

Has anyone replaced this particular harness? If so, how easy is it to do?

I know from my hatch, the wires fray and start to break inside the concertina rubber tubing that carries the harness from the hatch frame to the hatch.

The wires may be stuck in there and won't shift. This is probably from harness tape adhesive that's travelled and gone sticky and hard over time. I can recommend a thin rod of some description with silicone grease on it (as this won't attack plastics long term). Get plenty into the tubing along the wires inside, and some along the harness each side so you can slide the rubber tubing in one direction to see the break inside. See if you can find some kind of rod with a rounded end so it won't damage the other wires when you poke it in. I'd recommend disconnecting the battery too.

You won't have much if any room to manoeuvre but I did manage to solder the large-diameter green and black wires back together in my loom, get some PVC insulating tape around the repairs, and slide the tubing back into position. Only just.

Leaving the grease in the tubing means the harness will continually accommodate the flexing of the connecting tube and may mean fewer problems in the future. I've left mine greased up.

Removing the harness is a real pain as already stated, but it probably isn't necessary. On the hatch, it's nigh-on impossible to get the plugs past the ball joints bolted into the hatch frame, as they intrude too far into the cavity along which you need to slide the cable. I did end up cutting the plug off with pigtails and feeding the wire through. At home, I discovered it was possible to free the pins, so I did that (but left them all in their correct positions) and the next day I bared the ends of of the loom and one by one, I matched the colour (and stripe) of each wire to the pigtail left on the connector, cut off the pigtail and soldered the loom wire back onto the pin, then pushed the pin back into the connector block. Took ages and some wires look the same as others until you can really see the stripe (or no stripe in some cases!)

I think the loom goes down to the rear wing cavity once it's in the body of the car? I could be wrong there, I can't remember as I'm not sure I ever had to deal with that end of things.

It's highly unlikely, but possible, it's not a break but a rusty ground connection at the wing or hatch end of the loom. The ground wire is bolted onto a stud I believe, so this could be an easy clean-up fix.

[220 GSi turbo]

If you are brave enough to attempt a remove/refit, Rimmer Bros have one in stock: https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-YMN101860

Might also be worth checking if it is on 'The XPart List'!

I have taken a few of these out in the past and then refitted them. Fiddly, but not impossible. Taping a stiff wire to the end before you remove it can help, as it then not only gives you something to pull the new one in with, but it can also help with freeing it if it snags along the way.

[cybercontroller]

Think I have a similar problem with the heated rear window. The tailgate wash wipe works but not the heated rear window. Also noticed when I turn on the non functioning heated rear window if affect the sound quality of the radio.

[GTiJohn]

Think I have a similar problem with the heated rear window. The tailgate wash wipe works but not the heated rear window. Also noticed when I turn on the non functioning heated rear window if affect the sound quality of the radio.

That sounds like you've got a break that's earthing out. I'd get that fixed, so watch this thread!

[GTiJohn]

Thanks for the very useful advice.

Motaclan sell the harness to so I think I'm going to try changing it over, to see how hard it is.

I might have a go at repairing it first, when I've got the new one available, so that if I mess it up it can come out

If I do put the new one in, I'll also be able to make up several repair sections from the removed one

[cybercontroller]

Will see how that works for you. Is there a wiring /schematic diagram available?

Just seen Rimmers stock do not seem to go as high as my VIN Number

[GTiJohn]

Harness has arrived and awaiting gap in rain/cold/festive activities to fit.





There only seems to be one connector to get all the way down the tailgate aperture, with a fly-lead for the HRW and another for the HMSL. How hard can it be?