Topic

ok,
So in a past life my mgf had the boot hinge wiring issue. As shown in the photo wiring has been cut which means no boot light or alarm. A feed from the rear brakes has been put in to supply the high level light. My question is shall I repair the cabling or let sleeping dogs lie knowing that the wiring is not correct?

Well personally I couldn't live with that but it depends on how confident you are in making good the repair . As with most things like this access is the problem . Just connecting the broken wires with chocolate block type screw connectors is not good so , the repair for me would involve installing new wire . The repair in my view needs to be taken away from where the loom flexes and eventually breaks . I know I'm probably making this sound more complicated than it is but with wiring I have found its best to make the repair as good as it was when new or it will let you down again .
John

I had this problem, I stripped the loom covering back, soldered in new sections of wire between the broken ends and slid heat shrink over the joins and re-wrapped. It's a bit fiddly but not too difficult. When reaffixing the loom I didn't use the fixing on the hinge as I think this is the problem as it causes a sharp bend, and let the loom take its own shape.

OMG, that is bad, at the very least one should insulate the ends of the broken wires.

I have been working on a curly "kettle" patch repair cable, I have one on my car but haven't had it on long enough to confirm it works.

I believe that MG/Rover issued a TSB for this boot wiring that involved removing one of the cable ties that hold the loom to the boot hinge to enable the loom a bit more freedom . When I bought my 05 plate TF , the loom had one of the ties on the hinge cut and earlier this year I checked the loom and the wiring is still ok . While I was working for London Taxis , this sort of loom flexing and the fracturing of the wires inside was quite common on items like the drivers and passenger rear door , due no doubt to the constant opening and closing of those doors . Just making a repair at the point of the break was not a good fix as the repair was generally thicker and less flexible than the original and the added thickness left the wiring fighting for space within the loom / conduit . Taking the repair away from the area where the loom / conduit had to bend is the way to go and, also spraying silicone into the conduit helped the wiring slide as the door shut .

John

Fix everytime - exposed wires mean short circuits are possible - worst case scenario car on fire! its not that far away from the fuel lines!

Sundance

Thanks for the advice.
So I repaired using the guides published. As suggested not too difficult, just very fiddly.

Top tips from me.
Use black cable for the earths, it saves a bit of time when checking and Feels more correct.Not sure if it makes a difference but tried to work out the correct path way for the black wires, not just join black to black.
Don’t wrap your wires until you have given it a good run and got heat in the engine bay. Allows for easier checking and weak joint checking.
Use a powerful enough soldering iron and a strong flux especially for the existing wiring ( I used a plumbers flux
Play some floyd and chill.

Skiddaw wrote: wrote:

Play some floyd and chill.

Oh yeah, that's my kind of car maintenance

Skiddaw wrote: wrote:

Use black cable for the earths, it saves a bit of time when checking and Feels more correct.Not sure if it makes a difference but tried to work out the correct path way for the black wires, not just join black to black.

Every circuit from the boot loom has its own earth but they all go to the same terminal on the body so it doesn't really matter.