Just thought this photo if I can attach it might help someone (reason for 3rd brake light /rear wiper/door lock/number plate lights working erratically, mechanic said because all the loom cables are white ! this is an aftermarket loom, label on the loom said 2014, which is the year of the car ! Yeti 1.2 .

Anyway fixed it myself ( at cost of new wiper motor due to my stupidity).

Has the insulation hardened and cracked or has it been cut somehow?

 

Mike ,well as a spark for 51 years in my opinion would say hardened and cracked, but one thick one (app 1.5 mm cable as you can see was severed). So guess is this may have been damaged on installation, the cable loom had that fibre type tape round it (doesn,t offer much protection). And the square plastic "grommet" prevents the bodywork from wearing on the cable.

So just a guessing game.

It looks very new or at the very least the failures were recent judging by the lack of oxidisation on the exposed copper.

 

The insulation must be made from recycled didlydydos like the soles on my last pair of I now realise knock off hiking boots.

Good point re lack of Oxidisation (Patina), as I recall the boot lock has been playing up for coupla months till now.

Insulation was quite brittle.

My Polo went there, totally the wrong wire and insulation, nowhere near flexible enough for that use.

There seems to be a trend to use inflexible "flex" for other electrical items like battery chargers charger base stations wired headphones.

Yet automotive cable, is available in smaller diameters of high current capacity and with better insulation.

Hi

 

I suspect it is original, presumably Skoda outsource to multiple suppliers and as long as the connectors are wired to the relevant pins they don't care about colours.  Modern automotive wiring uses "thinwall" insulation which cuts down on size/weight and allows better heat dissipation (= higher current rating especially in the thinner sizes). The downside is that harder PVC is used to restore the strength against chafing, which makes it less suited to repeated flexing.  You may have been unlucky with harder than usual cables, or may have used the tailgate a lot in sub-zero weather.  The cable environment is dry, so any tarnishing might take many months.

 

Anyway, glad you got it sorted and by publicising on the forum it may help other people with a similar issue.

6 minutes ago, Austin 7 said:

I suspect it is original, presumably Skoda outsource to multiple suppliers and as long as the connectors are wired to the relevant pins they don't care about colours.

 

Really?

 

The wiring diagrams specify both size and colour for every wire in the car and are updated for each model year. As of yet, I've not seen a discrepancy and certainly never seen a bunch of identical coloured wires like the OP's picture.

I'd be amazed if that's OE...   Especially if it was wrapped in with what looks to be the washer pipe as I'd have expected the two to be kept separate.  To me it looks like a repair.

Well, there's a secondhand one on ebay at the moment from a German seller that appears to have a lot of white wires.  Item 363178350186.

Madness, maybe the Yeti designers just gave up when they got to the tailgate wiring 

 

Looks like the OE numbers are 5L6971147 A/B/C (depending on year) and the ones I found pictures of are indeed white wiring.

 

I'll have to hunt down a WD for the Yeti next time I'm on erwin to see if it matches...

30 minutes ago, langers2k said:

Madness, maybe the Yeti designers just gave up when they got to the tailgate wiring 

 

Looks like the OE numbers are 5L6971147 A/B/C (depending on year) and the ones I found pictures of are indeed white wiring.

 

I'll have to hunt down a WD for the Yeti next time I'm on erwin to see if it matches...

 

Perhaps it's because looms have specific plugs/sockets so there is no need of the expense of colour coding each conductor? 

2 minutes ago, Yety said:

Perhaps it's because looms have specific plugs/sockets so there is no need of the expense of colour coding each conductor? 

 

If you use that argument, every single wire would be the same colour which is certainly not the case...

50 minutes ago, langers2k said:

 

If you use that argument, every single wire would be the same colour which is certainly not the case...

 

I agree, perhaps perhaps because it's not visible to most people, probably not accessed often. Who knows 

Looks like it applies to other VAG cars too.....

 

https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=90246.0

Re Austin 7,s mention of Ebay loom from Germany, and no disrespect for the tip, I would not pay £140 or so for what looks exactly like the one in my car that has given me grief !!!

Come to think of it I would be really interested to see a proper (coloured) loom if such an animal is fitted to the Yeti,s.

In the Film world we use HO7-RNF cable albeit mostly 1.5/2.5 mm multicore etc. very flexible and double insulated would be ideal for this kind of area (probably too costly !)

On 22/05/2021 at 13:39, langers2k said:

 

Really?

 

The wiring diagrams specify both size and colour for every wire in the car and are updated for each model year. As of yet, I've not seen a discrepancy and certainly never seen a bunch of identical coloured wires like the OP's picture.

 

Dont buy an old property in France then .

I wasn't suggesting anyone buy the Ebay loom, merely that it points to the original loom using all white wiring.

 

One has to ask why wires are colour coded in looms.  I guess the primary reason is to allow easy faultfinding and repair of individual wires, which a dealer would no doubt do if presented with a fault in the main loom.  No-one in their right mind would attempt to change the loom in those circumstances. The tailgate is perhaps a different case, and I wouldn't mind betting that the "official" advice is to just change the lot.  With garage labour rates as they are, that would be the most cost effective route.  Old skinflints like me would of course find a way to splice in some repair wires.

 

As to why the wires split and then fatigue apart after a few years, I wonder if it's just a case of new designers regularly being absorbed into the industry, and experienced ones retiring.  There seems to be no mechanism for that experience to be transferred, so we see silly mistakes cropping up which experienced eyes could have predicted.  The Yeti heated seats are an example, with the heating element carried up and round the side bolster on the seat cushion where everyone kneels to get something out of the car.  The result is that sooner or later that's where a high proportion of them fail.  I had a water pump fail in an Audi A3, the plastic impeller split.  Water pumps always used to have metal impellers, but plastic was someone's bright idea.  They are back to metal again now, but for how long ??

Could be cost cutting by not annealing the copper wire before plastic coating!

Its a shame because a lot of thought has gone into the design & production of an otherwise very good environmentally sealed strain relief mechanism, its a good example of how good VAG once were by providing a solution to a problem that really didn't exist except in extremis, a high mileage taxi in hostile environmental conditions, then someone cost cutting screwed up all the good work.

 

Whether it was VW speccing the wrong cable & not testing the change or suppliers saving a few cents and VAG not doing their QA properly we will never know but I would speculate that if the main loom were to pass through that bellows without the sub loom (a production nightmare) then the colour coded cables used would not fracture, after all they never used to even after 20 years and millions of miles.

Maybe change the title to Rubbish OE Wiring? 

 

 

Material fatigue is well known, opening/closing car door wiring failure is not life threatening   Yeti front door loom failure is becoming "common", as it it is on many vehicles these days.

My MG has a common failure point in the rear boot lid hinge area - giving rise to central locking problems etc. Copper is pretty easy to work harden - yes multiple small diameters twisted in say a silicon extruded insulation is probably as good as you can get. But these are mass produced cars, not space shuttles.

I consider this sort of thing as routine replacement when required, such as wiper blades, tyres etc.

My FOS door loom has already been replaced - looks like the hatch door is the next to go - c'est la vie 

3 minutes ago, Yety said:

car door wiring failure is not life threatening  

It might be if it disconnects a crash sensor and thereby causes a failure of an airbag to deploy if the owner doesn't get it fixed promptly.