Hi,

 

I've got 3 broken wires in my driver's door loom hinge.  In terms of symptoms the driver's door speaker doesn't work and the windows will not go up and down from the interior buttons (both front windows from the buttons in both doors) but the windows will go up and down from the key lock control. 

 

I realise that it'll be fiddly work but would a small heat shrink (solder seal style) do the job. 

 

Thanks,

Dave 

That is how I would do it and I was an Electrical Maintenance engineer for almost 40 years.

40 minutes ago, Jocko said:

That is how I would do it and I was an Electrical Maintenance engineer for almost 40 years.

Thanks 

Not if you are intending joining the broken ends together with the joint, it will fracture again in very short order.

 

If you put a new section of flexible cable in with 2 joints, up and downstream of the door loop then those new joints will not be subject to the flexing loads which fractured the original cables.

 

By far the best solution is to buy a Delpho kit which gives you the connector assembly with wire tails on each part to be joined into the existing loom.

24 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Not if you are intending joining the broken ends together with the joint, it will fracture again in very short order.

 

If you put a new section of flexible cable in with 2 joints, up and downstream of the door loop then those new joints will not be subject to the flexing loads which fractured the original cables.

 

By far the best solution is to buy a Delpho kit which gives you the connector assembly with wire tails on each part to be joined into the existing loom.

Ok thanks. 

Something like this? I get what you mean about adding extra length to allow for better flex. I'll see about getting the door trim off. Plenty of guides online. 

I would say so with the bonus of it is much cheaper than the Febi ones that I have seen.

 

Its coming up even cheaper for me (£17.79 + £8.79 delivery) even cheaper in €uros on ebay.fr, try the listing number 254503198352

 

I am going to inspect mine tomorrow and probably order one or two as a precaution.

Edited 13 February, 20233 yr by J.R.

4 hours ago, J.R. said:

Not if you are intending joining the broken ends together with the joint, it will fracture again in very short order.

You have to allow slack but I would just splice in three pieces of wire rather than buying a kit. It doesn't matter the colour as long as it is of a similar thickness.

More than the 3 wires to sort out there. 

And are the breaks not within 2cms of the connector? - I dont know not having disassembled one.

 

If that is the case then you do not have the room to splice in a section of wire without one of the brittle soldered joints being in the zone of maximum flexion.

 

Also there simply isn't room to make multiple butt joints in that knotted bundle. I can count 9 damaged or broken wires with my poor vision.

 

The kits are a great idea IMO and I will be buying a couple.

Edited 14 February, 20233 yr by J.R.

It's probably worthwhile to research how easy it is to remove the entire door, for vastly improved access.

On a mk1 It's really surprising how quick and easy it is to do this.

Looks to be the same as mk1, dead easy. Just needs an assistant to help with weight of door as it comes off and goes back on, particularly the latter so one person can focus on getting the hinges to drop back on their dowels.

https://workshop-manuals.com/skoda/fabia-mk2/body/body_work/front_door_central_locking/front_door/removing_and_installing_the_door/

Edited 14 February, 20233 yr by Breezy_Pete
Missing words

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

And are the breaks not within 2cms of the connector? - I dont know not having disassembled one.

 

If that is the case then you do not have the room to splice in a section of wire without one of the brittle soldered joints being in the zone of maximum flexion.

 

Also there simply isn't room to make multiple butt joints in that knotted bundle. I can count 9 damaged or broken wires with my poor vision.

 

The kits are a great idea IMO and I will be buying a couple.

 

Yes I know what you mean. 3 definitely broken wires and many with cracked insulation. And as you say, there's not much wire that I can get access to on the right hand side as the wires go into the door. Wishful thinking on my part for a quick and simple fix. 

 

I found a video where he gets the door card off in minutes. I'll have to suck it up and have a go myself. The solder seals are in the post so I might have a quick look to see if I can enjoy stereo sound and working windows for a bit. I'll start getting in through the passenger door as a solution! 😂

For the wires that only have cracked insulation, I would do nothing more than a quick wrap round with a couple of laps of insulation tape. No point at all in cutting/remaking the copper which probably isn't damaged.

 

For the ones that are really busted, I'd get the door off and on a bench for easy access, then strip back about 5mm of insulation from each broken end, find other bits of wire of similar cross-sectional area about 30mm long, strip back 5mm from each end of that, then tin all the ends and solder that extra bit to bridge and extend each of the broken originals, with a little (10mm long) heatshrink sleeving over each 5mm long solder joint.  All the fuss about solder joints not being ideal is a bit over-fussy IMHO.

Edited 14 February, 20233 yr by Breezy_Pete

Just now, Breezy_Pete said:

For the wires that only have cracked insulation, I would do nothing more than a quick wrap round with a couple of laps of insulation tape. No point at all in cutting/remaking the copper which probably isn't damaged.

 

Thanks. Will do. Something I've been putting off for too long now. I don't mind a car with a few quirks but this is getting embarrassing. 

See edit to that post too.

 

6 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

See edit to that post too.

 

Thanks. Sounds doable. Cheers 👍

3 hours ago, Breezy_Pete said:

For the ones that are really busted, I'd get the door off and on a bench for easy access, then strip back about 5mm of insulation from each broken end, find other bits of wire of similar cross-sectional area about 30mm long, strip back 5mm from each end of that, then tin all the ends and solder that extra bit to bridge and extend each of the broken originals, with a little (10mm long) heatshrink sleeving over each 5mm long solder joint.  All the fuss about solder joints not being ideal is a bit over-fussy IMHO.

 

I know from bitter experience of multiple mass transit equipment failures that soldered joints are brittle and will not withstand cyclic flexing, let alone on the wrong type of wire used in a very shonky door loop.

 

However pragmatically I 100% agree with your proposed solution, using a longer linking wire would enable half the soldered joints to be made within the protected and accessible area within the door frame leaving just one soldered joint per wire within the door loop.

 

Hell if I get a problem tomorrow I will be straight in their with a red butt crimp!

 

I still feel guilty for scrapping my MK1 Octavia which had deadlocked all but the drivers door, I had not realised then that it was certainly broken door loop wiring and was chasing my tail trying to do Canbus comms testing without the required knowledge.

 

In the 12 years I owned that super reliable vehicle I only used this forum once, had it been as flaky as its later replacements I would have gained the knowledge that I now have but needed then.

could just fit a new loom...........saves messing around and future potential repair "failures" further down the line.............just my opinion.

Well I feel like I've let everyone down by not following advice, botching it a bit, and probably only doing a temporary fix, but I just don't have the time, space or equipment at the moment. I struggled with the solder seals given the tight space so I ended up using some very small connection blocks. The brown and blue wire was the door speaker and the slightly thinner blue and black wire fix now means that I can use the windows from the interior switches. I couldn't join the thin white and violent wire.  The loom is obviously a very bad design but it also doesn't help that the wires are all twisted around each other within the hinge and don't take the shortest path from A to B.  I will never fully open my door again. Thanks for the help. 

You've not let anyone down, you've solved a problem.  🙂

 

You may even have done me a favour by encouraging me to make a brief video showing how quick and easy it is to completely remove front doors on these cars. Remind me in the summer please someone. 😊

53 minutes ago, DaveSk said:

it also doesn't help that the wires are all twisted around each other within the hinge and don't take the shortest path from A to B.

 

That is deliberate, a correctly designed door loop will have the wires taking the longest possible path following a lazy curve, then the flexion from the door opening and closing is spread over a greater length reducing the strain.

2 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

That is deliberate, a correctly designed door loop will have the wires taking the longest possible path following a lazy curve, then the flexion from the door opening and closing is spread over a greater length reducing the strain.

Clever then. My bad. Also glad to hear that some thought was put into the design. Thanks for the info 👍

It's a crap design because it uses relatively rigid cables with very thin brittle insulation.

In my opinion the crappest bit is that the bellows goes more or less straight across from door to A-pillar.

On mk1 Fabia there's a significant vertical offset/dogleg to it, which means the loom is twisted more than it's bent as the door moves, causing much slower degradation. 

Yes, thats what I was alluding to.