Hi all,

One of the backup light stopped working (see below pic with green arrow). At first I thought it was a bulb so I got a replacement bulb (#921). Turned out it wasn't that. So I started looking at the fuse box by the driver left foot area and the fuse box in the engine bay. Didn't see a fuse that said "backup light" so I started yanking out every fuse but didn't see any blown fuse. Also, swapped the good light bulb and the plastic connector that holds the bulb. Still no luck. The wire is wrapped in a black tube that goes into trunk and back into car so I am not sure if there is a breakage in the wire somewhere. Any ideas?



Thanks...

 

I would bet money that your trunk wiring is frayed. Right where it enters the trunk.

 

Which part? from where the bulb is has wires going into the trunk. Then it has a rubber grommet that leads outside (with a rubber tube) and back into the trunk again (second grommet) then the wires lead inside to the trunk.

I took out the two grommets and all I see are wires wrapped in electrical tape. They are all intact. I didn't start ripping off the electrical tape. Is that what I should do?

I also found the Rev Lamp Relay fuse but can't tell if it's bad or not. It's not like the 10a and 15a that has a v shape and it breaks in half if it's bad.

 

Yes, uncover the electrical tape on the trunk lid side.

 

Hmm....sorry I am not sure which side you meant. Let me go and take some pics.

 

Sure, take pictures.

I mean the gasket that is attached to the moving part (the trunk lid) is where the problem occurs. You should peel back the electrical tape there and examine the wires.

 

Below are 4 pics. Do you know which one? Thanks.

 

The gasket which is shown in the 2nd picture

 

Hmmm there is not much slack to pull and get to the wires inside. I'll see what I find later. Thanks for your help.

 

What you want to do is cut that zip tie, unravel the electrical tape and push the gasket down, the length of wire (towards the gasket in picture 3) The fraying happens inside of the gasket.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So it's somewhere inside that tube.

 

Yes, you should upload pictures of that as well so that this thread is a helpful resource for others in the future (Common problem, Ive fixed it on 2 cars)

 

You are right on the money. One of the black wire snapped. There are two other wires where the sleeve is broken or about to break. How do I take care of those? wrapped it with more electric tape?

Also, I have no experience with wires. I can do basic oil change and stuffs etc. How do I go about fixing it?

 

Electrical tape offers some increased protection. I did that on mine. Your options for fixing severed wires are as follows:

Try to grab the other side of the wire, solder the 2 halves back together and heatshrink.
Alternatively, crimp together

Since its a black wire (grounding wire) you can also simply tap into the black wire on the working side and run it over to the bad side. (Attach both grounds together). You can do this in the trunk lid, you dont have to do it in the tight space where the wires are breaking. This can be done by using 2 t-taps and a wire.
^This is what I had to do because I accidentally pushed half of the severed wire into the rubber tube between the 2 gaskets, and couldnt get it out.

These are bandaid solutions, but they can be effective for a long time.

If mine becomes a problem again, I am making myself a new wiring harness with heavier duty wire.

Hope this helps.

 

Hmmm this sounds more complicated than I thought. Solder means I would need the metal soldering tool? Crimp would also mean I need a crimp tool right? I don't have any of these. Wonder how much mechanics charge to fix that.