hi - thanks for the information in this thread.

I have had the wires going to the trunk extended and soldered and my reverse lights work again, but my trunk won't open at all from inside the car or the key fob. Have checked all the fuses and the glove box switch. The trunk was opening every now and then from the key fob but now it's been a week since I've been able to get it open - I check every time I drive the car. Any ideas what else I can do? thanks

 

Not to beat a dead horse... As shown in the pic you can get an idea about where the wire was cut. Also, as you can see I personally used butt connectors. I discovered (as a few G members have as well) the "black (ground) wire" was severed as opposed to others who have had the 'green wire' cut instead. ***Note- check all other wires within that harness!! Upon further inspection another black-white wire was on its way out and damaged (not severed but wiring was exposed), so I decided to cut it through and through adding a second butt connector to it... Forgot to mention that I crimped the ends of the butt connector two times each side, four total crimps (as opposed to crimping only 1 time as most people do when using these kinds of connectors) so as make sure the wire was completely secured. ((Soldering is ok but in my experience it takes too much time to heat the gun, heat the wire and mess with the solder itself trying to get a good seal while its scorching hot, plus you almost need to have 3 hands to do this!! Not only that but over time the solder can be prone to breaking and cracking because it may get brittle)) Butt connectors also add some length to the wires you're repairing, they're very solid and besides it's extremely simple- so no worries here... Afterwards, I tightly wound electrical tape to both repaired wires for overall added protection from movement, moisture, the elements, etc...

 

Soldering is the only permanent solution. Nice work though.

 

That's a matter of opinion (which you are entitled to), but I beg to differ. Thanks for the compliment though.

 

I installed a Metra amp converter when doing my stereo install and used crimps. About 2 or three came undone. They added excess bulk to the back area and are a future failure point.

 

I'm going to say I am not going to sway from the OP but I actually will just for a moment.. here I go- just a tid bit for you, in the case of rewiring / adding wire to a stereo installation, sure why not solder, it makes more sense because it contains a significant amount of wiring (much more than just 5 or so pictured above) and will therefore NOT add "excess bulk" (as you mention in your post). Also, more than likely resistance will increase after you solder wires together (use a digital multimeter before and after and you'll get what I'm saying). Per your "stereo install" I wasn't there when you crimped the connectors but perhaps just maybe you did not use enough force to crimp the wires in place OR perhaps maybe you used the incorrect gauge / incorrect size of a butt connector hence why "2 or three came undone".

In the future I'll post an update about how my repair turns out whether or not it was a success. After all, I use my trunk on a daily basis via the dash switch and/or my key fob.

-repair performed on: 2004 Coupe. Mileage: 100,033.

 

Lol you don't need to prove me wrong. Some of them work well but soldered connections is just what I do and have done as an engineer... so that is what works best for me. Enough stress rips anything apart .

 

urbanengineer - my "future update" was not only intended for you but mostly for the G35Driver community should they choose to go the route using connectors. Interesting how you mentioned in post #110 you chose not to solder your stereo connections?? Yet in the quote above you say, " soldered connections is just what I do and have done as an engineer... so that is what works best for me..." Perhaps you should have taken your own advice Mr. engineer? Anyway man, I'm squashing this right now. To each his own, peace.

 

Thanks for all the solid info here. Sucks that ricers pics are no longer up. My green and black wires were cut. I used the Butt splice connector. Seemed nice and clean and quick. I didn't have to slice my rubber accordion tube that the wires are inside. I just pulled the grommet off the trunk lid and pulled the accordion way down as far as I could and pulled the wires up and I quickly saw the cut wires. Crazy that this happens like clockwork on these cars, ridiculous.

 

Yeah I did the install when I lived in my apartment down south, and had no soldering tools . Always recommend solder, especially here because the connection moves constantly.

 

I encountered this problem this weekend and after much diagnostics work, have fixed the problem by running a splice wire at the grommet/tubing running into the trunk lid as most others have done.

Anyone experiencing this problem should carefully read all the posts on this thread as it includes a lot of good information. (I see a lot of people posting on here with their issue even though the solution had already been given earlier in the thread.)

Here's a summary of what can/should be done to properly diagnose and fix this problem:

1. Quick solution to temporarily access your trunk is to a) pull red strap between the cushions of the rear seat from inside the cabin to flip your rear seats forward (see earlier posts for details), b) reach into trunk from the opening to pull the glow-in-the dark emergency trunk lid release handle. You probably won't want to have to do this on a daily basis, but it'll get you by for a little while.
2. If you hear a sound when depressing key fob or instrument panel release, but the trunk does not open, either your actuator in the trunk needs replacing or something is jamming the mechanism and needs to be remedied. You could also directly apply a 12 volt source to the trunk actuator connector (green and black wires) to verify its function. (This would not be a wiring or fuse issue.)
3. If your keyfob works to open the trunk, but the trunk release on your instrument panel does not, it's almost certainly the valet override switch is in the "OFF" position in the glove box. Simply move the switch to the "ON" position.
4. If other items also don't work (for example, power door locks with no key in ignition, etc.), it could be one of the fuses located either behind the battery in the engine compartment or in the fusebox panel on the left kickplate on the drivers side. The BCM (body control module) controls the trunk release and these other functions. The fuse feeding power to the BCM is 50amp labeled F behind the driver-side kickpanel and would need to be replaced. (see earlier posts for details)
5. If there is no actuator sound, neither keyfob nor instrument panel switch opens trunk, and all other BCM functions are operating, it is likely severed wiring in the accordian tubing between trunk opening and trunk lid. If you're lucky, only the black ground wire will be severed. If that's the case, you can jumper the black wire on the trunk actuator connector to one of the actuator mounting screws which is likely to be a common ground for the vehicle. In most cases, however, the green power wire or multiple wires have been severed. In this case, you will need to unplug both ends of the accordian grommet and splice the severed wires across this point. (see earlier posts for details) Note that you might not always be able to see the cut wire if the insulation is still intact or if the break is imbedded in the accordian tubing section. This is where a multimeter can be helpful to check for wires with high resistance to be spliced. The green and one of the black wires are the ones that operator the trunk lid release actuator. Other wires control the trunk domelight sensor and other trunk lid functions.

Good luck.

 

The wires that go from the body to the trunk lid are severed. The wires are located inside the rubber boot that connects between trunk and the car. It's the green and red wire. How do I go about fixing this issue?

 

You can either solder the wires back together or use butt connectors.. I did the latter bc it was easier for me, IMO... Also in my case it was the black wire (ground) that was damaged not red and/or green ones, not all wires are created equally so it'll be different for everyone (stating the obvious).. As you see in my picture this was right after I reconnected the wire using my aforementioned repair method above but right before I wrapped it back up with 3M electrical tape for extra protection. Hope this helps.... This is my repost from post # 107...

Update from post #111: from 100,033 miles to currently at 114,557 miles my fix using crimp connectors (aka butt connectors) has been working flawlessly so far. After a little over a year and almost 15,000 miles, I've had no problems whatsoever via using either the trunk dash switch and/or my keyfob trunk remote button........

 

The trunk was not working.

1 fuse near the clutch were ok
2 fuse near the batterie were ok
3 on/off switch in the glove box was on

Last thing was to look for dead wire and it was the case. The green wire was cut and one of the black wire was almost gone. Did some soldering and voila

 

I'm having the same problem, my car was in the shop after an accident, the body shop did a full buff, when I went to pick it up the battery was dead. They gave it a jump and everything worked except the trunk, they insisted it was working in the morning. I will check the fuse box again but I have a feeling it's not a fuse, fob doesn't work, inside button doesn't work either.