Thread: Electric Wing Mirror Repairs.

Originally Posted by accident94

I must get myself one of theese RAVE cd's....

The poke and pray does not bode well for my disco's internals methinks.

also, i am 'alledgedly' studying electrical engineering as part of my degree... and i can barely understand theese diagrams!
still beats the scattergun approach

Before I fitted the stereo remote controls I checked the steering column wiring loom to make sure the right wires were in place. It was obvious that a "pro" had done a variant of poke and pray - every wire in the loom had been probed with a insulation piercing probe. Looked a bit like a tear along the dotted line job.

If you use the electrical library and wiring diagram together you'll be able to nut them out.

The introduction in the electrical library is worth reading as this explains most of the information found in the rest of the electrical library and wiring diagram PDFs.

The wiring diagram has a couple of charts showing which pins are connected when you move the switch in a particular direction. The chart is in the format of c0066-1 <-> c0066-2. There are two ways to use this. You can simply go off the wiring diagram and use the color codes to identify the correct wires, or you can look up connector 0066 in the connector views section of the electrical library, which shows the location of the connector and the pin numbering. The number is giving for looking at the face of the connector, rather than the wiring side.

RAVE recommends that you back probe wires for testing. Back probes are similar to standard test probes but the point is much finer - less than 1mm diameter - and allows the probe to be inserted into the back of the plug while it's still connected. If you are careful you could probably get away with using pins or fine piano wire.

By testing for continuity between the pins shown in the chart you can verify if the switch is the problem or not.

If the switch passed this test you'd move on to checking wiring paths between switch and mirror using the wiring diagram and connector views to identify any intermediate connectors. Start off with end to end, then if there are continuity problems you can isolate which section the problem lies in by checking between the intermediate headers.

Cheers
Paul

ok, after doing some continuity testing on the wires, i've discovered that there is no connection between the two (joined) common ground wires on the passenger mirror, and the common ground on the multiplug. This indicates to me that the issue is in the part of the circuit hilighted below:


So i'm going to need to figure out where that wiring loom runs, and where the 'HEADER 0285 (K109) is' (also circled in the above diagram).

I also did continuity testing on the switches. (the pins on the switch are actually numbered - it's moulded onto the casing inside the plug on the switch) Curiously, when switched to 'left' my switch follows the table for the drivers side mirror and vice versa.... the wiring colour codes are also switched, and when the diagram says something leads to the drivers side, it always leads to the passenger side.
This seems odd, and i'm not sure if it means my car is wired backwards or the schematics are innaccurate (or i'm doing something wrong :P ). It seems to work fine though.... Food for thought that.


Anyway, for the benefit of those who might also have this issue, i'll try and summarise what i've done, and more importantly what's been succesful in a sort of troubleshooting guide and edit it into the original post.

*edit*

No i won't... turns out i can't edit the original post for some reason....

*edit*

i figured out why it's backwards... that schematic is for a LHD model... XD
Awkward.

ok, so it is the ground wire.

I'm not sure where in the wire the break is, but bypassing the wire altogether fixes the issue.

so now i'm faced with the choice of replacing the wire or simply running a new one in a permanent bypass.

this is where the door harness connects to what i assume is the main harness. (the top plug)
where it goes from here i cannot tell.

Have you bypassed the ground wire from mirror to the connecting plug? My thoughts are the wire may be damaged from the flexing of opening and closing door?