1996 Cabriolet Roof probs..yes, THAT old chestnut again!!

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:12 pm

Thanks for clearing that up guys, apologies for the late reply, I had in fact typed up a reply on my phone in response to CCV6's last post confirming that it IS stage 6 that my car is freezing at. But I must have forgotten to sumbit it (doh!). Anyway, looks like that may well be the problem (or one of them at least), so when the OBD cable eventually turns up I'll hopefully be able to confirm either way..

On the subject of said cable, the seller who eventually replied to my chase up email last friday to tell me that their UK warehouse had "ran out" of these cables but one had been sent from their Hong Kong one instead and should be with me "soon"..thats what I get for choosing the one that costs only 20 odd pence cheaper than the others!

Thanks again guys, catch y'all soon no doubt...

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

Have you inspected your boot looms for any splits/previous repair etc? It's a cheap thing to do and takes about 2 hours tops to replace both.

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:30 pm

The boot looms do have signs of a previous repair at either side of the wiring that runs up the bootlid hinges..The guys at a local independent audi garage had a look under the tape wrapped round the wiring+showed me that some of them definitely looked suspect (corroded) but there were no full breaks.
They never charged me for the time they spent on it but said I would be cheaper with DIY or at an auto electrician (yeah right! lol)
With DIY being the cheaper option I do have access to a solder gun, but never used one since my last attempt at some old modems a couple of years ago!

So I take it its just a matter of cutting the old wire out+replacing/joining it with new strips?

Weather has been lousy here lately and I dont have cover to work under so I'll need to wait till a good day to get out+strip down the old wiring+have a proper look at it.

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

When I did mine I temporarily used bullet connectors to make sure all was fine after doing it. When I get chance I'll revisit and solder/heat shrink then instead. Saying that where I've done the cuts and joins with connectors are well hidden, I also taped round the whole lot to make sure that they could not get contaminated. I do have a load of pics that I will upload soon if you want to take a look.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 12:06 pm

That sounds like a good idea jay, bullet connectors are easy to do and would give a good indication if thats where the fault actually is..in saying that, if the tape used was fitted properly to avoid contamination there would be no real need to solder/heat shrink although it would admittedly give a proper permanent finish.
A quick google shows that a pack of male/female bullet connectors should be around a fiver, a damn sight less than going to an auto electrician!

Oh, any pics you do have of your job would be much appreciated when you get the chance jay, there may be more people on here that may need it at some point!

Thanks again..

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

I got my connectors from a local Range,around 30 in a pack for about £2.50. As It's 7 core cable you'll need 14 of each for a side so 30 Male and 30 Female would suffice. I also bought some 1" grommets from e-bay for about £2 for 10 (I'll Post a link for you) I then threaded the cable through a 10mm hole I drilled in the grommets. I bought the 7 core cable from a local trailer firm, 4 metres for £8. Will try and get the pics sorted out for you.

You are right about dry weather, really need it if you don;t have cover. i had to do mine on a dry afternoon as I don't have cover either.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:34 pm

Just ordered 200 connectors from ebay for just under £7 (100 male/100 female) and also ordered 2m of 12N 7 core trailer cable at the same time (just over £3). Looks like they will probably arrive before the OBD cable so with any luck I might not need to stick my laptop under the bonnet after all..
Just need some spare time+good weather, 2 luxuries that are hard to find just now!
Thanks in advance for the pics if you can get them on here jay..

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

2 metres should do it. I went for 4 as it game me 2 x 1.5 metres to play with each side and a spare 1 metre just in case. The grommets I ordered where these which you will need as I doubt the ones bonded to the original loom will come out in one pieces.

1" rubber Grommets on ebay

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:28 pm

Thanks Jay, just ordered them..wasn't sure if I would really need them but at only £2.85 a pop it cant do any harm!
And if I mess up or need extra cable, its only another few quid as well..

Thanks again mate

Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:51 am

Got all the gear to hopefully get the job done at last..2M of 7 Core 12N Thinwall cable, 1" grommets, male+female bullet connectors (100 of each), and the OBD cable eventually arrived.
Quick note on the cable if anyone else wonders, I thought it wasnt working until I realised that you need to have it hooked into the OBD port on the car to power the thing properly!!
Ive manually pre-patched the 409.1 version of vag-com to a full version with some registry tweaking (being a systems engineer helps here..lol) so hopefully I will still have full functionality when I hook it upto the car for a scan.
Will be 'kin sods law if it turns out to be the boot microswitch and nothing to do with the looms but Im sure no harm can be done by replacing the old twisted+probably contaminated wiring anyway. (unless I have a Mr Bean mad half hour and c0ck it up! lol)
Weather not good enough here to do it today so its gonna have to wait till at least mid week when I get the chance.
I'll be sure to keep you guys posted!

Thanks again for all the info+pointers..

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

On a note about the cable and software. I own a legit Ross tech cable (cost me £170) and the ability to use the cable with the latest software is by way of the cable itself incorporating some sort of activation key. Copied cables will only work with v409.1 I believe.

Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:46 pm

Thats the version I will be using jay, (409.1) The cable is more than likely to be one of the knock-off versions of the genuine ross-tech series, and AFAIK using a non ross-tech supplied cable with a prepatched 409.1 program shouldnt throw up any problems.
I've got the drivers installed+the program recognises the COM port fine but wont detect the interface until hooked upto the car.
Hopefully be able to post some results later this week..

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

I've had a hectic weekend but now have my pics on my Mac, just need to get them uploaded now.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 1:49 pm

Finally manged to grab an hour to hook up the OBD cable..here are the pics of the measuring blocks from various parts during the opening process..
The last pic at the bottom of the group is where I started from (I really should remember to upload pics in reverse order! lol)

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:14 pm

Almost forgot, I got a fault code readout as well..and when I looked closer at the state of the wiring under the insulating tape its probably pretty clear where some of the fault lies! The pics of the wiring will show what I mean+its obviously been worked on before..State of left boot hinge wiring speaks for itself, and you can spot the green wiring having come straight out of its sheath. The right hand side didnt look anywhere near as bad but Im still gonna chop both sides off and hook up the new trailer cable once I separate/strip the wires+get the bullet connectors on them..

On the fault code read out it shows that the "Switch for Trunk Lid CLose (F206) as being in unknown condition and that the "Convertible Top Locked Indicator Light (K98)" as having an Intermittent open. I aint an electrician but my (uneducated) guess is that the wiring is what is causing both faults there? The rest show Intermittent. The other codes would need a fully registered VAGCOM program to view properly, it is a pre-activated program but the OBD cable resets it as soon as it runs the scan. Cant moan too much considering the cable only cost me a tenner!

Hopefully catch up with you guys soon..

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:47 pm

Damn and blast! Would type other words to that effect but best keep it clean for now..

Just noticed by looking at my uploaded pics that it is 8 core cable I need, not 7..Just ordered 2M of 8 core from fleabay now. Hopefully will get this done before xmas at least! Very Happy

For anyone else who might need it, was the only listing I could find..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CORE-8AMP-CABLE-Towbar-Caravan-Trailer-Wiring-lighting-wire-for-13-PIN-/300688405006?pt=UK_Trailers_Transporters_Parts&hash=item46026cf20e[/url]

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:24 pm

01113 - V53 Central locking motor 2 for boot lock - open circuit or short circuit
01099 - V53 undefined switch state - short circuit or open circuit
01107 - K98 bulb - bulb faulty or short circuit or open circuit
00271 - Don't know what that is.

9 out of ten cab owners would say its the boot wiring.

Not looked at the measuring blocks as I was going skelly eyed.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:37 pm

Stage 6 Display Group 1

01100110__01100110__00000110__1100 Correct one
01100010__01100110__00000110__1100 yours

V53 stopping it in its tracks

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

Strange as the wiring on both side of mine was 7 core. I didn't miss anything. Was there something extra in the boot on other models that would necessitate 8 core?

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:50 pm

Im not sure Jay, although looking at the wiring on my car, Im sure the brown one is thicker than the others..In the ebay listing the extra core is white, 1.5mm thick and is used as earth. Like I posted earlier, would be handy to have a wire map for the boot looms to tell what does what. Think its best to use that brown wire with the white 1.5mm trailer one when it arrives. That reminds me, need to nip out+wrap up the exposed wiring around the boot hinges now!
For reference, my cab is first registered June 1996.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:09 pm

Might be an idea to make a list up.
I am sure this has come up before.
There are a few good post on way back on this.

[img][/img]

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

Think the confusion is on the number of wires. On my Cab it was 7 both sides.

V6 Fubar, looks to me when checking your left hand loom to the pics of mine that the Red wire in your loom is extra as it's not in mine. I would be interested to see if this has been added in extra on yours in order to feed and amp or such like. As for the right hand loom from my pics there is no red wire also in that loom. So it seems you have a red wire on the left hand loom and a red with black stripe on the right hand that's xtra to what I have. I know mine is correct as I traced the plugs that the loom connected to in the boot.

Might be worth checking by the battery for these cables and then doing a continuity check with a multimeter.

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:16 pm

The earlier posts mention eight wires.
http://www.audifans.net/ftopict-21935-boot.html+wires

Trying to think whats in there to allow it to drop to seven?

For the V53 there are five wires

Pin 1 white/ black WS/SW v53 switch positon 1
Pin 2 brown br V53 switch position 2
Pin 3 grey/green gr/gn V53 common
Pin 4 grey/White gr/ws V53 motor 1
Pin 5 blue/red Bl/ro V53 motor 2

Guess there is the Reverse lights, Licence plate lights, High level brake lights, is the fog lamp in there as well?

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

From what I can tell with my issues the Central locking, third brake light and left hand lights in the tailgate run through the left wiring loom. The wiring for the roof related electrics like the boot lock and the lights on the right run through the right loom (may not be both lights though). I have not found a definitive wiring diagram to confirm. My car is a 1997 and only had 7 wires each side and these matched to the plug connections in the boot.

What I did notice, from what I can remember, the wire colours were the same left to right on mine.

Would be good to clear it up.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:55 pm

Jayb, your right - 7 cables on the left hand side on mine.

Group of 5 and a Group of 2

Colour to follow.

Needs to get out more Joined: Sep 05, 2010 Posts: 114

Here are the pics of mine. The left hand wires (group of 7)

And where they go in the boot

And here's the best pic of the right hand one

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:20 pm

Thanks for the pics guys, will make a good reference point when I eventually get round to doing the job properly..Been a mad couple of weeks and to top it off the car aquaplaned on a carriageway bend (pothole disguised as a puddle didnt help) during the flash floods yesterday+clipped a barrier so Ive had to fork out for a new clear indicator and a headlight lense (ellipsoid type, £72 from nearest main dealer, new seal included..'kin ebay sellers were looking for £175/£11 delivery a pair!!)
Also gonna have to pull off and respray my other v6 coupe bumper as the cream one looks pretty rough at the edges now. Bumper can wait till either xmas or new year tho..
First accident in over 15 years, its just as well these things are like tanks, could've been soooo much worse if in a smaller car and/or going any faster..
I chatted to guys in the main dealer as I knew it wasnt speed that contributed to it (was doing just under 30) and they said these were very good at aquaplaning due to the poor handling, especially on the low profile tyres. I asked about the car being stronger due to being a cab and having strengthening panels,etc but they said it really just made it heavier and did the handling no favours. Having had another v6 standard coupe before the cab I had to agree with them though, as they are like chalk and cheese in both performance and handling.
Gutted, giving the fact the car was spotless before then..
Anyway, not gonna hang around off topic, just thought Id keep you guys updated after all your helpful input..so like I said, thanks again, hopefully I can get some free time soon+decent weather so I can get the wiring done+let you know how I get on..Cheers

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:10 am

No intention to revive this old thread, but just thought I would post a big thanks to the guys who tried to help all that time ago!
Been off the site for quite a bit and just never got round to being back on till now. Quick update and for anyone wondering what the extra wire is in the boot looms for cabs - it's a simple one..the bloody centre boot lid brake light!
I got a hold of a replacement loom which only had the seven wires and spliced the brake light wire off my old loom and wound it in with the thick 12v brown. Works fine.
Anyway, CCV6 and jaybv6 - if you guys are still around thanks so much for all your input in trying to help.
The roof is still not sorted but not gonna worry about that for now!
Cheers!

(Note to Mod team: Old thread so delete if necessary)