I was backing my '01 325i out of the garage last night and noticed the reflection on one of my other vehicles that my right backup light was out. I pulled back in the garage, turned the car off and then back into the "on" position without actually starting it, threw it in reverse and went to check it out. When I opened the trunk the light went on and off intermittently. I then looked at the wires and found this: There's more than one wire broken but I haven't been able to figure out what the other wire is for. All the other lights back there seem to work OK. Looks like I'll be doing some soldering, shrink wrapping, etc. this weekend. Does anybody know what part number the rubber sleeve is and if I could even get the wire with their connectors out of it and into a new one? I've also been doing some digging. Is it true these are 18 gauge wires? I'll probably add a little to play it safe.
That's the route I decided to take. Started on it yesterday. One wire was completely snapped - the right backup light wire. Every wire in there has spots where the sheathing has worn down to bare wire. I tried to get cute with one to see if I could slice two pieces of shrink wrap, wrap around one from top, one from bottom and then cross the fingers that it might actually seal. Yep, epic fail. Guess I'm going to have cut every wire, so I can solder and then properly seal with shrink wrap.
Well, I finished it up tonight. I went ahead and did the snip, add wire, solder and shrink wrap approach. Part of the reason is I had all the stuff on hand vs. having to buy the other things mentioned. I learned I need practice soldering. While I was able to keep them nice and smooth, it took forever to get the solder to flow. I had to slice the sleeve since some of the Knicks were closer to the portion entering the passenger compartment vs. the trunk. Slice, splice, solder shrink wrap, tape the sleeve and all done. More importantly, I verified all the lights work. I think I earned myself a beer.
