Wagons beware - tailgate electricals

^^ yup...

Well my wires all look great back there. Wish I knew how to use a test meter.

 

 

Never mind, I just pulled the boot off the body and found two broken wires. DUH.

 

Just spliced the two wires, they are different sizes so its easy to get it right. The copper wire on the coaxial cable is not in the best shape the the radio works much better now.

 

I had to cut the boot in two places so I could feed the wires back up, I'll get some fresh black RTV and seal them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x40/92Si/DSCN6458_zps3d7b48b1.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x40/92Si/DSCN6457_zpsf222dc77.jpg

Edited June 6, 2014 by Max Capacity

when i bought mine the rear hatch just wouldn't lock from the key or the actually switch in the car. took it back to the dealership twice for them to fix. sad thing is they never even really figured out what it was, they told me that they couldn't figure it out so they pulled it all apart replaced everything and re wired it. (luckily didn't have to pay for it)

The antenna wiring goes through the boot on the drivers side.

 

Good luck...

 

Cheers,

Mike

Subscribed since I'll be doing this for the 2nd time shortly.

First time, my tailgate wouldn't lock. Dealer wanted $375 to replace. Found a harness from a wrecked wagon, and installed. Worked amazingly for about 3 years. Now, radio is poor / weak, the door locks but the car doesn't read whether its open or closed (dash). The heating element doesn't work and my rear wiper is actually intermittent (i.e. it stops where / when it wants when you switch it off).

 

I should just replace the whole tailgate (seems almost easier) but looks like ill be replacing BOTH (Driver and passenger) harnesses to remedy this. Ba hum bug.

well, the passenger harness I've seen quoted around 65 bucks, so at least it's not crazy expensive, and should buy you another ~4 years of "trouble free" car use. of course, there's a lot of panel removal to get to everything and I can only imagine how much the drivers side harness costs.

My Legacy GT tailgate won't lock or unlock either. Took it to the dealer the other day and was told that the rear gate harness is frayed. They quoted me $342.60 to fix it. I told them no thanks and am very glad I found this post. Thanks for all the info you guys have been very helpful. I submitted a complaint and plan on fixing this myself.

 

It wasn't hard finding the problem as soon as I pulled the boot off the car. There is one severed wire.

 

 

 

I am not sure how to see all of the other wires without cutting the boot. But since the lock is my only problem I plan on just splicing a new section of this wire in and feeding it down through the boot.

 

does anyone know if 18 gauge wire will work for this?

Edited August 15, 2014 by raffer02

The head liner and panels back there all come off or down a bit easily. Even the panels on the hatch, pop off with not much effort.

 

Just go slow the first time.

Just finished splicing that wire in. I ended up using about 4 inches of 20 gauge and 2 butts, and was able to feed it down through with a wooden grill skewer. Trunk lock is working again

 

I hope that's the only wire that is bad, I guess I will find out eventually.

My total cost was about $3 for the butts at the hardware store. They gave me the wire free since it was so small. It took less than 10 min. I can't believe that Subaru wanted $340 to fix this.

 

Thanks to everyone that posted, you saved me huge!

Thanks for the information!

 

My hatch stopped locking, and when I popped the accordion boot off and pulled on the wires, sure enough there were 4 that separated. After splicing, my hatch locks

, license plate lights works, and my Cyclops (3rd brake light) works again!

 

I found this post from another thread especially handy: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2533502&postcount=6

^ please report to the canadian safety thingy .. i posted the link earlier in the thread..

BTW, I still have my old (repaired) harness sitting around if anyone wants to replace the entire thing without shelling out for a new one.

 

Some of the plastic retaining clips are broken, but otherwise it's in good shape.

Just found this - can't imagine I've missed this for so long! 10 year old '05 wagon, only problem so far is radio reception. Will have to try soldering.. But, who knows about "looming disaster"..

Finally had the opportunity to post pictures.

Opened up both accordions (driver and passenger sides). Had two wires failed on the driver side and 5 on the passenger side.

 

Spend the good part of a Saturday cutting and soldering 12 wires (did some others as preventive maintenance). Now, my harness is all the same type of (and stronger / still maluable) wire through the accordions.

 

Eat it Subaru. Spent $20 (and 5hrs), while Subaru wants $350 to change something that really should be a never fail item!

Finally had the opportunity to post pictures.

Opened up both accordions (driver and passenger sides). Had two wires failed on the driver side and 5 on the passenger side.

 

Spend the good part of a Saturday cutting and soldering 12 wires (did some others as preventive maintenance). Now, my harness is all the same type of (and stronger / still maluable) wire through the accordions.

 

Eat it Subaru. Spent $20 (and 5hrs), while Subaru wants $350 to change something that really should be a never fail item!

Were the wires cut but the rubber accordion covers were not? I inspected mine and everything looks good. Just want to ensure the possibility doesn't exist the wires are being damaged and I'm not noticing it.

from what I've read, the wires break and the rubber accordions are fine 95% of the time.

 

so you've got to pull the accordions out of their holes and tug on the wires to see if you've got broken ones. or alternatively wait for electrical items to start failing.

Yep, the rubber accordions will last forever, to bad the cheap a** wire Subaru used won't last a few year's.

I popped out the accordions last week, took a quick peek, and looked at the wires under the insulation. All mine seemed fine. 2005.5 (i.e. late 2005) 5EAT model.

 

Of course, my antenna wire's got a break somewhere, but I don't have the time or the desire to replace that cable..

So glad I found this thread.

 

Rear wiper was really weird, stopping at random points on the window on the intermittent setting. Pulled back the accordion and sure enough, a broken wire and one about to break. Fixed those and am now good to go, but sure don't have much confidence in how long the rest will last.

I sure hope all you guys are going to the NHTSA web site and filing complaints. At some point, it's got to trigger an inquiry by NHTSA.

 

Go here:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Recalls+&+Defects

and click the "file a complaint" icon on the right.

 

Steve

I agree, these should all be sent to NHTSA. Also note which items that you know had failed (brake light, defogger, etc) and if you believe that this had an impact on safety.

 

I also contacted Subaru directly and was informed there had not been any reports from customers or dealers about this defect. They essentially said that my failure was unique and must have been a result of rough service.

 

I had my dealer replace the passenger side, but plan to get rid of the car before the other side fails. I also try to limit opening the hatch when possible, especially in cold weather. This is my third and last Subaru.

Of course, my antenna wire's got a break somewhere, but I don't have the time or the desire to replace that cable..

 

My radio was also acting funny...Driver side has that wire. It was on its final legs. Replaced it and voila...radio was as good as new.

Radio went out, dealer replaced the antenna amp, and not fixed. (they didn't even check the radio after replacing the part. I found the fix on the Outback forum. Indeed, a broken antenna wire under the left boot. New wire spliced in, and radio fixed. Now to figure out how to feed it through the boot, like factory.

Radio went out, dealer replaced the antenna amp, and not fixed. (they didn't even check the radio after replacing the part. I found the fix on the Outback forum. Indeed, a broken antenna wire under the left boot. New wire spliced in, and radio fixed. Now to figure out how to feed it through the boot, like factory.

 

I love when dealers check the quality of their work!!!

 

As for feeding the wire through, I used a hollow pen. Just feed the pen through the accordion, fish the wire through it, than pull out the pen...volia

Thanks for the tip!

After the rear wiper worked intermittently and finally quit working altogether, along with the rear hatch light was always on even when the hatch was closed, I decided to just replace the entire harness.

 

Its not the most difficult thing, but a few things that tripped me up;

 

need access to the right side of the hatch, when i pulled it out, it ripped the connection of the two plastic pieces by the right passenger seat belt assembly, it was tough to get back fitting correctly.

 

some of the connections are hard to remove, are there special tools? others were very easy.

 

the last connection on the loom is goes to the defrost, that one has a section you push in, and i had to simultaneously push in the section and pressure it toward the connector in order for it to be able to be reversed off the pin. the other thing is that the soldered connection on my car seems weak, and I was defiantly bending that back and forth a few times. It made me nervous that I was going to break it off!

 

Other than that, its just a lot of plastic removal, and removing the old harness out of the connectors is tough, I had to use a lot of force to break the white connectors out of the body of the car.

 

I chose to go with a new harness, but I think if you choose to fix all the wires in the loom it may be less time consuming. I just didn't trust the fix long term. I hope this harness is good for at least another 10 years!