If there is room,I would try some in line crimps first.They are about 1 inch long and do not need a special tool,just long nosed pliers.I stand to be corrected on this of course but from your pics it seems to be possible,just be careful you don't cut the wires too far back!

Peter

 

is this a problem that mainly afflicts saloons or is the same happening on estates?

 

I would remove the section of each wire that is broken by cutting it in the loom either side of the flexi, so you're replacing about 6" or so. The best way to do this is to twist the wires together inline, then solder them, wiht heatshrink used as insulation. Crimps get a bit big and bulky unless you can stagger them.

If you are using crimps of the red, blue or yellow type, it is essential to

a) use the correct colour crimp for the size of wire
b) use a proper ratchet crimper

 

I've looked at my crimps. The number I need will be too bulky. I'll have to put a piece in each wire.

Wish I'd found it before I put the boot liner back in...

The connector is greatly modified from my earlier 9-5. There is a straight bit of tube clamped to the hinge, but this tube can slide along the hinge. I think it needs pushing to one end and being fixed there. This would ease the bend in the flexy.

Have to get some more wire from Halfords in the morning. The stuff I have is a bit old and already rigid!!

 

If you can get hold of of very fine multistrand wire, this will minimise the posisbility of it happening again. Two sources spring to mind:

Multimeter wires and speaker wire.

 

Researched this further. Wires seem to be:

2 No - White/Pink - 0.5 mm2 for rear Fogs (only one connected)
2 No - Green - 0.5 mm2 for reversing lights
1 No - Green - 0.5mm2 for the number plate lights.
1 No - Green/Grey - 0.35 mm2 for the luggage compartment light
1 No - Black/White - 0.5 mm2 for the boot lock
1 No - Green/White - 0.5 mm2 for the boot lock
1 No - Black - 0.75 mm2 for the common earth

That's 9 wires of which 8 are used.

I'm thinking of threading a piece of 7 core trailer wire through, as it's got a sheath already which will add stiffness. Then tape another wire to it for the 8th feed.

Trailer wire is 6 x 0.7 mm2 (8.75 amp) and 1 x 1 mm2 (5.5 amp)

It's either stiffer sheathing to support and prevent very tight bends or else it's very flexible stuff that can bend without breaking.

 

In my experince of using trailer wire in "flexible" applications, it doesn't like it, particularly in tight bends. It's not winter rated sheath either, so when it's cold, it gets very rigid. This is not so much of a problem when you have foot long loops as on a trailer, but in a confined space it will suffer, and the rigidity of the outer sheath will impose a greater load on the individual cores.

 

I see what you mean. But, the failure seems to be at the point at which the wires leave the rigid tube in the boot lid and go into the flexy rubber concertina tube. Looks like the rubber tube is too thin and the wires are kinking over the edge of the rigid bit. I'm trying to think of a way of stiffening the whole thing at that bend. Force it to follow a gentler curve. Might even be better to remove the short bit of rigid in the boot lid and let the whole lot flap about in the hole - with some protection on the sharp edge.

This is the longer shot. The wires I'm holding have been pulled down as far as possible. the breaks line up with the edge of the tube.

 

I can see the cause of the problem now... the "flexi" part is too short and, more importantly, is being longitudinally compressed when the boot is closed. The "proper" way to do such links is either to offset the two entry holes such that the majority of the flex is twisting or use a big enough loop.

The problem with the trailer wire is that it is tight-jacketed. It's very difficult for the cores (which aren't multifine stranded) to move relative to one another. You tend to end up with individual cores getting kinked, which then manifest themsleves looking somewhat like varicose veins on the outer surface. I suppose it's worth a try though.

 

I've managed to splice a piece of wire into each of the broken wires. Soldered the twisted ends and added heat shrink sleeving. All seems to be working. Didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Two tips...

1. Remember to put the heat shrink sleeve on BEFORE you solder the wires together!!
2. Cool the solder before you slide the sleeve over it, or the heat shrinks it and locks it on!!

Here's why the wires break in the first place:

 

Just checked mine this morning as a matter of percussion as car is still under warranty (54 plate).

Guess what? The cable sheath is worn around the green/white cable exposing about 2 mm of wire (2 strands are broken). Do you think I will be able to get this replaced under warranty even though it is not actually broken (yet) ???

 

Just checked mine this morning as a matter of percussion as car is still under warranty (54 plate).

Guess what? The cable sheath is worn around the green/white cable exposing about 2 mm of wire (2 strands are broken). Do you think I will be able to get this replaced under warranty even though it is not actually broken (yet) ???[/b]

I would be down to the Saab dealer to ask him to fix it before your car is out of warranty. Perhaps take a printout of this thread in your back pocket just in case he tells you: "Oh, we have never seen this problem before", because it certainly does not appear to be uncommon failure. Remember to come back to this thread and let us know how you get on.

 

Will do, already printed

. Car is going in to get an annoying dash rattle sorted on Thursday so ill just add this to the list

 

is this a problem that mainly afflicts saloons or is the same happening on estates?[/b]

The wires for the estate are routed via the hinges, and consequently there isn't a repeat of this particular design feature. That's not to say that there couldn't be a similar failure, it just looks less likely to me.

 

The wires for the estate are routed via the hinges, and consequently there isn't a repeat of this particular design feature. That's not to say that there couldn't be a similar failure, it just looks less likely to me.[/b]

Thanks, Mark

 

Just checked mine...only 2 minutes and very easy to do. MY2000 but only 25K miles.
There is a kink in the wires and slight rubbing to a couple of them. I am sure the rubbing is virtually through the plastic.

I need to think about this

 

I had exactly the same thing as sgould. It happened last summer (MY01 4-door 2.3LPT-SE 50k).
Symptoms were:-
- inoperative courtesy light in boot
- dashboard did not show open bootlid on little open-door indicator thing
- Alarm would go off occasionally if the boot was opened (unlocked with remote) while the car was locked (and alarm was active)

The fix was to replace the failed section of wire with a length of new (flexible) wire. It was soldered in place (heatshrink over - just like sgould) but to do this I eased off the rubber gaiter from both ends of the flexible coupling and threaded the new wire all the way through, so the solder joints sit just in the bootlid and just in the body panel. This means that the joints and heatshrink are not subjected to flexing. There was just enough slack in the wiring to allow this.

Didn't take very long, once I'd worked out what was wrong. Quite disappointed to see such a basic failure though.

 

Welcome to Saabscene, Powersolve

It looks as though a lot of 9-5 Saloons out there might suffer from this failure at some point.

 

Welcome to Saabscene, Powersolve

It looks as though a lot of 9-5 Saloons out there might suffer from this failure at some point.[/b]

The same exact thing has happened to me. I complained to my Saab dealer and they put in a special request to Saab to claim back the cost of the repair. The loom was quite expensive (some £300+ all in) so I was very glad when they eventually sent me a cheque for nearly £150 as a 50% refund.

I suggest you all try this if you go down the dealer repair method!

However do be careful because the new loom still has exactly the same problem as the old loom, so its best to wrap the actual wires themselves in duck tape to prevent them fraying or snapping again.

 

The loom is about £127. I had mine replaced las year.

 

Hehe. Can't believe I am reading this thread now. I just sorted mine over the weekend. One foglight, one reverse light and no onterior boot light for the last year. Chopped out a length of broken wire and replaced. Job done.

Well you've got to busy yourself with the fiddly little annoying jobs while you're waiting for the big stuff to arrive...

 

Another thought to throw into this thread...

I noticed the post earlier about the alarm going off when the boot release is pressed. Thinking back this has happened to me. I put it down to keeping my finger on the button too long.

But if the short in the loom affects the boot light, or possibly the lock, the TWICE could think there's a break-in happening. Could this be another source of the unwanted alarms that are put down to the tilt sensor?


....and my name is credited with highlighting this problem. Don't forget that Scaero found the problem last year - and his damage was more spectacular!

 

Just had a look at mine.Guess what...Green grey broken.Managed to solder it and cover with shink sleeve. Now have operative boot light and boot open telltale.
Not the best bit of design is it!

Peter

 

Oh dear it’s the same on mine too!! This is on an 03 plate 9-5, the 98 one I have just sold had the same problem too, Saab seem to not have the ability to modify and correct problems that seem quite common, witness the SID saga which took from `97 till model year 2004 to sort! I`m looking at the photo`s that S Gould took of the angle of the flexy, it would seem that the wires are being worn through by the sharp edge of the plastic piece that clips in to the boot lid, I am wondering that whilst I have the wires apart, that to perhaps prevent this happening again whether to superglue a rubber `o` ring to the end of the plastic and give the wires a nice soft curve to go round, now who sells 14mm`o` rings?

 

There was a bit of plastic sheath taped around the plug end of the loom in the wing. I took it off and taped it around the section coming from the tube. Trying to stiffen the whole unit so it can't bend so sharply.

Putting an O ring on the inside will make the hole smaller and may not actually soften the bend as the O ring will still form a sharpish edge. I also pushed the plastic bit that clips to the hinge further up/forwards, trying to force the cable to make a longer loop.