Found Some Ripped Wires - (HELP - X Wont Start Up :()

[TheKingSim0n]

Last friday I changed my Licence Plate Lights to LEDs, ordered from eBay, anyways I noticed the lights were somewhat flickering so I tried to see the source of where its flickering from, ended up that there are a bunch of wires on the right hand side while opening the trunk.


NOTE: This is not my X5, I didn't take pictures of mine from the rear so I googled this one up.

anyways, I found that under that rubber on the top right hand side, there is a dozen ripped wires that I never even knew were ripped

So I got my hands on a wire cutter and I started matching colors and wire size. I ended up fixing my License Plate Lights and FINALLY my rear defogger WORKS normal and fast! throughout my entire time with the X my rear defogger never worked properly, it was always painfully slow and now I know why, the wire was basically ripped. There was about 9 more wires that were ripped and I guess after years of opening and closing the trunk they just end up ripping? .

Anyways I am glad to say that I got some things working again but heres the most annoying part, my rear wiper decided not to turn on anymore, so Im going to have to check out those wires again and see whats up.

Just to note I had to cut off that rubber wire cover, i ended up black taping the entire wire system just so it wont get effected by any rain so I think it should be fine for now until I get some other solution to properly protect it.

[flatlander]

Did you have to make the splices right there in the bend of the wiring harness near the hinge?

I have been having an intermittent "Check License Plate light" warning. This means it's getting temporarily open-circuit. My guess is that you've discovered a weak point in the routing of the wiring harness. If the wire lengths were not long enough to allow for the normal opening and closing of the rear hatch they could eventually fail.

Making the splices right there in the bend of the hatch would be difficult to do and also difficult to seal from moisture. Would it be possible for you to provide some photos?

[Weasel]

That spot has come up in the past as a cause of the rear hatch opening by itself when someone backs out of the driveway or up a curb... I would recommend leaving the rubber guide intact as it also keeps the rain water out of the hatch and rear body etc. Sometimes it is hard to get access to enough wire to repair, but with enough maneuvering and gentle pulling etc. you can get enough room. The problem has been a metal edge inside the body that the wires can rub against, chaffing the wires and letting them ground out. I usually get some split side plastic wire looming to slip over the wiring inside the truck side of the harness after it is properly repaired and taped up. And just to note it, at the dealer we use non insulated crimps and heat shrink tubing, NOT the blue or red autozone type butt connectors with the bulky plastic covering.

[mark scheurer]

License plate light issues are also caused by water getting into the lights via the grip handle gasket -- check the archives.

[TheKingSim0n]

Sure heres some pictures:

[E53BimmerJunkie]

You're definitely going to have to do a more permanent fix soon.

It's going to happen all over again with the wires exposed like that.

[Penguin]

That a pretty common problem on lots of vehicles with rear hatches as they get old.

As Weasel said, heat shrink tubing is the way to go, but I myself prefer careful soldering to crimps myself. It's a bit more time-consuming, but I've never liked crimps in bundles of wires. I also like the spiral wrap to protect the wire bundle afterwards:

[TheKingSim0n]

Okay I finally had to go back there once again to fix the rear wiper not working, guess what? Good news is that YES i fixed it!... bad news now is that the damn KEY fob doesn't work.

The key doesn't do ANYTHING but open and lock the drivers side door as if the car had a dead battery....

Does anybody have a guide or any sort of thing that shows what wire is what back there? PLEASE! ??

[TheKingSim0n]

UPDATE: Im amazed now because I went back and the X indeed DOES have a dead battery.... wtf? Could the combo of wires I connected back there cause the X to die? :/

I have a brand new battery...

[Weasel]

Could be anything really... no way to know without proper testing whether those wires are causing the draw or if it is something unrelated. I'd pull the battery and give it a full charge overnight or so, then get to tracking down the draw properly with an accurate low amperage inductive clamp.