Wire identification

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Post Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:57 am

Hi guys. Me and a friend had a little woopsie with the grinder when cutting the passenger side for welding and he went through 10 of the wires in the loom...

No problem as I can rejoin them but I have found there are 3x grey/red wires, one is thicker than the other so that leaves the other 2...

What are these for please?

Thank you
A 2 door e30 with 8 cylinders, what could be better winkeye :D
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Brianmoooore
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Post Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:31 pm

Only three? Usually four. These are the wires for the panel lights, ashtray lights, rear number plate lights, etc, and they all go to a big crimped join a bit further back from where you have cut through them, with wires also going backwards from the join. One of them (probably the thicker one) is the feed from the main lighting switch, and the others are just feeding back from the join to the various lights I've mentioned.
Just connect them all together where you've cut them - it won't hurt to have a second point joining them all together.
There should also be several red/green wires that you've cut through. These are the permanent live feed to the interior lights, radio memory, the SI board batteries, etc., etc., and also go to a crimped join a bit further back. These can also all be soldered together where you've cut them.
e30-EVN
Old Skooler
Old Skooler
Posts: 3382
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:00 pm
Location: S.Wales

Post Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:44 pm

Brianmoooore wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:31 pm
Only three? Usually four. These are the wires for the panel lights, ashtray lights, rear number plate lights, etc, and they all go to a big crimped join a bit further back from where you have cut through them, with wires also going backwards from the join. One of them (probably the thicker one) is the feed from the main lighting switch, and the others are just feeding back from the join to the various lights I've mentioned.
Just connect them all together where you've cut them - it won't hurt to have a second point joining them all together.
There should also be several red/green wires that you've cut through. These are the permanent live feed to the interior lights, radio memory, the SI board batteries, etc., etc., and also go to a crimped join a bit further back. These can also all be soldered together where you've cut them.
Thanks Brian, yes there is probably is 4 as you mention mate but of the 10 wires that were cut through, 3 of those were grey/red so I didn't notice the 4th.

I've rejoined them all, individually shrink tubed and insulated and wrapped the whole lot in loom wrap tape :)
A 2 door e30 with 8 cylinders, what could be better winkeye :D