RE: Those wires in the door jam...

[rwoods@triad1.com (Ron Woods)]

Wiring unless you are familiar with it, can be a nightmare. I good understanding
of the basics and of electricity are a plus. Then, you should get yourself a
Multi-Meter of some sort that tests voltage and has a ohm function with which
you can check continuity on a wire from one end to the other. 
 
I myself, just replaced the wiring in the door jam two weeks ago. My mirrors,
window and door locks were all operating intermittently. I don't recommend you
replace the harness, this is a major undertaking especially when you get under
the dash. The easiest thing to do, is simply "splice" in a new section of wiring
between the break. In my case, I have a lot of color coded wiring laying around
(not necessary, but handy when trying to keep from confusing other wires) and I
simply cut the harness at the door jam, removed an inch or so at each end of the
cut (to clean up the corrosion if any) and then used a liberal amount of wire to
join the properly coded wires back together again. A nice gas soldering iron
comes in handy in these cases, I hate power cords. You MUST solder the wires,
otherwise corrosion will get the better part of the connection down the road. I
also highly recommend you use shrink wrap tubing around your newly exposed
cleanly soldered connections. This will help seal the wiring again. Also, I used
a large section of shrink wrap to cover ALL of the wires in the section where it
travels through the door. This also protects them from getting worn out again as
fast. This is a lot of work, but well worth the time. I have to do my passenger
door sometime soon, that mirror is still not functioning. If you take your time,
this job will not be too hard to tackle. Be sure to check each wire with the
meter as you go, just to make sure. Hope this helps! 
 
Ron  
86 4KCSQ 
 
-----Original Message----- 
From: AUDI200TQ@AOL.COM  
Sent: Monday, May 12, 1997 1:47 PM 
To: RON WOODS 
Subject: Those wires in the door jam... 
 
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Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 18:50:42 -0400 (EDT) 
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Subject: Those wires in the door jam... 
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     I could really use some tips for repairing those wires in the drivers 
side door jam.  The alarm, window, etc...wires are badly eroded and are 
shorting out.  I decided to repair them as the dealer wants to add a few 
zeros to replace them.  I would like to know some ideas as far as how to 
repair them.  Ive never messed with the electrical before so any advice would 
be much appreciated. 
 
TIA, Brian (Nine months now & still without the 200 Quattro, thanx Liberty 
Mutual)