pray tell

So, a realisation after my last few posts. Turns out, what I thought was a wiring loom feeding the lights on the right side of the hatch, was actually the rubber hose, wrapped in cloth tape, that feeds the rear washer jet. I thought the wires were inside the rubber shroud, which is what was putting me off the repair as it made it feel much more involved…

With this new realisation, I popped the grommet off the left hand side as I now realised that all of those wires probably wouldn’t be wrapped in a rubber shroud. Lo-and-behold, there was a mass of ripped cloth tape, badly applied black electrical tape, and a series of previous bodged repairs. I don’t have any before pictures, but after I’d removed all the old electrical tape and cleaned up to see what I was up against, it looked like this…

Some one has been there before and ‘repaired’ it badly. I know some will be from movement, but it looks like someone had previously cut into, I presume the cloth tape, and cut about 9 of the other wires in the process.  One wire was completely severed. Stripped the ends, couple of spade connectors, and voila…

All the other wires have now had the exposed parts insulated, the spade connector has been taped up, and all lights are working. Now I know what I’m up against, I can prep lengths of wire this week ready for the weekend. I think I remember counting 19 wires there-and they are all very taught, so I think I’m going to prepare 19 strips of wire, all about 5” in length, pre-solder the ends and cut each cable where the cuts are and solder the extra lengths in. Will give it a little more freedom of movement in the future, and peace of mind knowing that they’ve all been done. Bit more time consuming but worth it in the long run I think. 

What struck me was that we got this car when it was 4 years old, so that wiring fail happened in that first 4 years-which I think is pretty poor. Either way, I now get the chance to put it right!

So, today was the day. When I got outside I realised that the gauges of the wire were slightly different, and as I couldn’t just go out and buy some auto wiring, I decided to go for a mix of crimped spade connectors and wire repair. For three of those wires I removed the plastic shroud on the spade connectors, and stripped enough of the wires sheath to allow for about a 5mm overlap once the connectors were together. This then allowed me to solder where the wires overlapped for that extra bit of security. 
 

I also made an executive decision on some of the other wires too. On some, it was just the sheath that had split, not the wiring itself: so what I did was cut lengths of electrical tape and covered these up. 

In total, I’ve repaired 10 wires, only 5 of those needed cutting/soldering. 
 

All tested and working, and put back together properly. Time will tell if the repairs last, but at least I know where to go if the lights play up again. 
 

Not up there with an auto-electricians job, but I’m quite happy with how it’s turned out. 
 

 

Same here. Tailgate in locked position, needed to unbolt the lower catch in the small space behind the dickie seats in order to open the tailgate (with the bottom catch and lower trim section dangling there. Pulled the loom rubber boot down and yes, two broken wires. soldered both, heat-shrinked, self-amalgamating tape on the loom and now working 🙂 Annoyingly the boot hard plastic retaining ring was brittle and snapped in places - just hope it doesn't allow rain water to enter. Whole thing seems a Ford bad design fault.

I managed to not break the retaining clip on this side, but I did on the right hand side. In the end, I wrapped some heavy duty duct tape around it, and then carefully applied some builders silicone around the inside of that. It seems to have worked for now, and the builders silicone I used is strong stuff too. 
 

If I happen to end up at a breakers yard, at least I know how to get it out now, and disconnecting the hose for the rear wash wipe would be easy enough to do and get the clip out.

Time will tell if the repair holds! 

And your S-Max isn't that old! Those cables and the rubber boot cover are at full stretch with the tailgate open. It's no wonder it's become a common fault. I probably need to find some strong adhesive (Gorilla, Tiger seal etc) to keep the boot in it's opening in the tailgate.

I know: it is dreadful. We got the car when it was 4 years old, and that’s the first time I’ve had the wires out-which means someone also had it happen prior during their ownership within that first 4 years. Poor show from Ford. It did happen on my Audi (A4) too though, same problem with wiring going into the tailgate. Easier to repair than the Fords though. 

Common on Nissan Notes too so looks like a general issue and most wires same colour as I recall?
Famous last words but no problems on our 2011 (owned from 6 months)...yet!

I bet then either a) Ford had many repairs under warranty or b) created a recall notice but didn't advertise it. Maybe worth checking.

@Danorak did I get the impression that both the left and right tailgate looms had broken cables? If so, what is/was the right side loom for - lights, wipers?

@MCGC0 I made the mistake of thinking that there were wires on the right side, but it turns out that (well, I’m assuming) that it’s the hose that feeds the rear was wipe. I thought the wires were encased in a rubber shroud, but when you squeeze it it’s hollow, so that was my assumption. Everything now works just from repairing the wires in that side.