I hate to be the bearer of frustrating new but I got a new wiring harness complete for my 08 rear passenger side door from my local dodge dealer for $68, another local dealer will change you $235 if they install it too, needless to say I did it myself haha

 

I'm just doing the splice and dice thing! A little crimp, a little tape, and we should be good to do. I think I'll put an extra 2 inches in there. Not enough to crowd things but should be enough to allow the movement necessary- don't you think?

 

IMO the problem is the wire always bending in the exact same as the door opens and closes results in metal fatigue of the wire. When I discovered mine, several of the wires were actually broken, but the rest of them had a hard, brittle section that was about to break, but was NOT even showing through the insulation...you had to FEEL it. While you are in there anyway, check each wire carefully by feel...

You know how when you bend baling wire back and forth to break it and it gets hard in that exact spot if you stop before it breaks...that was defintiely what was happening to my door wires...

I don't really know if an added length of wire might help that problem or not, though it certainly couldn't hurt...I was going to try to inject silicone caulking into the rubber boot to add more "support" and cushioning for the wires so that the bending radius is larger then it is....again, I haven't done it yet, and I don't know whether it'll help or not, just an idea....

 

We need to replace the wires in the boot with a very fine stranded wire that is covered with silicone insulation. If that is used it will never break again. The larger the copper strands are the sooner it will break. The link is an example. Keep in mind that the total length of both wires is 60".


I have a broken wire(s) in the driver side rear door. The window can be rolled down in the back and rolled up from the drivers switch.

 

That's a good point Seafish. Since that makes sense then actually running elec tape in a spiral coating over the wires should help too- by cushioning the wires and expanding that bending radius. Just have to be careful it's not so thick as to inhibit their movement inside the boot. Silicone wire's probably better but it's a project for this weekend and not sure I can get any before then. Elec tape I have! :-)

 

Thats a GOOD idea....all of my harnesses were replaced under extended warranty, but WHEN the new ones fail, I'll splice and solder with that kind of wire, and also try to add silicone caulk to the rubber boot.

MtnDodge, Amazon DOES have CHEAP one day shipping for prime members...also VERY possible that a local Napa has some better quality silicone wire... or maybe just wait unitl next weekend and use the stuff that Papaduck is recommending so that there is much less chance you'll have to do it again.... Of course, make sure to repair with the same gauge as whats already there....I forget what it is.

 

Anyone know what gauge the wire in the boot really is?

 

What I discovered today- it's probably an 18 gauge wire- and I bought 14. I think that's too big a difference.

AND there are TWO bends that happen to that boot. I realized that I have 2 sets of wires broken- one set is broken fairly close to the connector and will be easy to splice, the other set is much longer, which means the broken ends are virtually unreachable inside the upper end of the boot. (I can barely see them) So I started looking at how the boot bends when the door moves. The first bend is near the connector and bends toward the back, the second bend is close to the door and bends toward the door- a big S curve. I have broken wires in both spots.

So the next question- is there an easy way (or even preferred way) to remove the boot from the door 'socket' or do I need to remove the entire panel and get to the wires that way? It seems pretty solidly adhered.

The good thing is that once I figure out one door the other will be a piece of cake!

 

Don't know for sure, but pretty dam sure you have to pull the door panel and pull the harness in from inside the door to the jamb.

 

I'll give you a tip. When you fix the wires, add an inch of length to them. No more fixing them since I did that. Use solder and heat shrink too, and call a friend with small hands.

 

Sorry for the very large pics as I don't remember how to down size them. The first pic is from my left door the second pic from my right door to show you how much the boot bends the wires. And as you can see I have repaired it at least two times before (the first time I soldered them) and now this will be my third time. It seems like after opening and closing the door several times the boot pulls the wires apart. I had to pull my two broken wires (door side) out as they had creeped down that way (it has always been this way for me). The best way to unplug it is to get a screwdriver and push in one side (the side closest to the driver) and it should lift up then do same on other side. Then you can use your fingers and try to pry off the boot from the plug and force the boot down to expose the wires. After that I used surgical forceps (they were given to me years ago that I keep in my toolbox) to pull each wire out to repair them. B.T.W. the non-black broken wire is what controls my window to go up and down. I might try the above suggestion about the silicon wires.

 

I know just enough about electrical to get me in trouble. Can I splice (or replace) this size wire in place of my broken wires? At least the wires in the rubber boot? Not the entire wire, just the part that runs thru the rubber hose boot. Or do I have to replace the entire wire from point "A" to point "B".

 

Yes you can replace part of the wire. Just make sure that you connect wires that are the same color even though the wire you use for the splice may be of a different color.

As I have mentioned before the best wire to use is very fine strand and insulated with silicone. You can use crimped connectors but I would solder the connections and cover with shrink wrap.

 

How would you do the shrink wrap method? You know if you can rent a high heat blow dryer? As you can tell from my ?'s I know nothing about this subject.

 

The shrink wrap comes in different size tubes. You have to select a size a little larger than the wires and place the shrink wrap on the wire before soldering. Slide it over the soldered joint and then shrink with heat

If you do not know how to solder wires, use the crip connectors.