Headlight wire insulation falling off

[butch199]

1999 996, weekend ride, garage kept, 77k miles

I had a bulb burnt out in drivers side headlight , pulled out to replace and all wires have insulation just crumbling off exposing bare wire. I spend an hour putting some electrical tape where I could but feel this is a temp measure. It seem Porsche does not sell this harness(inside the headlight fixture). Has nay one rewired these or found another solution?

Thanks

[Randy Remington]

I had the same experience. An easy fix is liquid tape, which can be found in the electrical section at most home improvement stores. Try not to flake off any of the old insulation so that way your only applying the liquid tape over the cracks.

[hi8ha]

The same thing happened to me and replaced all wires. Daunting task due to the difficulty of reaching all wires in such a tight place but doable.

[butch199]

Hi8Ha

did you put new connectors on or just splice close to connectors and use shrink wrap on soldered splice..any tips are appreciated.

Thanks

[hi8ha]

Changed all the connectors I could find.

[74 Carrera]

Found the same issue on my 2000 Carrera with 84,000 miles.  Suspect this is due to heat (southern car with front radiator fan constantly blowing heat) and Porsche Engineering not designing for the needed heat resistance.  Can't rule out Porsche Procurement buying low grade wiring or a supplier quality issue.  This should be a recall item as it is a fire and safety risk.   Is anyone aware of Porsche's response to this quality issue?

[dporto]

Found the same issue on my 2000 Carrera with 84,000 miles.  Suspect this is due to heat (southern car with front radiator fan constantly blowing heat) and Porsche Engineering not designing for the needed heat resistance.  Can't rule out Porsche Procurement buying low grade wiring or a supplier quality issue.  This should be a recall item as it is a fire and safety risk.   Is anyone aware of Porsche's response to this quality issue?

You think that Porsche should do a recall on a 15.5 year old car because plastic insulation is breaking down? Hmmm, it would be nice if it happened - good luck with that! I think the suggestions of liquid "tape" or heat shrink tubing are probably more realistic...

[lkchris]

This is a problem endemic in all German cars from maybe 1995-2005 (and BMW motorcycles).

 

The new wiring harness specifications were created in response to new German (or Euro) regulations that automotive wiring harnesses be biodegradable.

 

First try at this wasn't so successful.

 

Later cars have gone to CANBus, drastically reducing the size of wiring harnesses.

 

Those of us with these cars have a problem on our hands and can take to the bank it won't be warrantied.

[KevinH90]

I ran into the same challenge when I was refurbishing some litronic headlights for my Boxster.  It wasn't that difficult to open the headlight and replace the wiring harness. 

 

If you are thinking of fixing the wiring yourself or want to provide guidance to a repair person, you can find instructions here: http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/54697-advice-used-litronics.html

Edited September 22, 2015 by KevinH90