Due to the ongoing issues experienced with the rear wiper motor in the Audi A3 that I’ve been researching why they fail. I discovered that the boot lock connector in my Audi A3 had been damaged from water dripping on it from the rear window wiper motor.
This shorted out the connectors and damaged the wiring to the rear boot lock on my Audi A3. This resulted in the car alarm going off randomly, and the locking system not working properly.
After a bit of investigation into the wiring of the boot lock connector, the water had been dripping onto the wiring, and had shorted out the connector as there was visible damage to the housing on the boot lock. There was also green corrosion (which is a sign of rust) on the connector housing. When I checked the wires, I discovered that the wiring was damaged on the boot lock connector and was actually rusted away into nothing.
This was the reason the car alarm had been going off, because the wiring was broken on the boot lock connector, and so required repairing.
This is how I went through repairing it.
Tools used to repair the Audi A3 boot lock connector
- Wire stripper/cutter
- Heatshrink (best option is marine grade style with adhesive lining)
- Lighter – or heatgun (for heatshrink)
- Crimp tool for terminals (I use an open style crimp terminal tool)
- Replacement connector and pins, link to the seller I used
- (Crimp your own wires – buy this kit without wires)
- (Pre terminated connector – join the wires and buy this kit)
Repairing the Audi boot lock connector
My preferred method for carrying out the boot lock repair, was to snip the wires individually and then crimp them on. It’s the best method. I cut one at a time, then either seperate them, or fit them into the new housing one at a time so you work in the correct order.
After cutting the wires holding the old Audi connector, I stripped about 1cm of wiring off the end of it and folded it on the terminal. I added a piece of heatshrink over to protect the wire a bit more, I then used the crimp tool, to squeeze the terminals together to crimp properly on the. tends to be better ot use the smaller sizes for the wire end, and the larger size for the actual crimp end. C/D/E were the sizes I tend to use.I then heated the wires, leaving the finished wire
I repeated this process until all the old connectors were cut and removed from the damaged connectors in the Audi A3 connector housing
You can see where all the visible damage was and the stains from the shorted wiring on the connector
After I cut all the wires, it was then a case of fitting them to the connector. The connector opens up on a hinge , you then slide the terminals inside with the locking latches facing the flat top and bottom of the connector. Push them all the way to the end until you hear an audible “click” so you know it’s fully latched into the housing
Another shot of the connector, if you’re unsure which way to fit them, look at the edge of the terminals, and how it would fit into the connector of the boot lock. This will help you make sure you get the correct orientation
After all the terminals are fitted to the repaired boot lock connector, fold the flap down and click into place
The connector is then repaired and can be reinstalled into the car boot lock. The stains on the boot lock here are from the original damage, this seems OK and doesn’t look like it’s affected my boot lock. So can just be cleaned up. If your car is badly damaged, you may be required to replace the boot lock too on your car.
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