Better to make the splice outside of the bellows if it bends at that point. But in a pinch, add a bit joined at each end of teh bellows. 16ga i think.
I'd look closely at the other wires for teh whole length of the bellows. Tha brown one looks suspect. I'd be surprised if there was only one. You can get some slack by undoing the tie downs on teh loom under the trunk liner.

 

There are some suspect ones (brown and green).

So undo the trunk liner and I'll have some more slack?

Since the rubber boot broke I was just going to tie it up with the tesa tape. Below are the supplies I was going to get.

16awg Silicone Electrical Stranded Wire 6 Colors

Ginsco 270Pcs 3:1 Shrink Ratio Dual Wall Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing Tube 6 Size

Tesa Tape

 

There are some suspect ones (brown and green).

So undo the trunk liner and I'll have some more slack?

Since the rubber boot broke I was just going to tie it up with the tesa tape. Below are the supplies I was going to get.

16awg Silicone Electrical Stranded Wire 6 Colors

Ginsco 270Pcs 3:1 Shrink Ratio Dual Wall Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing Tube 6 Size

Tesa Tape

Yes, there is a loop in there that as I recall gives you some slack. Or just make splice in there and in trunk. remove lower end of bellows and pull slack through; or pull trunk side liner for access. You might be OK right where it comes through from trunk. Pic of the sections I cut out. Pretty bad shape.

 

There are also trunk wiring harness replacements available from Europe, $30-40. These replace boot and internal wires with splices on both ends to connect with existing wiring. Purchased one but have not yet installed. Believe mine was branded as Febi. Looks promising, particularly as those internal wires reportedly continue to break.

 

From this company?

 

Schmiedmann Harness repair set for the trunk lid 300MM, 11-cored, fast and easy repair

 

That's pretty handy.

 

Schmiedmann works, or try ebay for Metzger. I got mine from ebay. Its 20 bucks more than just the bellows here, but you wait a few weeks.
You couls make your own - just have to make sure to keep track of wires. Kits are long enough to put splices in trunk and lid.

 

Ebay, metzger from partshop1. Cheaper than schmiedmann.

 

Looks like this is the part but might not get it until mid December! 😬

 

Haven't done anything with mine (plus poor instructions). Not sure if connections are crimp or quick solder(?). Hopefully latter. First to complete should post experience and tips, maybe DIY.

 

I would hope it would be solder and heat shrink.

 

What's del time for Schmiedmann?
You could do temp patch on wire. I did.
Crimp connectors. I don't think they're going anywhere soon. Tiewrap the bundles at each end.
I think its more important to get new bellows and flexible colour-coded wires.
Search on here for previous posts on subject. "Elephant trunk".

 

I sent them an email today to find out what the delivery cost and delivery date would be if I ordered it today.

 

Just order a new "elephant trunk" grommet and do the repair yourself. I did a DIY a couple of years ago:

DIY: Trunklid Wiring "Elephant Trunk" Grommet...

Does your trunklikd "elephant trunk" wiring grommet look like this? So a lot of folks have just glued these back together; the part is cheap and I had an open afternoon, so I figured why not try replacing it? The catch, of course, is that to do so, all the wiring inside the trunk must be...

www.e46fanatics.com

 

This DIY assumed the wires were okay. I have wires that look they need to be soldered back together. I think the repair kit may work better.

 

yes you can make your own, but I prefered to have colour coded wires with connectors attached already in the loom. In second photo you can see proper wire stripper which I highly recomend.

 

What kind of wire strippers are those? I could only find these on Amazon.

 

See my 'elephant trunk' thread--I rebuilt my harness for maybe $15 in wire--inline splices, solder, shrink tube. I just ran all my coded wires through the new grommet and soldered outside of it....the extra landed in the trunk lid. Lots of soldering--got good at it by the end.

Use a 30W soldering iron and a fluxed core fine solder...iirc the new harness was $600 at the time I needed one.

 

I'll look for your thread. $600 is crazy!

 

High strand count is good. I don't recall guage of wire -16? 18?
What do you mean by coloured wires not marked?

 

/n demax's thread, he mentions 6 wires are not color coded (multi brown wires?).

 

i looked into this a while back and guess what ebay has a kit.

Repair Set Wiring Loom Tailgate Right For BMW E46 Soda Highly Flexible | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Repair Set Wiring Loom Tailgate Right For BMW E46 Soda Highly Flexible at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

All the colored wires are the same gauge. Brown wires are all the same except for one which was thicker...so I think I used the 18 gauge for that one.

You just need to mark the ends of all the wires (I used a roman numeral type system)...those you cut on both ends, and those you splice in on both ends. The color coding helps, but some wires are identical as I recall...maybe not.

In the end, I guess my rebuild lasted 9+ years...never had to go into the elephant trunk again.

 

All the colored wires are the same gauge. Brown wires are all the same except for one which was thicker...so I think I used the 18 gauge for that one.

You just need to mark the ends of all the wires (I used a roman numeral type system)...those you cut on both ends, and those you splice in on both ends. The color coding helps, but some wires are identical as I recall...maybe not.

In the end, I guess my rebuild lasted 9+ years...never had to go into the elephant trunk again.

I found this for a E39 so I would think the wiring harness might be similar.

E39 sedan trunk lid wiring
01. Red/yellow line = 2 @ x712 -> trunk lid light (positive) 0.5
02. Red/black line = 1 @ x1191 Rear lid lock switch (positive) 0.5
03. Gray/yellow line = 3 @ x1377 -> trunk lid locking switch (open signal) 0.35
04. Brown/gray line = 2 @ x709 -> left license plate light (positive) 0.5
05. Gray/Brown line = 4 @ x311 -> zv drive (lid closed) 0.5
06. Gray/black line = 2 @ x710 -> right license plate light (positive) 0.5
07. Gray/Green -> 4 @ x311 -> zv drive rear lid (positive) 0.5
08. White/ Brown line = 3 @ x311 -> ZV to luggage compartment light 0.5
09. Brown = 1 @ x709 -> left license plate light (ground) 0.5
10. Brown = 1 @ x710 -> right license plate light (ground) 0.5
11. Brown = 5 @ x311 -> zv drive ground 0.75
12. Brown = 1 @ x1377 -> trunk lid locking switch (open signal) 0.35
13. Brown/blue line = 2 @ x1191 Rear lid lock switch (unlock) 0.5

0.35mm2 = 21 AWG 0.5mm2 = 20 AWG 0.75mm2 = 18 AWG

 

BMW E46 Trunk Wiring Harness

The wiring that goes front the body of the car to the trunk lid, unfortunately, is a weak point in these cars. Since replacing the whole wiring harness is not economical it best alternative is to repair the wires.

Below is a list of all the wires that go through the rubber boot into the trunk lid, where they go, their function and their wire gauge & color.

​

	Description	Wire Size and Color
X311-2	HKK - Signal, trunk ajar	0.35 GR/BR
X311-3	Ground, trunk release motor & ajar	0.75 BR
X311-4	MERHK - Power to trunk release motor	0.5 GR/GN
X311-5	Ground, trunk lights & ajar	0.75 BR
X1191-1	Ground, key switch	0.35 BR
X1191-2	VRHK - Signal, key switch turned to lock	0.35 BR/VI
X710-1	TOEHK - Signal, trunk release switch	0.35 GR/GE
X710-3	Ground, trunk release switch	0.75 BR
	Schematic 1	0.5 BR/GE
X328-1	S_RS+ - Power to reverse light, right	1.0 BL/GE
X328-2	Ground, reverse light, right	0.75 BR
X329-2	Ground, reverse light, left	0.75 BR
X329-3	S_RS+ - Power to reverse light, left	1.0 BL/GE
	Schematic 2
X328-3​	Sidelights, right	0.5 GE/VI
X329-1	Sidelights, left	0.5 GE/SW
	Schematic 3
X413-1	54M - Power, Center brake light (convertible only)	0.75 SW/GE
X413-2	Ground, Center brake light (convertible only)	0.5 BR
X138-3	TOEHS - Rear window release switch (wagon only)	0.35 BR/RT
X01120-3	Ground, Rear window release switch (wagon only)	0.35 SW
X13059-4	MERHS - Rear window release motor (wagon only)	0.5 BR/RT
X13059-3	Ground, rear window release motor (wagon only)	0.75 BR
X01028	GPS_ANT - (wagon w/navigation only)	coax
X1143-1	Fuse 49 - power for FZV (wagon only)	0.5 RT/VI
X1143-2	Fuse 7 - power for FZV (wagon only up to 09/2001)	0.5 VI/WS
X1143-2	ANT - remote keyless signal (wagon only from 09/2001)	0.5 WS
X1143-3	FZV - remote keyless signal (wagon only)	0.35 BL/RT

 

Color Code​	Color​
SW​	Black​
BR​	Brown​
RT​	Red​
GE​	Yellow​
GN​	Green​
BL​	Blue​
VI​	Violet​
GR​	Gray​
WS​	White​

Wire Size (mm^2)​	AWG equivalent​
0.35​	20​
0.50​	18​
0.75​	16-17​
1.0​	15-16​
2.5​	11-12​

Back to BMWGM5 Home Page​

 

Color Code​	Color​
SW​	Black​
BR​	Brown​
RT​	Red​
GE​	Yellow​
GN​	Green​
BL​	Blue​
VI​	Violet​
GR​	Gray​
WS​	White​

Wire Size (mm^2)​	AWG equivalent​
0.35​	20​
0.50​	18​
0.75​	16-17​
1.0​	15-16​
2.5​	11-12​

Back to BMWGM5 Home Page​

Thanks for the details! Looks like the wires come in four different gauges. So depending on which wire breaks, I have to use the correct gauge wire. In my case, the trunk ajar wire is broke which is a 20 gauge wire but I may have more ready to break. lol

 

Remove the rest of the bellows and have a good close look. See my picture in #4 for inspiration.

 

I can remove the rest of the bellows (grommet) to see if there are any other broken wires, but at that point, I need to do the repair.

Pictures on the number 4 post are very inspirational. I see the new grommet in place with the slack in wires in the trunk lid. I'm still a little confused. Did you need to cut all the wires in the trunk to get the grommet on and where did the splices end up? Was there slack in the trunk wires so you pulled them past the bend in the grommet so the bend had "fresh" bendable wires? I wish someone did a video on this repair.

 

This is the best video I could find on repairing the wires.

 

OP, I should say that mine was a '99 328i--you may have different wires. As far as thickness...it's okay, I've been told, to go thicker but not thinner--that was from my gf, but I think she was talking wire gauges.

...and for those into grommets reading here for fun, I'll also say you don't need to cut the grommet (elephant trunk) to get to the wires...you feed the whole thing down into the trunk, leaving the upper grommet part out a bit so you can get it up again.

 

OP, I should say that mine was a '99 328i--you may have different wires. As far as thickness...it's okay, I've been told, to go thicker but not thinner--that was from my gf, but I think she was talking wire gauges.

...and for those into grommets reading here for fun, I'll also say you don't need to cut the grommet (elephant trunk) to get to the wires...you feed the whole thing down into the trunk, leaving the upper grommet part out a bit so you can get it up again.

Thicker is always better according to the ladies! ;-)

So the slack in the trunk lid is being moved down into the grommet (unbent wire) and into trunk itself (old bent wire with repairs).

 

i have a convertible so access may be different. I could get at the loom inside the trunk below the grommit entry. Also teh wires in the kits are 2 - 3 times as long as the pieces I cut out. To do the kit, as I recall , I pulled the new wires into the trunk lid with the old wires, did teh spices in there, then fished the other end into the trunk area to splice in there. I suppose to do a few wires, you could generate slack from the trunk lid loom, make spice in open then pull it back into the lid. I think it would be hard to push a wire through the grommit. I would avoid having splices in the grommit.

 

It seems all the quick repairs are done in the grommet. All quality splices will have to be in the trunk lid and trunk. :-(

 

As i said, the kit is $20 more than the just the grommit. Much easier to keep track of which wire goes where.

 

I did a temporary fix today for the trunk light staying on. I patch in a wire that connects the wire that broke (crimp connection) and taped it all up with tesa tape. Not sure how long it will hold but that nasty car light is not on in the dash (tired of looking at it). My next project is to fix my blower so I can have some heat in my car (and a/c next summer). lol

 

Glad that worked for now. Did you order the kit?