Astra electrical fault - NCT fail

Hermy

I've been having an electrical issue with my 2013 Vauxhall Astra since the last NCT and now it's failed because of it.

The elevated brake light, rear number plate lights and front screen wash aren't working.

I've been told it could be the Body Control Unit.

Could anyone hazard a guess what might be up or recommend a good auto-sparks in Longford-Westmeath area?

Hellrazer

@Hermy

It could be a few things. In no particular order. But Id put money on it that the tailgate wiring loom has broken wires in it.

The loom breaks just where it goes into the boot lid - open the boot and on the top left of the roof you`ll see a rubber corrugated rubber tube - it just pops off. Pull the wiring out and more than likely theres a couple of wires broken - Opel made the loom too short and over time it stretches and breaks - its an easy fix - just pull the loom out until you find the break but dont just join them up again - you`ll need to extend the broken wires by about 6 inches to stop it happening again you can use any cable thats roughly the same diameter - just repair the ones that are broken - you dont need to do them all. Its an easy DIY fix. You will probably have to replace a couple of fuses after the repair as it will blow the fuse for the washer pump if the wire is broken. The lights fuse doesnt usually blow.

If its not that heres a couple more wiring issues Ive seen over the years on those Astras.

Front left floor - imagine where you put your left foot if you were sitting in the passenger seat - Depending on the exact model theres a small junction box behind that plastic trim that gets filled with water. The washer jet tube runs through that box and can burst spilling water into the junction box. Idiotic running a washer hose through an electrical box but thats Opel for you.

The easiest way to test it is to get someone to press for the rear washer jets and see if the floor gets wet - thats assuming the rear washer jet is working.

Lastly - It could be the actual fuse box - the box on these comes in 2 halves and water gets in to the lower half and causes all sorts of stupid things to fail - bit more of an expensive fix as you have to replace the whole fuse box and its not a nice job in these.

Hermy

Great stuff Hellrazer.

I'll check all of those.

I should have said in the OP the brake light fault is intermittent so I'm hoping it is just a dodgey wire where the loom hinges with boot.