1999 Buick Power Trunk Latch Repair -or- Broken Wire Repair

 

[This repair may apply to the following vehicles. 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Buick Regal, Buick Century, Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Impala and other similar cars.]

Posted 9-7-2009

My power trunk release operated intermittently during the winter. By spring it had stopped working completely. I figured the latch had gone bad. I put my micrometer on the latch control wires and hit my power trunk release on the remote. No voltage. I figured the wire had gone bad. I peeled off the corrugated plastic jacket and revealed 2 broken wires and the rest of the wires with breaks in the insulation. It was only a matter of time before my reverse lights and light bar on the trunk lid would go dark.

I decided to solder a new length of wire in to replace the failed wire I had. I tried this job with a small electric soldering iron. It was too small to heat the wires and melt the solder. I picked up this handy torch for about $17 at Home Depot. It runs on butane. I could solder without contact using its focused flame.

Strip the wires. Put on shrink wrap tubes

This repair is not difficult. It took about an hour once I had all the supplies ready. I strongly recommend shrink wrap tubing to seal the wires up. Remember to put the shrink wrap tubing on before you solder the wires. I'm going to say that again.

1. Strip and Clean your wires

2. Slip on shrink tubing

3. Solder your wires together.

4. Slide tubes over joins and heat with torch or lighter.

I can't show you soldering the wires because I can't take pictures while I'm soldering. Here's what it looks like with the wires soldered and the tubing shrunk on. The torch is very handy for shrinking.

I also used a large piece of shrink tube to cover all the little wires.

I had to remember to put the large shrink tube on BEFORE I connected the wires together. I didn't take a picture of it shrunk on.

I put the plastic jacket back on the wire and tied it back to its original mounts. I added a piece of clear flexible tubing. This extra piece will, hopefully, reduce flex in the wire. In time these wires will break again. Nothing I can do to stop that. But they lasted 9 years. Maybe I can get another nine years out of this repair.