There was no space in firewall to take switch wires inside cabin in case of any new items.

BHPian MithunSathianat recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

As I have around 5 auxiliary lamps (2 shoulder, 2 rear, one light bar) and projector fog lamps of which all have separate relays, it was getting difficult with too much of wires inside bonnet. Also there was no space in firewall to take switch wires inside cabin in case of any new items.

To solve this, I purchased Auxbeam 8 Gang Switch Panel BA80, Universal Circuit Control Relay System. This was hand carried by one of my friend who came from US.

I installed this as a DIY over the weekend. The advantage is that now I can control more than 8 devices without pulling wires inside cabin. This supports video inputs from a camera as well.
Total power will go to 600w at 12V, 1200W at 24V and the maximum current is 60A.

The kit comes with 8 panel switch which needs to be mounted in cabin, relay panel which needs to be mounted inside bonnet, connecting wires, mounting brackets, stickers, installation manual, ignition fuse connector.

The thin red cable connects the master switch power cable to the ACC fuse.

I have installed the relay panel on top of stock fuse box as there is only limited space inside bonnet for Thar.

Switch panel has automatic dimmable blue back light.

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Most of the original wiring harness connectors have been corroded to disintegration

BHPian greenhorn recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi all,

My Indica's share of problems has begun to skew towards electrical as I keep replacing or overhauling key mechanical and cosmetic components, but I am still stuck with my 15 year old wiring harnesses. My electrician has done a bunch of tactical fixes by doing point to point wiring and using direct lines and relays driven by the original wires which are going high resistance.

Most of the original wiring harness connectors have been corroded to disintegration, and with so many splices and duct tape, I'm seeing electrical reliability going for a toss, particularly my brake, indicator and reverse lights which keep failing all the time.

I just dumped 8K into a floor wiring harness, and am hoping boodmo will be able to source it, but I don't know how many of these issues will get solved by this. There are other wiring harnesses which simply are not available in the aftermarket - How do people work around this when doing full overhauls ? I guess point to point wiring is the worst case situation, but I'm not sure how reliable/troubleshootable/Plug and play they'll be. Are there any better options? does anyone make custom wiring harnesses? especially for non global models like my Indica.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

When I rebuilt my Classic 4x4 in 2010, it was a model long out of production. We used a brand-new wiring harness from a Mahindra Major and altered it to suit our needs.

Hope you're able to source it through Boodmo. Also search for the wiring harness of similar cars (e.g. Indigo, maybe Vista?).

Here's what BHPian srini1785 had to say on the matter:

Most of the out of production motorcycles have custom built wiring harness. During restoration, the points gets changed to CDI and 6V gives way to 12V. So there is a change in wiring. I'm not sure about cars though. In all possibilities, you need to either build one or scavenge one from a junkyard.

If you know your way around wires, you can build a wiring harness yourself. The connectors, wiring shields, fuses are all available online.

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The parking camera didn't pop on the screen, and the steering felt heavier than usual. We drove it around and realized everything wasn't right, so we stopped and called the service center.

BHPian MismatchD recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone! I was planning to do an ownership review/mini travelogue of the experiences with our Taigun here, but something else was in store for us to face.

A few days back, after having it idle for around a week, we turned on the car, and heard a loud beep followed by continuous beeps, with (almost) every single warning light on the instrument cluster on and the following messages:

Of course we were flabbergasted, as the car isn't even 2 months old. Hopeful that it was just a glitch, we started the car, and everything seemed to be normal, until we put the gear on reverse. The parking camera didn't pop on the screen, and the steering felt heavier than usual. We drove it around and realized everything wasn't right, so we stopped and called the service center.

In 15 minutes, two people from Volkswagen Madurai arrived and checked the car, and came to the conclusion that it's not possible for all parts to fail and the same time. They open the bonnet and look around and behold, a RAT NEST!

Here's a picture of the rat nest. Sorry for the blurry picture, the nest was inside the wiper frame, and I couldn't capture a good picture.

Our SA told us that we could tow the car to the service center or have one of their service people drive it there. I didn't want to tow the car nor risk someone's life on a faulty vehicle, so the SA told us we could book a flatbed through roadside assistance. Did the same through the toll-free number and the flatbed arrived the next morning.

And off it went to the service center! (Couldn't click a picture as I was away, dad took care of everything)

Both, the sales advisor and the Service Assistant were very responsive and informed us of every step they were doing. This car being our first German, I was quite scared thinking about the bill after reading countless horror stories about German car service costs.

We were informed that only the wiring was damaged, and the final bill amounted to around 6000 Rupees, including additional requests like wire protection, rat repellent coating and car wash. This was a BIG relief, as I was expecting a way bigger bill. Looks like VW 2.0 is doing well on that part.

We had the car delivered to us by this evening, with a perfect job done everywhere, especially the cleaning. Oh boy, I could never match that shine with my cleaning, experts are indeed experts. A big shoutout to Ramani Volkswagen, Madurai for their amazing and fuss-free servicing.

Now that our Taigun is back to its former glory, is there anything I could do to protect it from future rat infestations? I would love to hear some ideas from the community.

Here's what BHPian prabhu7944 had to say on the matter:

Nice to read about the responsiveness of service center. Time-tested idea is placing small bunch of tobacco leaves which you can get from bunk shops and maybe you can change the parking place of your car a bit every now and then.

Here's what BHPian kaushiksudra had ro say on the matter:

Had the same issue a few years back. And it had made a nest in my Ecosport and got simliar issue wherein almost everything stopped working. Not just once, but thrice. Used tobacco as suggested by Bhpian Prabhu. But even that wasnt of much use. The best way is to shift your car to a different location for a few days (if you've an alternate car park that, though not stationary) and park it in reverse one day and other day facing front. Hope it helps. But be careful and vigilant as once they find they just never go away.

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