Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

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cheba
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Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

I have a mechanical boost gauge for my WRC which I'm about to install. However I've run into the problem that I can't find a suitable opening to route the boost line (3mm thick hose) through the firewall.

Beneath the lower corner of the windshield there is an opening on each side. On the driver's side (left) it is used for the bonnet opening wire. On the passenger side (right) it is unused and plugged. However this is not really suitable to use since it would require a very long boost line which isn't good.

Another option I considered was to run the boost line along with the main wiring harness which sits a bit further towards the middle of the car (in front of the steering wheel). However, I have trouble reaching it as the plastic rain tray beneath the windshield seems impossible to remove only by hand like the workshop manual states, and using tools could very likely cause the windshield to crack. By just removing the wiper arm and lifting the rain tray a bit, I can juuust reach the point where the main harness goes through the firewall with my fingertips. However it seems to be sealed really tight so I'm not sure if I'd be able to feed the hose through the same grommet as the main harness anyway.

So now I'm asking those who have routed cables or hoses through the firewall on the 6R: how did you do it?
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ciclo
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by ciclo »

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=69648&p=520795#p519846
With the right tools you should not have problems.
It's not difficult, it's entertaining. :lol:

what do you think?
cheba
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

ciclo wrote: Fri Apr 06, 2018 7:08 pm viewtopic.php?f=56&t=69648&p=520795#p519846
With the right tools you should not have problems.
It's not difficult, it's entertaining. :lol:

what do you think?
Yep, that's the main harness routing I was aiming for. I didn't know about the small spare grommets on the side, but that's good to know. I had been thinking about just feeding the hose through the main grommet together with the main harness, but it's of course better to use one of the small grommets.

Still, the problem is removing the plastic tray. It has a lip on the underside that runs along the entire length, which is snapped into a groove in the glass of the windshield, and it's in there hard. I tried to detach the tray by hand, starting from both driver's and passenger side, but it won't come off. The workshop manual specifically states that no tools should be used. I suspect it's not really meant to be removed unless changing the entire windshield. Obviously it can be done, but it's hard, and I'm afraid of cracking the glass...
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ciclo
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by ciclo »

It is possible to route the hose through the rubber without dismantling the plastic tray to which it refers.
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

Oh, now I see it. The small grommets extends to the inside of the car. So in the engine bay there should just be a hole that you have to feed the hose through. But you'll have to aim really well :lol: Since the thing is behind the wiper mechanism, it is very cramped. I can barely reach the grommet with my fingertips when I stick my hand behind the wiper mechanism.

Maybe the hard part will actually not be feeding the hose through, but first reaching the small grommet from under the dashboard to cut it open. I will have to have another look at it tomorrow.
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by ciclo »

Image

Image Image
cheba
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

ciclo wrote: Fri Apr 06, 2018 9:23 pm Image
I don't think removing that metal part ("plenum chamber bulkhead" in the workshop manual) is needed. I would probably be enough to get the plastic cover off ("plenum chamber cover"). And in order to remove the bulkhead, you first have to remove the cover.

Also just getting to the screws that holds the bulkhead seems a bit of a hassle (on the WRC at least). Just judging from photos, at least the air intake pipe and the ECU seems to be in the way.
Last edited by cheba on Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by RUM4MO »

I seem to remember trying to remove that plastic water deflector below the windscreen on a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza when I was replacing the front springs etc, and gave up and just made do with flexing the plastic water deflector up far enough to get my hands and a socket set in to remove the suspension top nut.
I did remove that water deflector on a 2000 VW Passat when it was maybe 4 > 6 years old to replace it with a later version as I was adding the (later) extra water cover for over the battery area etc in avoid an ingress of leaves etc to block the area under there. What did happen that time was, that after a lot of effort, I got the water deflector out with only a short section cracked. Unfortunately when I went to fit the new water deflector, it did not want to flex enough and broke into 3 parts with only the small rubber seal at the top keeping the parts together! I ended up refitting the old one.

Why I am posting on this is, as far as I know, it will always be possible to remove these water deflectors, it is only the small rubber seal/gasket at the top edge along with road dust/grit and time that is stopping these water deflectors from being able to get removed - normally any windscreen wiper motor/linkage repair work would mean removing them - so it must be possible to remove them without removing the windscreen, also, if you break it, a new one is very cheap I seem to remember.

Edit:- nice cable tape there, I got mine from ebay and used quite a lot of it when retro fitting my front parking sensors to my S4, also nice wire pulling/fishing things, I have used one of them frequently for house wiring as well as car wiring. Once you have the tools, some jobs become very easy?
cheba
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

RUM4MO wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:35 am I seem to remember trying to remove that plastic water deflector below the windscreen on a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza when I was replacing the front springs etc, and gave up and just made do with flexing the plastic water deflector up far enough to get my hands and a socket set in to remove the suspension top nut.
I did remove that water deflector on a 2000 VW Passat when it was maybe 4 > 6 years old to replace it with a later version as I was adding the (later) extra water cover for over the battery area etc in avoid an ingress of leaves etc to block the area under there. What did happen that time was, that after a lot of effort, I got the water deflector out with only a short section cracked. Unfortunately when I went to fit the new water deflector, it did not want to flex enough and broke into 3 parts with only the small rubber seal at the top keeping the parts together! I ended up refitting the old one.

Why I am posting on this is, as far as I know, it will always be possible to remove these water deflectors, it is only the small rubber seal/gasket at the top edge along with road dust/grit and time that is stopping these water deflectors from being able to get removed - normally any windscreen wiper motor/linkage repair work would mean removing them - so it must be possible to remove them without removing the windscreen, also, if you break it, a new one is very cheap I seem to remember.
It was the same for me when I installed my Bilstein coilovers. I removed the wiper arm and lifted the deflector just enough to get the tools in.

I think that on older VW's like the Golf mk4 (maybe the same on a 2000 Passat) there is a separate part which is clipped onto the edge of the windshield glass, and the lip of the deflector clips into a groove in the separate part. On the 6R, the groove is directly in the windshield glass itself. That's why I am so afraid of causing the glass to crack by using too much force.
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by RUM4MO »

That sounds like a horrible idea, maybe it is called "progress" ?
cheba
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

RUM4MO wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:15 pm That sounds like a horrible idea, maybe it is called "progress" ?
Yeah, unfortunately car manufacturers often prefer to minimize the number of parts at the expensive of repairability/ease of disassembly.

Anyway, I'm starting to think that the devil himself designed this car. I know it is possible to remove the plastic rain deflector. I've seen photos of other removing it on their cars. But even when I stick my hand below the rain deflector and press up with my fingers as hard as I can as close to the glass as possible, it is just. not. coming. off.

So I've pretty much given up on feeding the hose from the outside and my plan now is to feed it from the inside. I need to access the main wiring harness grommet from the inside anyway, in order to cut open one of the 2 spare grommets. So I thought that I would have the best chance of accessing it from behing the instrument cluster once I take the cluster out. The cluster sits with only 2 screws, covered by a small cover which (according to youtube videos) can be popped out in a couple of seconds just using your fingers. But not on my car. Oh no. Just as the rain deflector, this thing is not coming off. I even tried with 2 different plastic panel removal tools, sticking them between the IC and the cover below. I used so much force that the tools were deformed by the instrument cluster. But the cover is not coming off. :evil:
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

So I found this video which was very useful:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sADQcVV7f-M&vl=en[/youtube]

When first popping off the steering wheel column cover, the small part of the cover below the cluster is accessible from the underside and can be easily pulled out.

However, the main wiring grommet was not at all accessible from behind the cluster as I had hoped. There was a lot of stuff in the way (cross member, air ducts...). I have also been laying on the floor with a flashlight, trying to see the grommet from below the footwell, but I can't find it. And it's not visible from the end of the dashboard either. I can only imagine the second photo in this pic (which ciclo referred to) is taken in a car that has had the entire dashboard removed.

So the question now is, how do I access the main wiring grommet without removing the entire dashboard? Is it even possible? Or will I have to find another way to route the hose?
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by ciclo »

It's possible.

Go back to the images I posted earlier and think. Imagine a road of two directions... and a car in reverse gear. :lol:
cheba
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by cheba »

ciclo wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:40 pm It's possible.

Go back to the images I posted earlier and think. Imagine a road of two directions... and a car in reverse gear. :lol:
I'm afraid I don't get your point.

From the outside, the small spare grommet is a bit tricky to reach but it can be done. I could either:
-Feed the hose directly from the outside to the inside, or
-Feed a wire from the outside, attach the hose to the wire on the inside and pull the wire with the hose from the inside out.

However, both of these options require that I first physically access the grommet from the inside (we can see in the photo in the thread that you linked, that it is originally closed on the inside), and cut it open.
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Re: Routing hose through firewall, LHD driver's side

Post by ciclo »

Whatever you do you have to remove this panel obligatorily. :arrow: https://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php? ... 86#p532576

An example of how to use the wires guide (pg 6,7,8) :arrow: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2nv91 ... ZrU0k/view
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