Astra Towbar fitting electricals

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Thu 17 Apr 2003 09:16
Astra Towbar fitting electricals - Chris TD
Quick question of anyone who's fitted a towbar to a Mk3 Astra Estate (mines a '97).

I'm looking to wire up the electrics and have come across a handy bunch of cables running right across the back of the car under the boot floor. As the back panel (behind the bumper) is pre-marked with dimples for drilling holes for the mounting bolts and cable hole (extremely handy - some forward thinking for a change) I wondered if these cables could also feed all the socket pins?

Haynes manual has disappeared (gremlins at work in our household again - suspect small boy has "borrowed" it) so I can't check the diagrams, but I thought it might be easier than running it up into the light cluster.

Any info appreciated.

Thanks

Chris TD
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Thu 17 Apr 2003 09:34
Astra Towbar fitting electricals - Big Vern
If the Astra is link the Vectra you may not have to drill a hole for the cable, you can use the existing hole + grommet for the number plate light cable harness.
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Thu 17 Apr 2003 10:02
Astra Towbar fitting electricals - Chris TD
Thanks Big Vern,

Unfortunately the number plate lights are on the tailgate. There was a dimple in the right place put in the rear panel that I've drilled out and primed. I did wonder about using the drain hole in the bottom of the spare wheel well, but it was much more exposed (being underneath) and would end up blocking the hole.

Chris TD
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Thu 17 Apr 2003 09:58
Astra Towbar fitting electricals - Chas{P}
Done the same job on my Mk3 Astra hatchback.

If my memory serves correctly the lighting wiring loom for both sides comes down the left hand side of the car. Therefore I made all my connections behind the LH cluster. To improve access I actually removed the whole lamp unit which made every wire easy to get at. Much better than removing trim panels etc.

You are right there are dimples already in the boot floor that makes drilling easy.

Lastly, when fitting the towbar working underneath, make sure you trim, only if necessary, the tubes that go inside the chassis legs where the big bolts go through. Otherwise the towbar will not bolt up hard against the chassis legs and will creak under load as I found out half way down to Devon one year!

HTH

Charles
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Thu 17 Apr 2003 10:15
Astra Towbar fitting electricals - Chris TD
Charles,

Thanks for that - I'll go for the left cluster rather than the right. Just need to identify the right hand indicator though but a check in the right cluster should reveal the correct colour. The estate's got much bigger access panels so hopefully it won't be as fiddly as the hatchback for my big hands.

The Towsure bar I've got just has six bolts - four on the back panel and two underneath (one being an existing fuel tank strap bolt) - no tubes into the chassis legs. Probably the difference is due to the estate/hatchback chassis structures.

Ta

Chris TD
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