99 S70 GLT... Anybody know what this broken wire does? Topic is solved

[Cricket502]

Does anybody know what this broken wire/white plug is used for on a 1999 S70 GLT? It's located near the passenger side headlight, between the headlight and the wiper fluid reservoir, right in the middle of the picture below. I've noticed the wires frayed before, but they're totally broken now and while I don't drive the car much, I haven't noticed any missing features. It looks like they should go into the white plug, and then that plug leads into the giant wire bundle so I have no idea where those go. I wasn't able to see where the frayed wires go either.

I also have no idea what that open black plug is for, so any guesses on that are welcome too.

The only engine code I get is an occasional small evap code, and my main problem with the car is that it cranks for a while (5+ seconds) before finally starting. If I hook up a jumper box then it generally starts right up, so I know I have an electrical issue somewhere that I'm working to find. Probably not this tiny wire?

Broken wires

20221207_222240.jpg (312.4 KiB) Viewed 344 times

[abscate]

That black plug looks like the washer pump motor, do your squirts work ?

Two things live up there , headlight wipers and the alarm connection to the hood latch. You May or may not have those options

None of these will influence starting, and a 5 second crank is more likely fuel pressure than electrical. Try cycling the key three time before cranking and seeing if it quick starts then, to confirm.

[scot850]

+1 Abscate hit this on the head. You have no connector on your washer pump, the 2 pins just above the wires in the picture. If your windshield washers are working I am not sure how!!

Being a 99 car, in addition to what abscate says on the fuel pump, how good is your battery? If you are not using the car much, you may want to consider using a trickle charger to maintain the battery. These cars don't like weak batteries.

Neil.

[rrres]

Just looked at my 99, the white plug eventually connects to, I think, the washer fluid level sensor, which has blue and black wires.

The plug that connects to the black plug has black and green wires.

[Cricket502]

Aha, that would explain it. I can't recall the last time I saw a low wiper fluid warning. My windshield wipers and wiper fluid do work, but I removed my headlight wipers after a minor front end collision that required a new bumper cover (couldn't find a cheap bumper cover with cutouts for the headlight wiper arms). I completely forgot I used to have those.

As far as the starting issue, my battery is solid and the car usually does start pretty well when it's fully charged. With this being my backup car, that's not always the case. I bought a battery charger recently to revive the completely dead battery and it has started pretty well since then, but on occasion it still hiccups and takes a while to start.

I had another thread on here a few years ago viewtopic.php?t=84095 where I never figured out the issue, but I had looked into fuel before and mostly ruled that out. I replaced the fuel filter, pump, fuel pump relay, and I think fuel pressure measured ok as far as I could tell... I also replaced the starter and made sure those connections looked good, replaced the crankshaft sensor which fixed a misfire problem but not the starting problem... Letting the fuel pump run a few times before starting had no impact. I thought turning the key and waiting 5+ seconds was helping even though I could hear the pump only running for 2-3 seconds, but that was in my head.

In the end I was thinking it had to be a bad connection somewhere, because 100% of the time when it's connected to a battery jumper the car starts right up (and strongly). I'll update that other post as solved if I ever figure out the starting issue, haha. I've got a new battery cable to try because I thought I remembered some strange measurements with my multimeter on the negative cable.

[454cid]

I was under the hood changing a headlight bulb, in my 99, and recalled this thread. I have that white connector, but I don't have that plug next to the washer fluid filler neck. It's more of a white-ish plastic depression.