Xsara VTS towbar wiring

[Ben_W]

Guys,

Ive searched as much as I can but not found much....

I've a towbar for my VTS but it had been wired in horribly, blue scotchlock connectors to the loom going to the driver's side rear light. No thanks.

Now, I believe the grey plug that is under the the boot floor on the driver's side is the factory plug for towbar electrics.

Can anyone confirm this is correct and if it is, where I can get an electrics kit with the adaptor please?

Thanks

[Paul-R]

Can you post up your VIN so that the correct electronics can be ascertained. The VIN will be masked so don't worry.

[Ben_W]

Yes,

My apologies....of all the years on cars forums I seem.to have forgotten the basic rules of year/phase etc!

It's a 2001 Ph2 VTS. VIN VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

[GiveMeABreak]

Here you go:

I have marked within the tables for Example for sidelights, L6 Grey - meaning Left cluster, Pin 6, wiring colour grey and next, R2 Brown to mean Right Light cluster, Pin 2 wire colour Brown.

Be aware that some of the wiring colous may be different, but the pins are the same.

2630 is the Rear Left Hand Light Cluster
2635 is the Rear Right Hand Light Cluster

In all diagrams Pin 4 is the common Earth (Yellow / Green)

Note: For reversing lights, on the right hand rear cluster wiring plug, there are 2 grey wires in Pin 6 - one of these goes to the other light cluster and the other is the supply to the BSI. All the other pins are power supplies apart from the common earth on Pin 4.

Sidelights: L6 Grey, R2 Brown	Reversing: L2 Brown, R6 Grey
Indicators: L5 Brown, R3 Orange	Brakes: L7 Purple, R1 Grey

[Ben_W]

Marc, thanks very much for that....

Now, electrics are not my thing at all.... multiplex stuff even less so. Thanks for the lights wiring breakdown, that does help. However, this multiplug under the boot floor on the driver's side, do you have any info on that please? I'm fairly certain it's a 7 wire plug, for towbar electrics. I can get a picture when I'm home later today.

[GiveMeABreak]

Very difficult to ascertain without a picture - especially if it has already had a Carlos Fandango botched wiring attempt. It might be from the previous attempt. If that is the case, we won't know without identifying the towbar wiring manufacturer. With wiring diagrams, we have to zone in on a specific component / ECU / in order to pull up anything, so without knowing what it belongs to we won't know.

Most Citroen / Peugeot OEM wiring has a code printed on each of the wiring sleeves. You may have to follow it back a little and have an electron microscope handy, but it should be there. If it is OEM wiring that may help identify what the plug is for, but seeing as you don't have parking assistance, Tyre Pressure Monitoring or a rear CD Changer (which were usually fitted under the driver or passenger front seat in any case) there won't be much else it can be from an OEM point - unless it is from the aftermarket wiring harness.

[wheeler]

The plug you are talking about is not for the towbar wiring, I believe its for parking assistance,The genuine towbar loom plugs straight into the rear light clusters.
The part no of the harness is: 942820

[andy5]

For my 2nd BX I had found the multiway connectors on the rear light clusters, reasoned it would make sense if there was an official Citroen loom kit for a towbar, bought one for about £60 and fitted it and the repainted secondhand (off my previous BX) towbar myself.

For my Xantia I had the towbar supplied and fitted at a place a few miles away, but again bought the Citroen supplied loom kit, by then about £70, and asked them to use it instead of their own wiring (which they'd said on the phone would be Scotchloks). Only £10 discount, but they agreed. It was a bit tight on length, so the socket is mounted forward, just below the bottom edge of the bumper, its plate on the front of the sloping up tube instead of the rear flange which the ball fits to. But that's not a problem.

The car died when reversing out of the bay at the end of the job. They called in an auto electrician from a firm over the road, who discovered a blown fuse. The towbar fitting bloke had simply taped up the unused wires for the non-fitted caravan socket, and inadvertently shorted them to each other!

Ask a Citroen dealer if they can still obtain a loom kit for yours. A few quid but a lot tidier and quicker to fit, and stay more reliable. Maybe there will only be the 7 pin sockets, or maybe 13 pin version available by now. I suspect the former, but adaptors work ok. (I seem to be starting a collection of these).

[wheeler]

The xsara one is less than £20
It comes with a 7pin socket but nothing to stop you fitting a 13pin.
I would alway recommend fitting a 13 pin socket even if its only for lighting, the 13 pin socket is a far superior design to that awful 7 pin socket.

[GiveMeABreak]

The official electrical kit is part number 942820, and is only £17.17 inc. VAT as of today:

[andy5]

Blimey, bargain, that makes me wonder if those old ones were overpriced. I'm reasonably confident I've remembered the rough numbers, £58 and 69.

[Paul-R]

That is an absolute no-brainer providing one can be found in the supply chain somewhere.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, Paul is right - that's the problem - they are still listing it but whether they can get one now is another matter - you will only know by ringing them up and quoting that part number. They should be able to check the distribution network, but to be realistic, this is the sort of thing that dealers would of shifted on to ebay or similar years ago as part of parts clearance to be honest.

A possible link here:
https://peugeotcitroendsparts.com/peuge ... cs-942820/

One here from Citroen France:
https://www.citroen-accessoires.com/fr/ ... coupe.html

[Ben_W]

Gents (and maybe ladies, usernames can be a tricky thing!!)

My apologies for not getting back to this sooner....

So, clearly some very useful info and links which I need to follow up on.

As it happens, I've bought yet another VTS to break and, it too has a towbar, which has also has a towbar wired in by a cowboy with an excess of scotch locks!!



Clearly, people didn't want to pay for the proper kit. I'm still confused as to what the grey plug under the body is....I must interogate Servicebox more thoroughly to see if it gives any hints but the rear parking sensors might be it.....can't think of anything else that would require electrics of some description to the rear bumper...I've just broken a VTR and it too had the plug.

I will also try and get a picture of it and look at the numbers on the wires. It seems to plug into the main loom somewhere upstream of the c pillar....

[Ben_W]

Guys,

I guess I should update. Thanks to everyone for the answers, I ended up buying the proper kit from one of the links supplied. Just need to fit it now!