After Market Reversing Sensors- Help Please

[Guest flasheart13]

Hi, I've just recently bought a 2009  59' plate C5 vtr+ nav tourer, very impressed so far but it unfortunately doesn't have reverse parking sensors fitted.

 

Have purchased a kit made by Dolphin, the sensors fit perfectly in the pre-drilled holes on the rear trim & I've routed the wires into the vehicle via the rubber bung behind the side trim in the boot.

 

There's two wires to connect; one to an earth, which is no problem & another to be connected to the reversing light cable. That's where my current problem lies. The reverse lights are housed within the tailgate & from what I can make out the wires for this are routed through the roof.

 

Has anyone any experience of fitting one of these kits? Do I have to remove a lot of interior trim to reach the cable or has anyone any knowledge of an alternative?

 

I'm far from an expert with cars but just trying to save a ridiculous fitting cost for the sake of one wire, any advice appreciated. Thanks

 

[coastline taxis]

Done one of these last week. Its a bit fidley but easy enough. theres a rubber seal that goes round the tailgate opening pull it off and youl be able to put the wire in there . remove the cover on the tailgate and get a piece of hollow plastic tubing( we use fuel piping ) and push it up inside the tailgate and thru the rubber bellow where the wiring comes thru for the tailgate and if you pull the headlining down just a little bit and put your hand in youl feel the tube come thru. feed the wire thru the tube till it comes out the other end of the tube then remove the tube. conect the wire to the reverse lights the refit the panel and rubber seal. It was a dolphin dps 400 sensor we fitted but it kept picking the swan neck tw bar up so you might have to release the end of the towbar

[Guest flasheart13]

That's great, thank you.

[MrTignale]

Hi, I am just doing the same job on a 2009 59 C5 VTR+ saloon, and also having difficulty identifying the reversing light wire.  The reversing lights are in the boot lid, and the harness runs behind a plastic cover on the left-hand hinge. There must be about 8 wires in it.  Can anyone tell me which colour wire I should be connecting to, so that I can avoid taking all the trim off the boot lid? Many thanks.

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Rather than remove all the boot lid trim, just remove the inside covers over the 2 rear lights and then pull off the electrical connectors. Probably 3 wires to each - an earth wire (possibly green), a wire for the side light and one for the reversing light.  Use a meter to see which have 12 volts when the lights are on.

[MrTignale]

Many thanks for the advice.  I have successfully finished the job.  I found the little inserts in the boot lid trim panel that you can pull out and gain access to the reversing light bulbs. This told me that the wire for the reversing light was either yellow or purple, with the earth yellow/green.  There was no way of connecting my multimeter, but by lucky chance, I found that the yellow wire was the one for the reversing light!  I used an in-line connector and connected the live wire for the sensor to the yellow wire just before it entered the plastic cover on the left-hand boot hinge.  Bingo!

[paul.h]

Thanks for the feedback. Which kit you have installed ?

[MrTignale]

It was the Gadgetman kit, bought from latest-bidder on ebay for £14.95.  It is a good product.