front to rear wiring trouble

[grpa_ss vl]

Gday, iv got a wagon and the rear wiper doesn't work or the washer pump, so iv checked over the wiring and sure enough one in particular is melted. near the pedals right side is a cable bunch purple plug, the orange wire in the bunch is melted and fused with others. so im in the process of re wiring however iv got two problems, firstly if its possible to find out what caused the wire to melt and also along the bunch at the columb between the drivers and passanger door under the drivers seat belt dispencer the orange cable splits and follows 2 white wires just wondering what that leads to. thanks

[detox_nath83]

they could be for the rear door interior light switches
it could have something stupid like wear and tear has cut through the insulation on the wire which has caused an earth and has cooked melting others in the process.

[grpa_ss vl]

Hey man, yeah that's probably it. was working on it all day, bought some 2.5mm wire and had a plan to rewire it although turned out most of the bunch cooked up haha so yeah i reckon ill try and actually get a whole new plug and bunch cos some of em are for the fuel pump i found out after trying to start it with the bunch unplugged, so not taking any chances ill go to Boronia commodore parts/ wreckers and do some hunting. cheers mate

[detox_nath83]

even get a terminal strip and join them that way would be safer.
or the old twist and solder job(dodge way)

[tombomb]

not to hijack anything! but nath do you know a good process of checking for shorts? took my beast to over 3 mechanics (1 being a vl expert) and i was wondering where i shud start with checking over the loom?
cheers!

[detox_nath83]

man i dont know any good process as the loom is quite daunting basically if something is not working try trace the wire back to its source as in back to fusebox if fuse is good and its not getting any voltage at the other end your problem lies in the wire somewhere so run a new one using old as a draw wire can be difficult.. if a fuse keeps blowing its something stupid like a short somewhere..
it can be a pain in the ass
Multimeter is your friend with circuit tester as in probe one end and probe the other
(say for example boot release wire at boot solenoid and other probe to terminal at the button in glovebox when press button the multimeter will buzz if not there is a break somewhere)
understand??