[IT]

Originally Posted by s2_bo

I'm amazed at Audis looms, there is so much waste wiring, it could all be made so much less, for exsample every switch has it's own live and earth for the illumination running all the way back to the fuze box and earth tree. They could have just dazzy chained them.

They are fascinating.... When I did all the work on Amars motor I became a bit of an expert on the fact...

Theres are 2 main looms, superimposed over each other. 1 runs what I'd call essential items, engine bay, lights, instruments, security etc. The other overlays the exact same path and does all the 'toys', blinds, interior lighting, leccy seats, memory functions etc. They are connected together only by one multiblock in the passenger front side. Impressive design, but not really sure why!

Audio is a totally seperate loom, taking a seperate power feed from the boot above the battery and takes a different route across the car to reduce inteference.

Engine/gearbox has its own loom too.

And finally, there are a pair of huge copper cables running from the battery in the boot, 1 through to the front for alternator/starter and 1 for the main power distibution in the passenger footwell.

The vast majority of things are individuallty fused in the drivers footwell, with any rear components (audio, leccy rears, heated rears, towbar) being fused at the rear.

There are however a significiant number of joins inside the loom where illumination, ground feeds etc are connected together and that does save a lot of excess wiring.

it is a beast though, and given the current copper prices, is worth a bob or two....

Interestingly, upto 1996 all RHD A8's had the same wiring loom. They were all wired for everything. You want a towbar or heated seats on a 1995 car, just plug em in.

Since 1997 every loom was bespoke...