Loose wires under dash. Any idea?

[decampos]

Poking around under the instrument cluster I noticed two copper wire ends. Any idea what they are for? I've not noticed anything not working (I don't think).

Attached a pic, is under the dash in the driver's footwell (RHD). Any pointers very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[kasbatts]

They look like they are brown wires in the photo?

If they are I'm 99% sure you will find they will be earth wires for something.

You can test easily with a meter set to on the buzz function.

 

[Arde]

Yep,could be the ground for the rear defroster switch. I see that in many cases the ground circuit is daisy chained so one wire brings ground to a connection and the other takes ground on to the next circuit. If that is the case one should connect these two wires.
Easy to check, if one wire shows continuity to ground and teh other does not, then tie them together.

 

[David]

I just got done cleaning up the rats nest of wires so I could replace the fuse cover we just did the group purchase on. Every solid brown wire I came across tested as a ground.

I'm amazed at the fire hazard of electrical tape "repairs" and exposed live wires I found. What a mess it was. I hope the next owner appreciates what I went through.

 

[decampos]

Thanks guys. Really helpful replies. Arde: now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure the rear defroster isn't working so that's great to hear that it could be a simple fix. Thanks again.

 

[bert35csi]

They don't look like the factory brown ground wires. Looks like the generic translucent lamp speaker wires to me. Also, no factory wiring has bare ending (although , they may have been cut), but usually, they should have some sort of crimped on connectors.

 

[Arde]

Good point. If they are factory and you follow them they must enter a wire harness. For the defroster it would be a 4-wire harness where the other two are black and blueish with green dots.

If none of them is 0 ohm to ground then they are something else.