"Fishing" wires to door jamb interior light switches

[fintstone]

The wires that went to my doorjambs for the interior lights were pulled back into my car ('74 911) by the previous owner when the switches were removed for a "glass out" paint job. I am trying to "fish" the wires back to little holes in the jambs to mount the switches without success. What I am not sure of is if I am trying to fish from the wrong place/hole inside. Has anyone done this and can direct me to the right hole (a photo would help) on either the passenger or driver's side of the car (or both)? Any other tips would be helpful

[Jonny042]

I am pretty sure (going from memory) that the brown wire from each wire goes into the trunk, not into the interior like you may expect. Tying a weight on a piece of string and dropping it down and then hooking it into the door switch hole, then tying it to another string should help you fish a piece of string back into the trunk then you can use it as a fish wire.

[fintstone]

Thank you for responding. I appreciate the help.

I am pretty certain (at least with mine), that it goes into the interior as both wires are still there but inside the car in the area near where footwell blowers would normal be (in a later car) (with a piece of the old button still on each.) They are too short to go into the frunk first. Maybe the middies were different.

[Jonny042]

I might be wrong then - it has been a while. In that case, though, they then go from the interior into the trunk to interface with the wires that then go up into the A pillars to the dome lights. Same advice applies to first get a piece of string down and hook it (taking advantage of extra length) then pull the wire down and out to your new button which you can crimp in place.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Jonny042

I might be wrong then - it has been a while. In that case, though, they then go from the interior into the trunk to interface with the wires that then go up into the A pillars to the dome lights. Same advice applies to first get a piece of string down and hook it (taking advantage of extra length) then pull the wire down and out to your new button which you can crimp in place.

The only holes that go from my frunk into the interior do not allow access into the door jam. They are straight holes into the interior. As noted above, the original wires are simply not long enough to go into the frunk and then anywhere else...so that cannot be how they were routed. They absolutely must run almost straight into the jamb area from under the dash (with maybe a turn or two). The later cars must be different.

[911obgyn]

I dropped one of the door switch wires and made a hook from a piece of wire about 1.5’ long with a 3/16 hook i could feel it and after several tries finally got it thru the hole.
Took some choice words i am not sure which word worked best

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by 911obgyn

I dropped one of the door switch wires and made a hook from a piece of wire about 1.5’ long with a 3/16 hook i could feel it and after several tries finally got it thru the hole.
Took some choice words i am not sure which word worked best

Yes. Unfortunately, that will not work in my case, because the wires are pulled all the way out and under my dash. It appears to me that I need to fish a wire from the inside of the car (behind the kick panel) to that small hole, but have found it impossible. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. If I stand on my head on the passenger side and shine a light up into the hole behind the kick panel I see the photo below. The hole for the wire/switch is just to the right of this. It seems it should go through the rectangular hole (in the photo), but so far, I have not been able to fish a wire through it. If that is the right route, it must not be a straight shot because light shined into the hole is not visible where the switch goes. I have tried fishing from there with a coat hanger sized wire for hours.

[fintstone]

I found a couple threads that make me think that I am on the right track...just failing to execute. Wish there were some better photos/description of where inside the footwell the wire goes.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/738847-dang-dome-lights-85-911-a-5.html

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/128425-dome-light-wiring-question.html#post983670

Thanks for the help. If anyone else has advice, I would appreciate it.

[ed mayo]

At least on an early car the wite goes towards the door pillar just behind the dash where the large heater hose from the rocker goes into the trunk area just above the fuel door cable. I use welding rod or similar, fed thru the switch hole and juggled around until it appears in the opening near that heater hose. Once I achive that attach the switch wire and pull thru to switch hole.

[fintstone]

Thanks! Been trying that from both ends but have not been successful so far. Maybe tonight.

[Lz7w]

I thought I had a better picture, but maybe this one will help. this is the passenger side, and the door jamb would be at the far right of the picture.

once you pull back the carpet under the dash/on the side kick panel, you'll see the opening that goes out to the switch location.

what worked for me was to feed a rigid piece of wire from the inside -> outside, attach the wire, then pull the wire out.

hopefully this helps. I can also take another picture later if that would be useful.

[fintstone]

Thanks to all that provided help. I really appreciate it. Once I figured it out from some of the posts here, it was not too bad. It took many hours on the first one (trying to do it wrong) but once I did that one, the second was pretty easy. It also appears that this is different on different years of cars. The picture below (passenger side) is what it looked like in my '74 (best I could do for a photo). I could not get a picture of the actual hole it came out of, but there is a round hole about the size of a quarter just above the rectangular one in the photo. That is the one. I had to disconnect the heater hose (at the bottom) that connects the rear heat tubes to the ventilation system to access the area. Even so, I could barely reach the hole with my hand and could not see it or take a photo of it with my phone.

I fished a relatively stiff wire (not quite coat hanger size stiffness) in from the hole in the door jamb. It went slightly up for about an inch or so and then down slightly. Not nearly as far as I expected...only a couple inches. I had my fingers in that round hole and felt it come in from the right (general direction of the switch hole). If not for that, I would have never known I was getting it in. I hooked a finger around the fish wire and bent it out of the hole...and then could push it farther through. I tried using tape to attach the wire for the switch to the wire I was using to "fish" with and pull it through, but the wire came right off. The next time I used a small, straight wire crimp and that worked great.

Thanks again for the help!