DYI - running wires through firewall

[andyny]

I'd like to make a few comments on this DYI:

1. Taking off the air intake make it much easier.
2. Hyundai created a air tight method of sealing the engine compartment from the interior of the car. Poking a hole in the huge protruding grommet-type thing now make for a leak point. You need to SEAL the hole you pokes with Permatex Black Silicone Adhesive seal (16Br) - that exact product is my suggestion as it is a good match for the job.
3. On my 2002 the other end of the grommet (which is more than a normal grommet) was also sealed and thus no tube could go through, so I pretty much gave up on this myself. All the wires out to the engine compartiment go through here you don't want to screw them up.
4. It baffles me why with all the mods people make, making another entry point to the inside would not be the method of choice. I am sure no installer is going to spend the time to do this procedure.
5. Why is the dash being taken apart? Just look under it and you can see the hole!

[jfreak921]

But what is a Do Yourself It? :)

[andyny]

But what is a Do Yourself It? :)

DYI is not to screw up your car in the process. It those wires right there get damaged you are are BIG BIG trouble. At first it seem like a cool idea until I saw how the tube could not simply slide down the hole made. The "grommet" is actually a large rubber piece with shaped ends that fit over the harnesses tightly, on both sides. Making a small hole with a small grommet is what most would do. I just don't like risking damaging the car in a way I can't easly fix, plus I don't like fumes in the car.

[southpawboston]

i actually agree with andyny. another person on the forum recently f*cked up his ECM wiring royally when he drilled through the firewall trying to run an amp power cable. there really is NO REASON to try to snake a power wire through the firewall. there is an UNUSED grommet behind the driver's side front mud flap that leads right into the rocker panel. the amp wire comes out right behind the kick panel.

[andyny]

i actually agree with andyny. another person on the forum recently f*cked up his ECM wiring royally when he drilled through the firewall trying to run an amp power cable. there really is NO REASON to try to snake a power wire through the firewall. there is an UNUSED grommet behind the driver's side front mud flap that leads right into the rocker panel. the amp wire comes out right behind the kick panel.

Thanks for reminding me about that grommet as I remember reading here somewhere how the cable can be run behind the wheel well to that grommet. I still did not run my fog light switch wire so that is how I will do it. I also saw how easy it was to drill through something inside or outside (I was going to use some point of ref to measure). One thing also scarry about drilling through the firewall is the scarry feeling you get on how thin the firewall is (not just on a Hyundai but Toyotas too - my point of reference). On a Corolla I could have zipped along making a huge long hole it was so thin.

[Gun5]

i actually agree with andyny. another person on the forum recently f*cked up his ECM wiring royally when he drilled through the firewall trying to run an amp power cable. there really is NO REASON to try to snake a power wire through the firewall. there is an UNUSED grommet behind the driver's side front mud flap that leads right into the rocker panel. the amp wire comes out right behind the kick panel.

oh could someone get a pic!

[southpawboston]

i didn't take any pics, but it's pretty easy. from the battery terminal run the power cable into the fender well area through an opening to the left of the battery. remove the rear half of the plastic fender well liner and mudflap (if equipped). the front half of the liner does not need to be removed. pull the rear half down to get access to the fender well. run the wire back along the fender well, and drill a small hole in the grommet leading into the rocker panel. it's a standard round grommet so it's easy to poke a hole through. then inside the car, remove the kick panel. there is a recessed "cup" screwed into the rocker panel and a bunch of harnesses tucked away neatly inside the "cup". pull the harnesses out of the cup and unscrew the cup, exposing a big hole into the rocker panel. reach in there and pull the cable through. voila!

[Cheese Toast]

Southpaw, is that grommet big enough for 0 or 4 guage wire?

[KeWLKaT]

DYI is not to screw up your car in the process. It those wires right there get damaged you are are BIG BIG trouble. At first it seem like a cool idea until I saw how the tube could not simply slide down the hole made. The "grommet" is actually a large rubber piece with shaped ends that fit over the harnesses tightly, on both sides. Making a small hole with a small grommet is what most would do. I just don't like risking damaging the car in a way I can't easly fix, plus I don't like fumes in the car.

What the guy meant was that it's DIY not DYI :) Read his post :D

[southpawboston]

Southpaw, is that grommet big enough for 0 or 4 guage wire?

i'm pretty sure it's big enough. i ran 4-ga and had plenty of room to spare.

[jfreak921]

What the guy meant was that it's DIY not DYI :) Read his post :D

Thank you KeWLKat :)

[andyny]

i didn't take any pics, but it's pretty easy. from the battery terminal run the power cable into the fender well area through an opening to the left of the battery. remove the rear half of the plastic fender well liner and mudflap (if equipped). the front half of the liner does not need to be removed. pull the rear half down to get access to the fender well. run the wire back along the fender well, and drill a small hole in the grommet leading into the rocker panel. it's a standard round grommet so it's easy to poke a hole through. then inside the car, remove the kick panel. there is a recessed "cup" screwed into the rocker panel and a bunch of harnesses tucked away neatly inside the "cup". pull the harnesses out of the cup and unscrew the cup, exposing a big hole into the rocker panel. reach in there and pull the cable through. voila!

Not exactly VIOLA. the Plastic rectangle cup fits exactly the rectangle hole. You can't put it back with other wires sticking through.You may have the wired through to that point, but now you need to figure out out to exit into the car. I wasn't going to drill into the cup as there was just too much stuff there already and I did not want to make it confusing for dealer repairs. Maybe you can go up, I don't know as ther was too much stuff to see and my wires weren't going to make it that way. So you can either drill a hole next to the the rectrangle or grind it at some spot with a dremel tool to make a place for the wires to come out. If someone knows something I missed let me know.

Also when you put the wires in the space near the battery, if you do not remove all the bolts from the plastic liner you wont be able to attach the new cables securely to the car. There are other wires harnesses in there already you can wire tie to.They be just floating around otherwise.

The grommet and hole is huge, the hole about the size of a nickel. You can get a lot of wires through. Now you need to know that loads of water and dirt pass that grommet, this is not a sealed area by any means. You should use silcone sealer once you have the wires through.

[southpawboston]

funny thing, recollecting back to when i did this, i do remember how tightly that cup fits. it was extremely easy to drill a hole in the plastic cup for the amp wire to come through, without interfering with any of the other harnesses. i didn't mention it because i thought it was trivial enough.

as for the silicone sealer, that's a good idea. i didn't bother since i was only running one smooth round cable through, and it fit very snugly into the grommet. no moisture is going to pass through. but if you run more than one cable through that grommet, you will no longer have a nice round sealable surface. you will have to use a sealent, as you said.

i was able to secure the amp cable to the harnesses already in the fender well, although it was a little tricky. i'm used to reaching into tight places and doing things like fastening click-ties with one hand, so again, i didn't think too much of this. but you are right in that it is more difficult to secure the cable if you don't remove the entire liner. i also have my cable protected inside a wire loom all the way from the battery up to the grommet in the rocker panel. this way if there is any point along the cable where it's not secured perfectly, there will be no rubbing on the cable directly.

did you happen to take any pictures? so far no one has (including myself :( ), and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... it would be good to document this route once and for all since a lot of people inquire about it... and also to point out the slightly trickier steps.

[andyny]

The only reason I get into details, is that some will be stumped, and at that point, make some big mistake. I also chose not to drill the cup because I was trying not to let the cable be obvious to the dealer should they have unplug some cable to do some test. However, on the other hand, it they removed the cup (I think that wouloe be rare) they would likely screw my wires over as they might cruch it when putting it back. Essentially I used my dremel to grind a circle in the upper rear of the hole. My wires were in a thick adhesive shrink tube. I also sealed that hole so that the wire could not move and rub. Then I wire tied it too so no way can in move.



Well no pictures but I do know it would have been quirte difficult to take the wheel well picture because although it is unbolted, it actually does not come off (you don't take it off!) you bend it a little and stick your hands in. Doing it again I would have order a smaller diameter flex tube as locally I could not find it and mine was thicker than needed.


I did learn one thing, a lot of dirt and leaves make it ways into the space behine the mud flap, I'd say two cups are dirt and pieces of leaves were in there.

[southpawboston]

I did learn one thing, a lot of dirt and leaves make it ways into the space behine the mud flap, I'd say two cups are dirt and pieces of leaves were in there.

haha, you are so right...

http://homepage.mac.com/tutter/DIY/drainage.jpg

i took pictures before and after flushing it all out. this is clearly a design flaw on hyundai's part. the drainage should be much better than it is.

oh, and for those who are interested in knowing, that infamous grommet that i keep referring to is just out of shot; if those metal tabs in the fender that secure the mudflap were not there, you would see it behind them. just FYI.

[Gun5]

haha, you are so right...

http://homepage.mac.com/tutter/DIY/drainage.jpg

i took pictures before and after flushing it all out. this is clearly a design flaw on hyundai's part. the drainage should be much better than it is.

oh, and for those who are interested in knowing, that infamous grommet that i keep referring to is just out of shot; if those metal tabs in the fender that secure the mudflap were not there, you would see it behind them. just FYI.

amen lol it was weeew dirty

[GTSTISL]

exact reason i opted not to get mudguards.

[southpawboston]

GTSTISL, this was a big topic over at EGT club last year, in fact a poll was taken for people who had checked their cars for this problem. as it turns out, ppl without mudflaps were reporting the guck accumulation as well. we concluced that it was the way the inner fender and fender well liner were designed, that allowed larger particles and bits of debris to accumulate. it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the mudflaps.

[andyny]

My 2002 DID NOT HAVE Mud flaps for 2 years and I found all that ****. I believe I know where it is coming from. The inner part of the plastic wheel well is not sealed and the crap flies up and then down and get caught there. Also there seems to be multiply paths from inside the fender and door jam that direct dirt and leaves can blow in from, including the original "vents" where the fogs should be. I believe we all are going to have to open it up and clean this **** out as it is wet and will eventually lead to rust and holes.

[dapert]

southpaw do you the moon roof?

I did your method but I didn't have an unused grommet. Instead I had a factory hole whith a plastic grommet and it has some clear tube running thriugh it. I assume it goes up to the moon roof and is some kind of draining device if that area gets wet.

[southpawboston]

southpaw do you the moon roof?

I did your method but I didn't have an unused grommet. Instead I had a factory hole whith a plastic grommet and it has some clear tube running thriugh it. I assume it goes up to the moon roof and is some kind of draining device if that area gets wet.

interesting. i guess that would be a logical place for a drain tube. is there still room for a wire to go through? my bad for not realizing that grommet may be used for something...

[megamanfre]

Wanted to add that you should make sure you have a deep well socket, and that the nuts are 10mm. I tried with the sockets I had (some cheap *** alltrade shallow well) and found out that it didnt quite work out, so I had to go out and get a new set (wanted one anyway so got a craftsman 263pc) and had no problems.

Nothing was sealed, so there werent any problems. I just needed another pair of eyes on the floor to see where the wire poked through (girlfriend came in handy) and pull it through. At least, this is the case in the 05's, could be sealed for the other years.

[stretch]

I found the infomation on this post invaluable, running the amp wire through the grommet behide the mud flap is the best option. however i opted for a different strategy when it came to getting the power cable to the battery. I brought the power wire up and through the small opening at the top of the fender as described by another member, poked it through the foam seal under the bonnet and down to the battery. the power wire is visable for a few centimeters but it worked out great. if anybody is interested i will take a few pic's of what i did and the system i put in.
1 x alpine 9807 cd player
1 x 12" alpine type s subwoofer (this sub really rocks)
1 pair of kicker impulse two way 6 x 9's in the back
original speakers in the front - have not decided what to put in there yet
1 x lanzar htg224 amp to drive the sub (wasent sure about the purchace of this amp, but it seems to work ok)