xm radio self installation

I cannot help you with the light assembly, but can attest to the fact that routing the wire above the rubber seal of the hatch resulted in water leaks at high pressure car washes (not when it rained, though).

After many unsuccessful re-routing attempts above the seal -including a drip loop- I decided to try something different:
I used a standard hole punch and punched a hole through the seal. Then I sliced from the top of the seal to the hole. I slid the wire through the slice and routed it through the hole. I then patched the slice together (and sealed around the wire going through the hole) with black silicone sealant.

Worked great, no leaks and looks good (if I do say so myself).

Just FYI.

 

Good on ya to do the install! Glad to see that you took photos to show all your friends and neighbors your car all ripped apart!

As for the antenna lead, to route it through the tail lamp, you'll have to get at the backside of it lamp. To do this, you just need to pop out the trim/upholstery on that side of the cargo area. It all comes apart just like the dash so it's no big deal. First, you'll have to remove the tie down hooks to pop the floor off that covers the battery. It's the two tie downs and I think, 3 snaps. Pull straight up. Then, remove the battery vent intake. That's the interior trim right up against the right side passenger door jamb. To pop that one off, pull it towards the front of the car. Next, there's one bolt (10mm, I think) by the rear seat shoulder belt (You won't have to deal with the seat belt at all, so that's not a concern). Remove the bolt for the cargo net anchor if you have one, pop the skid plate trim (That's the plastic piece along the floor of the door jamb). And, you're there: Just pull the side trim away. It sounds bad, but it really isn't. It all only takes 10 minutes and I did it just to find the best place to mount the XM receiver and wires, rather than do it by feel and working sideways, trying to reach up under there (And, OK, I'm anal: I was concerned about putting permanent creases in the upholstery by popping it out and per the instructions...).

But, after all that, I'm thinking that the light wouldn't be the best place to run the wire. You'll have to cut part of the plastic trim away on the light fixture and then have to deal with possible leaks, as the wire will have to breach the gasket seal for the light. The way the light fits in place, you won't be able to see how well the gasket seals around the wire. And, as you say, wicking could be a problem...

Rick's method is a good one. I was considering something similar to that when I installed mine: Lift up the gasket, cut a channel in the metal seam (not all the way through the seam tho, want to not have water wandering around be able to drip in through the cut) and goober it all up with silicon after running the wire.

What I ended up doing was getting a micro antenna in which the wire is about the size of 22 gauge wire (Quite small). I centered the antenna on the car roof, made a hole in the rubber conduit that runs between the hatch and the car body (This is the where the stop light, license plate light, rear wiper wires run) and passed the antenna wire down through that. From there, I just passed the wire under the roof trim along the back of the headliner and on down to the receiver. A little bit of rubber cement to seal the hole in the rubber conduit is all it took. Very clean installation, both getting into the car and not having the wire exposed inside the car. You'll need an adaptor from the newer style antenna to the XM receiver tho.

Several companies make the newer antenna. They can be found at:

http://www.xmfanstore.com/showproduct.php?id=roadyant

http://www.xmfanstore.com/showproduct.php?id=splitter

Cheers,

-bob