So, my 04 Boxster S has been a treasure trove of hidden surprises, mostly unfortunate ones. I went to replace the inop right rear fog light bulb and discovered the socket wasn't even getting power. Then I went to replace the left front parking light bulb and discovered wiring insulation disintegrating in the (Litronics) headlight assembly. It seems a previous owner replaced a bulb in the assembly and did not reinstall the back correctly. There was a ~3/8in gap at the bottom when I removed the assembly from the car. I can only speculate that exposure to coastal heat & humidity was a contributing factor.
Wires coming from the back:
Wires inside:
Connector for wires coming from the back:
As you can see, some but not all of the wiring insulation was affected. Given the exposed wires, I was mildly shocked that everything except the parking light bulb (which did have a bad filament) was working (although in hindsight I don't recall seeing the headlights lights pivot up & down when I turned them on).
The insulation on the red/green/blue/black wires coming from the back is too far gone to save, so I知 planning to replace them by soldering some new wires in between the connectors. That should be pretty straightforward.
For the rest I知 planning to paint some layers of liquid electrical tap on all the exposed wires and cracks and hope that痴 enough to insulate them from each other and keep them intact. I知 trying to disturb everything on the inside as little as possible to avoid damaging anything any further.
I知 open to suggestions is anyone has any. I値l post updates as I知 going along.