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Now that I'm ready to get my 951 resto on the road, after a complete repaint, I have major electric issues. I have lost: instrument lights, power to the rear hatch unlock, tail lights, license lights, interior lights, parking lights, and the turn signal and hazard lights don't work (green light on the panel lights up) Brake lights, headlights work, l don't expect much in the way of answers but there's always the possibility someone out there has dealt with this. l've pulled all the relays and checked fuses and found #'s 38, 40 and 41 were blown. This stuff drives me crazy. I thought I was so close to finishing......fat chance.
I can only assume the body shop pulled the front apart and the guts of the rear around the lights. I admit that there is a mess of aftermarket wiring behind the instrument panel, although, things did work properly before going into the body shop. I've redone the rear grounds, and the two on the front of the car below the headlights. The shop wouldn't have gotten into the interior grounds or wiring doing a paint job so I'm not sure where to go other than taking everything apart and putting it back together again. I'm getting myopic trying to trouble shoot this with wiring diagrams and magnifying glass.
I enjoy working on electrical issues -- it's like a puzzle. Without knowing your car ... it was just repainted and you lost multiple electrical things. Check ALL your ground points. If a ground point was painted over and there is poor contact after the ground wire/strap was reattached then it won't work. Be on the lookout for any ground points that are near or in repainted areas.
If you have a Power Probe, that makes it fast. If not, use a multi-meter to check continuity between the negative battery post and all the ground points.
I've checked the grounds in the hardest points so far. I've opened the dash and found a real rats nest of wires from other aftermarket junk previous owner had put in the car. Now, in an effort to see if there's anything shorted in the front wiring and as my picture shows, It's a rather complete effort. Although I haven't found the culprit yet, I did find a damaged a/c condenser and since it's a real mother to remove it and the front is at this level, I'm going to order a replacement. From the pictures and visit to the body shop during the repaint, I can only figure they pulled the front apart, the hatch off, doors off and windows and windshield out. I only found one ground in the rear cargo area, although the wiring diagram from Haynes suggests there would be two. Since some things are blowing fuses, I suspect that I have a shorted cable somewhere. As a note, I did remove all the motor drive for the sunroof and replace it with manual latches. I have checked the electrical connectors that were involved with that and to date has found no obvious contacts of the wiring or connectors from that mod.
The car's back together and I finally tracked down the short to the rear side lights being hooked up such that both leads were attached to the same copper pin. Not to mention the Boffins who were putting my car back together after the repaint also reinstalled some burned out bulbs. I just basically took everything apart that the shop would have until I found it. Good thing was, it was easier to install my front splitter with the front laying on the floor vs on the car.
08-28-2018, 06:53 PM
Electrical issues
