Help at this stage of the game is kind of like a "spot" when you are bench pressing some weight that is going to allow for less than five safe reps. You get to four...and you may be able to pull off one more...but it is pretty embarrassing to end up with the bar on your chest. Josh was my psychological "spot" for the electrical issues I was having. Not to go into great detail, but I had succeeded in giving myself (Sorg) running lights and brake lights. No turns, no flashers, no head lights. No big deal, just drive in a straight line during the day
I was frustrated as I have been poring over the wiring diagrams...convinced that I had a wire going to ground. When he arrived...we decided to remove the trunk blower to give better access to the back of the panel/instruments. PIA but it gave me good visual access to what I needed to get at. The problems I was facing in no particular order...1) blowing the #1 fuse in my front fuse box when I pulled on the light switch (which is for the clock, glove box light and then all the rest of the power for the instruments), 2) my flasher relay which was the first thing to respond when I hooked up the battery...no longer responds, 3) I have no headlights...4) the glovebox light that used to work, no longer works. I have removed the headlights to check the wiring and all was correct. I checked the chassis of the glovebox light and it seemed to be hooked up correctly.
So we started to check things slowly and make sure that they (per the wiring diagrams) were hooked up correctly. Nothing glaringly wrong.
We discovered a few (three wires) coming out of the six pin plug behind the blower mechanism that go to nothing, that we couldn't identify. Move on...to the glove box light, and small victory, checking and rechecking the spades and switch...works.
While checking the connections on the back of the ignition switch and light switch, (crammed into the drivers footwell on my back with limited movement)...which seemed ok, I noticed the three plugs that were plugged into the firewall that made me wonder if they were all plugged into the correct six pin bases. We decided that the first six pin with the shortest wires was probably ok. But the length of the wires on the second two would allow them to be swapped. Management huddle and we decided to swap the #2 and #3 six pin plugs. Hey, we had fire extinguishers on hand. Josh just believed me...but I really did.
Voila! Headlights. Whoohoo. How easy was that? How could they have been reversed? I don't want to know the answer to that as I might have been involved...or not. So with headlights ...we moved aft to the other problem I haven't mentioned. No starter. We jumpered the yellow trigger wire to the solenoid and got the starter to turn. Great news. So the problem then appears to be in my ignition switch. Checking it carefully it was obvious that the key would turn to allow it to rotate all the way... to key the starter. Josh waved goodbye and I decided to take the damn ignition out...again.
Problem was inside the ignition switch. I disassembled it again and the last twist of the key to allow it to push against the spring (and trigger the solenoid) was not happening. I have since sourced a new ignition and a new relay for the starter. It is a three day weekend...."Phoenix will rise from the ashes"!
More likely, with a little help from the weather, Sorg will come alive.
I have a lot of snow in my driveway that needs to melt. I am not a fan of "running a new engine in" stationary. I think driving the car...accelerating and decelerating is a better way to break in a new engine, and settle the rings. I live in the mountains...no better way than driving "up this hill and down".
We'll see how this weekend fares....warmer weather, but it is still winter in Colorado at 8100 ft.