finally.... electrical short found. this is what it was..., for those of you who may have had elect. probs.... Options

[livinglobotomy]

awhile ago i posted i was having electrical problems and could not solve this issue.... here is a refresh:

took the car in to get it painted and popped out all the lights etc. but kept track of the wiring. got the car back and put all the wires in and the left side blinkers would not work. tried to find the cause and traced it back to the switch at the steering column itself. replaced the switch and tested it before installing and it worked fine. then i installed it and tested it and all was good. then i mounted the steering wheel and all was good. next day the following happened.

"Symptoms: All lights work with the exception of the emergency flashers and right side turn indicators. ALL parking lights work (including right side.) All lights work appropriately when headlights are up or down (including right.)

When flasher is pulled, rapid clicking at relay occurs and turn signals and emergency flashers do not work. When right turn signal is on, rapid clicking at relay occurs and turn signals and flashers do not work. Pulling parking brake on or off has no effect on above.

Attempts: 1. All fuses were checked and replaced as a precaution. 2. All sockets were cleaned and all copper was pulled up for more positive seat on all bulbs. 3. All bulbs were replaced with all proper bulbs in proper places and checked and rechecked. 4. All wires to all lights were removed and reattached CORRECTLY per appropriate diagrams as seen on 914world AND pelican parts diagrams and checked and rechecked. 5. Reset button was pushed on master cylinder. 6. Two new relays were purchased (problem exists with either installed.) 7. Turn signal lever assembly was replaced at steering column. 8. Brake light switch at pedals was inspected and cleaned. 9. Parking brake switch was cleaned and inspected. No issues."

[livinglobotomy]

Enter Eastbay851 from this board. He and I communicate by email all that I have done. He says he would be willing to help and asks me to remove seats, the center console storage box and the bottom of dashboard and he'll be over on Sunday (yesterday.) OK for me. Here was the solution. He laid down a moving blanket across the floor and bot in the car from passenger side on his back looking up at the underside of all the wiring. He brought with him some kind of flashlight he bought from a gun supply place that was about as big as his finger and put out more light than I have seen. He pulled the emergency flasher and the short was evident. He started shaking wires and said "Here, listen to this." I couldn't here anything but he was moving the cluster of wires which led into the steering column on the right side (this is the directional side as the cluster crosses over in the column.

[livinglobotomy]

I couldn't hear anything but he said he could hear the flasher trying to "right itself" when he jiggled the wires. Out with the steering wheel which he did in record time. Pulled the flasher and the short was still there. Unscrewed the top 2 screws which hold the blinker mechanism to the wiper mechanism and the short was still there. Unscrewed the bottom right screw and the short stopped. YES. He pulled both mechanisms out and plugged them back into the sockets and the short was still GONE. He examined the blinker switch and noticed a wire was sitting on top of another wire as it exited the mechanism. This had cause the connection of that wire to elevate about 1/16th of an inch and it was hitting the plate of the wiper switch when the entire assembly was tightened down. He pushed that connection down, reassembled and it was good to go. I never would have found it. So for all of you in this area of the electricals, hope this gives some insight into a very weird short. And Eastbay851, if you are ever on this board again, thank you and I owe you a dinner. And my kids thought you were pretty funny. They loved the joke about the buffalo.

[SGB]

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Way to go Eastbay!

Thaks fer sharing...

[RFoulds]

What an incrcedible story of community!
lOVE IT!
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[stugray]

AWESOME!
Troubleshooting electrical problems is what I do for a living (just on spacecraft.... ALMOST as complex as a 914...;-).

Now can we hear the joke about the Buffalo ( Tatanka in my wife's language...)?

Stu

[livinglobotomy]

the joke was:

what did the mother buffalo say to her son when he went off to school?


bye son.

[76-914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif) Righteous Eastbay. And all the rest of you guys, too. You know who you are. There are some good folks here.