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Subject:relays, gremlins
From:Woody Halsey
Date:Wed, 20 Sep 2000 20:39:48 -0400

Dear List,

Thanks to all who chimed in with solutions to my perpetual wiper syndrome
question. 

After much fiddling around, I found that the problem lay in a faulty relay,
the second one from the right on the relay board above the fuses. This is
the second time in two years I have had bizarre electrical issues solved by
the simple replacement of a plug-and-play part. I strongly recommend that
you try this simple solution first, before you start taking the dash board
apart, dismantling the steering column or chasing wires all over the place.
Symptoms that may respond to this simple cure include:

1) wipers won't turn on ... or off
2) blower switch seems erratic, turns on the motor only when it feels like
it

Clearly, a broken ground wire could do the same. When I started checking
grounds going into the "crowns" above the fuses I pulled one off by
mistake. Result: no dash lights until I went to Radio Shack and got a new
terminal.

Question about those to ground "crowns" or "stars":  Is there any order to
the dozen or so terminals on the two circular pieces attached to the body?
If not, it should be pretty easy to unplug them all, clean and/or repair,
replace .. avoid problems down the road.If there is an order, then the
project gets a little trickier,since it is not easy to see what you're
doing up under the dash.

Woody
83.5
64 Bug for sale

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