Driving home in our '89 Carat a couple of days ago, caught up in Vanagon
bliss, I foolishly started thinking about what a nice and reliable vehicle
this has been. In our first year of ownership we've put 20,000 pretty much
trouble free miles on it, albeit with a good chunk of preventative maintenance.

Turning onto our home road I realized my turn signal wasn't working.
Hmmm....try the other direction - it's out too. Must be the relay I decide,
after finding the four-way flashers are also kaput. No sweat, I'll swap the
relay from the Syncro to confirm it, I think as I pull in the driveway.

I get out of the van and as I'm walking around the front ....
Fruzzzzchzzzzzch.....the most terrible electrical arcing sound starts
coming from behind the grill. Like a cross between a Tesla coil and a bug
zapper, I can visualize my wiring dripping onto the driveway. How's this
possible? Ignition's off. What about the fuses? Could it be my rad fan
circuit? I run to the passenger side, yank the door open, slide the seat
forward. The noise stops. I check the battery terminals - they feel cool.
This is strange. I grab a screwdriver , remove the upper grill.and there's
my problem - a five inch long dragonfly wedged behind the grill had been
giving his all to try and fly out of there. Sounded just like fast moving
electrons, honest!

Feeling better about my electrical system, I start working on the flashers.
I pull a relay out of the Syncro, start to pull the same one from the
Carat, then stop. This isn't the flasher relay, it has far too many
contacts. It's the wiper motor relay. I stick it back in, then before going
to get the correct one something makes me try the turn signals again.
Yup...they work just fine.

Well...I suppose if I swallowed a live dragonfly, I'd probably exhibit a
few bizarre symptoms too!

Angus

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Angus Gordon                       '89 Carat
NW Ohio                            '86 Syncro