In a message dated 5/24/03 3:23:02 PM, chassehsd@EARTHLINK.NET writes:

<< Now any ideas from you guys on where to begin looking for a short ... >>

chassehsd, my man, unless your van is filling with acrid smoke like some kind
of Kiss concert on wheels, you have an open circuit or, more likely multiple
open circuits.  Now, you can ring out each conductor which passes through the
rubber boot between the door and the jamb and replace the ones which have
opened, but, as I found, you might as well replace them all; if a couple have
broken, the others are well on their to separation.

Although there have been many tales here of cutting the rubber boot, then
splicing the broken conductors, I did not like that idea.  The logic of putting a
rigid butt connector right where the conductor flexes the most escapes me.
Also, breaching the water tightness of the boot makes no sense to me.  Instead,
I chose to spend an evening pulling new conductors through the existing
harness from the connectors beneath the dash to the connectors in the door.  It was
not the easiest route to follow but, once a pull cord was in place and some
cable pulling lubricant found its way into the cable bundle, it was not all
that tough of a task.  Initially, I wasted one of the conductors which was still
continuous (in reality it was hanging on by the last few stands) to draw in
the pull cord.  Like other circuitous cable routings, this wire pulling had to
be done in two stages by gathering a loop of wire in the door cavity before
completing the pull through the wire harness sheath in the door.

Repairing the harness like I have described is not for everyone.  Perhaps I
am just afraid of the Quick and the Dirty because they have come back to bite
me in the ass to many times before.

George