Electrical

[Oso]

On the right side fender under the hood. On inner fender beside A/C liquid hose towards front of vehicle. There is a small ground wire that bolts to the fender and then runs into the behind the grill area along with the A/C hoses.

I do not know the color code as the wire rubbed on sheetmetal and fried the whole length. Melted a hole in my A/C hose too. It looks like it is going to the back side of the right side headlights but I cannot tell without dismantling. Anyone know what this wire is to?

Headlight hi/lo, horn, and turn signals work. The only thing that is not working is the tailights. They keep popping fuses and I assume that is a separate problem.

Any ideas would greatly appreciated - thanks!

Oso

[ July 19, 2002, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Oso ]

[jode]

Originally posted by Oso:
The only thing that is not working is the tailights. They keep popping fuses and I assume that is a separate problem."You assume too much"
I was popping rear brake/signal lights and it turned out that it was a genuine miracle that I didn't burn the Whole Wag to the ground! :eek:
The problem was a wiring short under-hood where a wire had been melted on the exhaust manifold :( If you're losing lights, I'd be looking for the source of a short and it sounds like you have found it.)
One thing is that you say t was a ground wire that was fried. IN my mind, that is a warning sign that there is a fried component and a fried positive wire somewhere else at the other end of that ground wire. I'd get in there (tear into it) ASAP...lest you risk a FSJ fire :eek:

[ July 19, 2002, 05:11 PM: Message edited by: jode ]

[Lindel]

That's usually a ground wire from the battery, to the fender/body (the only one, BTW). Is it possible that the wire burned into, and it only looks like it goes to the headlamp area?? Mine (All 5 that I've owned, ranging from 78 to 87) don't have a wire like that, that I'm aware of.

[Oso]

Must be a PO thing then. Guess I was hoping someone would know what it was so I could get out of diggin into that area and just bypass it. oh well. Thanks guys.

[ July 20, 2002, 12:02 AM: Message edited by: Oso ]

[Oso]

Well I took off the grill so I could eyeball where that wire was hooked up to. It was tapped into (by PO?) the white wire to the right side front marker light. It was not factory - definately one of those squeeze aftermarket thingies. I looked at the wiring diagram and no ground is called for on that system. I have no idea what purpose it served. Any ideas?

[Lindel]

Other than burning up a wire, I can't imagine. You should be able to remove the offending wire, replace any of the stock wiring that was damaged, and be ok.

You'll still need to install a ground wire from the battery Neg post, to the body, if one doesn't already exist. That's critical!

[Oso]

No, this is not the battery ground - he tapped into the white wire to the right front marker light and right front turn signal and ran it to ground near the battery.

I am not that electrical literate, and the only thing I can figure is that the white wire is the ground system for all the running and marker lights. Maybe wherever the factory connection to ground for that system is poor and he ran this to compensate?

Does anyone know if the white to the lights is the ground circuit? Thanks ahead of time.

Oso

[Oso]

Well, re-running the white wire to ground was a SERIOUS mistake. The green plastic on the fuse is now melted into my floor mat.

After fartin around with it all morning I now have running lights to the rear back on but now the front is out = aggravating stuff this. BTW - I took the white ground all the way off and replaced fuse and bulbs and partial success.

I am learning the elec system the hard way - posting this so someone as green as me may learn from it.