The Prince of Darkness strikes again

[JPSmit]

So, the saga thus far. Tonight I finally got my backup lights to work - with an external power source. I'm not too anxious about this as I can get under the car tomorrow and figure out why I don't have power - at least it's not the switch/ bulb/ socket etc. etc. BUT when I turn on the reverse light with my external power source (direct line from the green wire at the fuse box) my emergency brake dash light comes on too! I have checked and rechecked the schematic and they don't appear to be the same circuit and I don't have a emergency brake light switch installed - any ideas?

 

[DrEntropy]

When goofy things like that start happening, look at grounding points.

 

[jvandyke]

I had a run in with the Prince myself Saturday. I went to start the car, turned on the electric pump: nothing. Started trouble shooting, thankfully I didn't get to far jumping to conclusions. I found 9.9 volts at the pump. Weird. Then noticed other electricals also not working, heater motor and such. I popped the cover off the control box, jiggled the wires, put the cover back on and everything works. Probably ought to clean all that up, eh?
Lucky for me and the car as it was a beautiful fall weekend and cruising around (the little I could fit in) was absolutely stellar! Nothing like a crisp fall day with colors popping, blue sky and a LCB, top down on the back roads!

 

[SaxMan]

I started typing up a new thread with the same title, so I figured I'd just tack it on to this thread. Other than a wire to the taillights with exposed insulation that caused all kinds of headaches until I figured it out, the Prince of Darkness largely left Baby Blue alone.

My wife and I took out Baby Blue (B.B.) tonight to get some ice cream, the first time the car had been out since my daughter reported to her new residential placement last week (So far, so good. We've been getting good reports from the school and the group home). We're driving along and suddenly the tachometer goes wild, bouncing up and down, before it stopped working. My gas gauge starts heading down to "E", and the turn signals / brake lights are out. Then, it started working again like nothing happened, then everything repeated itself again and then for a third time. After everything went back to normal the third time, it stopped. By this time, I decided the best course of action was to turn the car around and head for home. B.B. acted like nothing ever happened.

It's obviously something intermittent. I don't think it would be an exposed wire, as that usually causes a fuse to blow. I figure to start with the basics: Battery cables, proper ground, connection to the generator,, fuse box connections. Anything else that I'm missing? I sure hope I don't have to find a needle in a haystack.

 

[JPSmit]

First of all, glad it is working out with your daughter - and hope you guys are OK too - it is a big step.

I think you are off to a good start with your list - since it is a group of things I would start with the fuse box.

 

[SaxMan]

I checked all the connections, everything seemed in order. I did pull the wires from the fuse box and cleaned all the terminals with Deoxit as well as the battery terminals, etc. Whatever I did seems to have worked. I took B.B. out for a spin this evening and everything checked out.

We're all doing okay. Jessica is acclimating quickly to her new environment. There's been a bump or two in the road, which is to be expected, but overall things are going well. It's been an adjustment at home, too.

I've been going back and forth on whether or not I want to try to take the Sprite to go see Jessica. It's a bit more than 90 miles from the house, with a good part of that being highway driving. The farthest I've driven the car from home base is 65 miles, and all on back roads. The most terrifying part of the trip would be taking US 50 from Annapolis over the Bay Bridge through to Queenstown.

The only way to avoid the Bay Bridge would be to do a northern hook around Elkton, turning the 90 mile drive to a 140 - 150 mile drive. I know the local club members go over the Bay Bridge to the Lewes Delaware car show in May, but they travel in a large group of LBCs.