1982 Coupe Electrical Gremlins

[DBF]

After buying my coupe in May 02, I realized soon afterwards I had many electrical gremlins to contend with. For your information, my car had a post '85 dash swap done by the PO. I always thought that was the root of evil. Actually, the fact I had these problems was the primary reason I joined this board. Everything from intermittent speed control operation, to dim signal lights, to intermittent brake light operation and the worst one, complete power failure, that would shut everything down except for the radio. All of these problems (and a few more) could be rectified buy 'wiggling' some wires one the back of the fuse panel plugs. I lost count of how many hours I spent in the freezing cold trying desperately to get my signal lights burn brighter or fart around in the rain because my wipers quit working. I hunted grounds, cleaned, filed and in some cases spliced and re-soldered ground connections. I chalked it up as good old-fashioned A1 VW/Audi piss poor electrics. As it turns out, that's exactly what it was. I just had too many problems for it to be a multitude of issues, regardless of how poorly the dash swap was done. It all pointed in 1 direction.

Yesterday I contacted a buddy of mine and he picked up a new fuse panel for me today. $155CAN (15% tax included). It took an hour this afternoon and I'm happy to report, all problems are now gone. It kind of pisses me off though, how simple a fix it was, that is. The one I took out was not that bad looking on the outside (although it showed signs of water damage), but a few of the male plug connections were burnt pretty badly. Fuse position #15 was burnt as well. Now I have to stop the damn windshield from leaking. 

But, we live and learn and because of that, the old girl has a few more years left.

Audi Gods, you rock!!



Dan