Re: Help needed...86 5k electrical

[mallick@orion.crd.ge.com (John Mallick)]

Steve V wrote...
>>Hi everyone,
>>
>>I think I have mentioned that my fiance bought an 86 5000s automatic 
>>afew months ago (I influenced the decision).  The car has been running 
>>great with 170,000 miles on it.  Now we have a problem and I need your 
>>help.
>>
>>I hink these things are all interelated as they seemed to happen at 
>>about the same time.
>>
>>1.  Brake lights don't work.
>>2.  Shift release won't work (when you push the brake to get out of 
>>park).
>>3.  Battery has been dying.
>>4.  Light in drivers footwell stays on all the time.
>>
>>Before everything went crazy, the brake light warning display came on.  
>>Now here is the really weird part: When I turn on the headlights the 
>>shift release dissengages and allows me to take it out of park without 
>>pressing the brakes.  I hear the "click" as soon as I move the light 
>>switch to the parking light position.
>>
>>I do not think that any fuses have blown ... I checked most of them.  
>>What the heck could cause all of this?
>>
>>

It sure sounds like a bad ground somewhere. I just fixed a weird brake
light problem in my fiancee's Mazda 626 which I traced to a loose
ground wire on the rear tail light assembly.  Check for loose ground
wires on things like that, where you don't have a solid ground to the
chassis so an extra ground wire is run over to it.  If the ground
connection is bad, you end up completing the circuit through some
other convoluted path (like other lights, switches, the radio, etc.).

John Mallick
'91 200tq20v
'84 4000q