C-GT elect. problem solved

[Ken <kkeith@qnet.com>]

Well, I finally got a chance to look at the Coupe 
this weekend.

I've been having problems with my headlights shutting 
off, and my windshield wipers coming on at a very low 
speed.  Both symptoms would happen at the same time.

I feared the car had some kind of serious wiring 
problem, such as a harness somewhere that was wearing 
through the insulation in some inaccessable(sp?) place.

I took apart the various trim pieces to gain access 
to the wiring under the steering wheel and dashboard, 
along the way I found out why my gauge cluster would 
get loose over bumps.  The little black tabs which the 
two screws secure the gauge cluster to the cash were 
broken (or at least one of them was.  I had this same 
problem on my '85 Coupe, which was "fixed" nicely with 
two small strips of radio support bracket.  It looks 
like the previous owner was in charge when this tab 
was first broke, as it looked like he tried to use a 
large nut to pinch down on the remaining tab piece.
It slipped off the nut, which was one of those brass 
ones that go under the knob on the shaft of a 2-knob 
radio.  I "resecured" the cluster under the same nut, 
I will return later with a better fastener later.

So I come to the wiring.  I just kinda look every thing 
over a bit, looking for anything unusual-looking.  The 
first thing I notice is that there is an extra wire 
sitting in the plug for the dash light dimmer switch.  
Someone had put a red wire through a hole in the plug, 
and the end of it was bent over to make contact with 
one of the metal blade connectors within the plug.

The wire was no longer connected to anything, I think 
it was left over from the previous alarm system.

OK, this is what was wrong:  
There is a cluster of brown ground wires that all 
terminate in grounding rings.  Each is attached to 
a bolt that screws into the sheet metal to the left of 
the drivers feet.  This bolt was loose!

I tightened the bolt up and rechecked everything.  The 
strange electrical problems were cured!

I can't believe it was so simple.  Reminds of what 
happened to my friend recently with his '86 4kcsq. 
He was having some kind of grinding noise while 
driving, and believed it was a failed CV joint 
or worse, one of the bearings at the transmission.
When he finally got under there to pull it all apart, 
out fell a little socket that was wedged in there, 
left by the previous owner, with burnish marks and 
grind marks in various places.  This thing had 
been in there left from the previous owner, and had 
caused all these intermittent noises every once in a 
while, then going away until it got stuck in a 
different position.  Easy fix!

Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience.

Ken