My 77 wiring diagram and the haynes manuals disagree (apparently) on the connection of certain items. They both bear little resemblance to what's in the vehicle (as far as the fusebox bus strips go) . My problem appears to be a (partially) bad ign relay, since shorting to the + on the battery from the back of the fuse box causes some features to work (engine room lamp and voltmeter, for example). But then.... the engine room lamp never NEEDED the damn relay to begin with. Hmmm.. I'm confusing myself here. Let's clarify. The voltmeter, Dome lamp, brake lights, tail lights (or ANY running lights), dash lights and engine lamp don't work. The headlights, warning buzzer, brake warning light, turn signals and remainder of the car still work fine. It's left me in the dark so far.

Now, I HAVE traced some wiring and dismantled brackets, ect. (All grounds are good), the blue/white wire that connects (power??) to most of this junk reads continuity to ground (?!?Short!?!?!) on both sides of the black connector located in the white connector bracket on the passenger side. Judging by the evidence the PO had this same problem.

Has anyone had this problem? If so, what was your fix? And no, no one else is going to touch the car so a shop is out of the question

Ok. They don't disagree as much as I thought. :stupid: My problem lies between the battery/fusiblelinks and the fuse box somewhere. Apparently, the relay only ties into this line and doesn't control it. So, while the relay is working to power the rest of the vehicle there is probably just a break between the relay and the fusebox where they connect. I'm going to cross my fingers now.

An hour of untaping later.....

The green menace had lurked for years, slowly consuming the precious copper ore made accessible by the careless joining of ......

Oh, hell. The wire from the alternator splits into three about a foot down the line. One of those dreaded 'factory' splices crumbled at the touch into three lone wires (two remained connected by sheer luck and allowed the car to run, somewhat). Nice lesson. Next time I have a problem, untape the whole damn car. I'll be doing it sooner or later regardless and the new tape looks so much prettier

Next time I have a problem, untape the whole damn car. I'll be doing it sooner or later regardless and the new tape looks so much prettier

You'll make the folks at 3M happy talking this way.

Unfortunately for them, I find their tape overpriced and buy some quite reliable rolls from harbor freight! Yes... I'm cheap. Care and feeding of an old Z requires mucho $$$. Especially one this beat on by PO's.

Instead of "Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing", it's "Ming, Mao and Mung"?