really odd electrical issues tonight

[jeffwilson34]

This may get a bit long but I had some really odd issues earlier tonight I was in Pigeon Forge for the shades of the past rod runs and someone told me my rear brake lights were out except for the center high mounted one.   I backed up to a store window so I could see what was going on.
He was right the only brake light I had was the center one.   The odd thing is the turn signals work as did the hazard lights.  I figured I better leave because the cops will give you a ticket over there for looking the wrong way during the bigger car shows.

I took the back roads home because of the brake lights, I figured less likely to have a cop see me on the back road than the interstate and with no street lights the high center light is pretty bright for any other cars. 
Out of nowhere it started poring the rain so bad I could barely see with the wipers on high and the windows would not go up.
I had to pull into a closed down gas station  and remove the center console unplug one at a time and run a jumper to the hot wire which then gave power to the opposite side to roll them up.
after that the radio was still working fine but would not pick up any stations  am or cassette player worked.   The only cassette I have is an old 1980s Tiffany.  So I turned it back to radio after I could not take any more of it (I can not get "I think were alone now" out of my head )  so I set it to a local station and left it just loud enough to hear.   Then the dash lights started to flicker and the headlights got dim.   I have a little voltmeter and temp gauge  I have hooked up because the temp gauge on the dash does not work.  The volts never dropped and the wipers never slowed down.
  Then the radio  it started playing  off and on a second or so at a time very clear then back to static then after a while  it started working fine and played the rest the way home.
I figure one of 3 things,
1.  The car is about to fry the whole electrical system because of some redneck wiring I have not found yet.
2. The car is haunted
3. I was being followed by aliens  ( it was a long dark back-road with lots of  nothing but farms)

When I got home I unhooked the battery, I did not feel safe with it hooked up after all the issues.

Anyone have any ideas? 

[f85gtron]

Ground, Ground, Ground.
However, I'm partial to the aliens theory.
Places to look first are battery, alternator, and starter connections for a whole-car experience like that. Wow, what a night!

[jeffwilson34]

I added grounding straps from the engine, alternator, frame, and even added  temporary wires inside and direct to headlights.   Still having issues.
The brake/turn signals started working again only to blow a brake light fuse. The turn signals still worked but not the brake lights which use the same wires and bulbs. When  I replaced it the brake lights still would not work not even the center high one that had always worked before.  I checked and after determining which of the 3 plugs on the brake light switch there was there was no power going to the actual brake light switch.  There was power going to a square plug with yellow wires but I have no idea what that one is for.
Luckily I had pulled into an autozone parking lot to check the, when I noticed the brake lights not coming on in the rear view mirror.  I went in and bought a pack of fuses and some wire that had inline fuse connectors that allow you to add a fuse to a circuit and some connectors that go to the fuse that have a wire coming from them I ran power from the fuse to the brake light switch.   The center brake light light worker but ones on the rear did not.   Today looking at it some more I found a light blue wire that went into the c500 from the inside harness but had no wire on the plug end which was labeled as a brake light in a couple diagrams did have power when stepping on the brake. 

I have given up on the car harness.  After looking I am sure that someone in the past has changed one of the harnesses out because one has different colored wires.  Looking at the c500 that was on the car and comparing  with the diagrams it looks like it was a harness from a different year and possibly a V6 where mine is the 4 banger

I have bypassed the c500 completely on the wires I am sure are correct like the tach and parking lights.
 I have the front fan on a toggle switch, and an aftermarket temp gauge.
I am going to cap off the wires not in use at the moment like the ones to turn the fan off and on and the cruise control.

I am going to modify the rear lights so that the outer 2 of the 4 rear stop lights are only the stop lights, and the inner two are turn signals.  Or I may buy some very bright amber LED lights and use the back up lights as Turn signals.
The law allows turn signals to be red or amber on the rear so it will be legal and the stock back up lights on Fieros are useless anyway.

I will tackle the cruise control, temperature light, temperature gauge and fans later.
As far as running it runs great no miss starts right up and idles a bit fast till it warms up then it slows down to an normal idle.   I was heading home on the interstate not paying attention to speed hen my GPS warned me I was doing 125.  I had it set to warn me at that speed when I was in the Vette because it was easy to hit 125 and never know it.

I am starting to wonder if whomever hacked the harness did so because of the same electrical gremlins I am having.
It is almost impossible to track it down because the problems are interment and random They also seem to be on some things that seem unrelated such are brake lights, radio windows and heater fan. some have power constantly and some have power only hen the key is on.
The headlight dimming I was able to figure out.  One of the motors was coming on. I thought I had unplugged them but was mistaken and only unplugged the go down wire on the left side and it was coming on when I hit a bump and running and grinding the gears trying to go up higher before going off again.

The radio not picking up any stations the other night I still have no idea.   I am almost sure it had plenty power and was grounded because the tape player worked fine and the lights did no dim on it.

[f85gtron]

Have you experienced missing time?  I'm still going with the aliens theory. 

[jeffwilson34]

LOL   
I would not know because I stopped and tried to figure out things several times.
Think I will call MUFON and see if there were any reports of UFOs in my area.  Although they were not very happy with me a while back when a semi private video of mine was taken and edited and used as what was said was proof of UFO's
http://www.isaackoi.com/ufo-videos/koi-ufo-video-096.html

It really was odd though.   I mean nothing but static on AM and FM.   AT night I normally can pick up several AM stations from cities very far away.  I get 1510 from Nashville very clear about an after after sunset every night alomg with a station from New York and one from Chicago.   My Phone also had no signal but that I attributed to the rural area I was in was nothing but farm fields with the occasional building or farmhouse.

The radio has worked fine since then.  It was raining and I could see lightning lighting up the sky off in the distance.   Maybe it was not Lightning.    (insert X-files music here)

[Raydar]

The truth is out there...

[jeffwilson34]

The car only has 85,xxx miles and that is actual according to car fax.
I think I know why, it can only be driven about 50 miles before spending 2 days trying to figure out what is wrong with the electrical system.
 Seriously I think the only hope for it is a custom wiring harness.  Doing one component at a time and triple checking it before permanently  installing it.
I have had 3 friends that have worked on cars most their life, one of them works at a place that customizes anything from cars to motor-homes  doing most of the wiring on the installs, he spent over 8 hours on it labeling wires after tracking them to their source with a probe that would beep when he found the  correct wire.  after he finished some of it worked and some did not.  Some of the wires that showed continuity did not after we put the battery back in and drove it around the block.   
He thinks there is some wires somewhere that have rubbed something and are grounding out on the frame or each other somewhere.   But he is open to it being haunted and suggested an exorcist.

I dropped it off at a local repair shop today because after all the wiring issues the frigging thing broke a starter bolt I do not have the tools nor a lift to get it up high enough to get the broken one out.  Plus he is going to look at the wireing harness.   He has access to all the schematics and diagrams through some service  on the web that he pays for monthly.  He said he can put the VIN number in and should be able to get the correct diagram.  I have a feeling it will not be as easy as he thinks. 

Good thing is I am heading to Charlotte  to look at and possible but an 86GT.  If I get it and it runs well after a month I may try and sell the SE wiith all the lighting issues.  Anyone want to make an offer?

[f85gtron]

$300.  I like a challenge.