quote Originally posted by PD1949:

Thanks for the update, give her our best and Merry Christmas from all of us here.

She is an inspiration to many young kids male and female to never give up no matter how long it takes.



Steve

------------------
Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Kathryn,
Wiring harnesses are a headache and yet anything you miss now can cause problems later.
Also over the years the insulation on a wire in a harness may wear thru and when you turn a corner
or hit a hard stop sit may ground-out causing some weird things may happen that are hard to replicate.
Get a continuity meter and check each and every wire also run your hands along each wire to make sure you don't miss potential broken wires inside of unbroken insulation.

Also last but not least every connector plug needs to be cleaned.
If you know how to do it ,carefully remove each wire from the plug that houses it and clean and inspect it and replace it back into the connector.
This requires a bit of skill and knowledge to pop the tiny barbs free from the plastic housing... You may want to skip that.
Some could be green with corrosion and otherwise unbroken. If this is not your cup of tea so to speak,
Buy pigtails from the automotive store for the part or cut another one from an old harness and then you should be in business.

I personally recommend hand soldering each connection but not before putting the shrink tube insulation in place.
Modern crimp connectors often fail under mechanical stresses.
Then slide the shrink tube over the soldered connection and blast it with a hair dryer till it seals up good .
~ still doesn't hurt to put vinyl electric tape over this in places where the wiring is exposed to water.

Over the years I have "unwrapped" almost every cluster of wires to find my problems.
Sadly though sometimes the wiring is not the problem but the component that won't work.

When you can get a wiring diagram you may end up making new partial harnesses.
It is hard work, but sure way to know what is working and what is not.
Sometimes getting pieces of another harness might be a better option.
When you are done you will have passed your own automotive wiring course.
Seriously though you cannot take for granted that all of your grounds are good between body panels. The car is old...

I have added a separate grounding strap between my engine block and the firewall ( braided wire from a machinery ground application)
and also a grounding wire from the engine to a side pillar in the passenger compartment.
It usually solves problems where the body doesn't function well as a continuous ground.
I also check that the alternator/ regulator is putting out a steady output.
Sorry I don't have the wiring diagram but I am sure you will be guided to one shortly.

None of this advice is meant to be insulting,
it is just the way I learned how to do things ;
much of it you already know about.

Best of luck!
It is great to hear from you.
Happy wiring.

Kudos on your great school work!!!

Happy New Year!
¬Zep

[This message has been edited by mwzephyr (edited 12-28-2015).]

quote Originally posted by kathryn: Hello again, I hope you're all doing well and that everything is going okay for you all. Thank you for all the help. 88lambofiero - Thank you for the information you've given; some pictures showing where the connections run to would be wonderful! I really don't know what I'm doing with all the wires and tangles of cords, it's gotten me a little baffled. Again, thank you. Good luck with all your projects everyone, wishing you all the best! -Kathryn

I would rather pound my #*%(%$ flat with a sledge hammer than hunt down and electrical problem. hey I cleaned it up as much as I could. Good luck Kido and stay away from the boys and you will finish it in no time.

Dad you got a hell of a good kid there, so you must have done something right.



Steve

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-29-2015).]

When I get to places that like on complicated stuff like wiring harnesses, I find it easier to pull ALL wiring off the car, verify each harness against the schematic on the bench and then install each one at a time. That helps with identifying what each connector is and you can even label them to make install easier.

Was any repair work done on the harness? If it's still in stock configuration, an option might be to get a complete engine harness for the car from someone on here.

Consider this part of your engineering training. You're going to get very good with reading wiring schematics and doing continuity tests.
Even experienced pros like BMWGuru take the harnesses completely apart and assemble them one wire at a time. It's probably the most tedious part of working on a car, next to sanding.

This thread may have some useful info:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/000487.html
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/126341.html

I'll see what else I can dig up tonight.

[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 12-29-2015).]