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Electrical gremlin affecting wipers and headlights 700

posted by ewp on Mon Sep 25 07:04 CST 2006
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last visit: Sun Feb 25 12:09 CST 2007

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My father just gave his '91 740 (185K miles) to my son for his first car. It needs some minor repairs, but is otherwise in solid shape.

Yesterday I noticed that one of the headlights was rather dim. I replaced the bulb, but it was still dim. Then the wipers started. I thought I must have bumped the lever, but I couldn't make them stop regardless of the position of the lever. Shutting of the lights made the wipers stop, if the wiper lever was in the "off" position. Running the car w/o the headlights on was no problem, but switch on the headlights and two seconds later, the wipers kick on, as if by magic.

I searched older brickboard posts and there was one mention of a similar problem earlier this year, from a member named Wireman, but there were no replies.

Can anyone suggest a possible cause/cure for this?

Thanks much,

Ed

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Electrical gremlin affecting wipers and headlights 700

posted by ewp on Mon Sep 25 13:20 CST 2006
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last visit: Sun Feb 25 12:09 CST 2007

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Follow-up:

I looked under the hood for the grounding connectors, and found then w/o too much trouble. I cleaned up the connector near the dim headlight, smeared on a bit of silicone grease, and wala! all fixed! The light is bright and no more wipers magically activating when the headlights are switched on.

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Electrical gremlin affecting wipers and headlights 700

posted by mapleleafer on Mon Sep 25 07:57 CST 2006
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last visit: Wed Oct 9 00:36 CST 2013

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The dim headlight tells all. If you look carefully, you'll see that the highbeams glow dimly with the lowbeams on. Bad ground connection on the side with the weak headlight.

There is a multi-spade ground terminal screwed to the body at each corner. Loosen the screw and retighten, pull each wire off and push back on. The movement of these parts will clean the electrical connections. No brushing or scraping is usually needed.

Suspect the same faults if you see wierd acting taillights when brake or turn lights come on.

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Electrical gremlin affecting wipers and headlights 700

posted by ewp on Mon Sep 25 08:19 CST 2006
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last visit: Sun Feb 25 12:09 CST 2007

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Thanks much for the quick reply!

Any chance you could be a bit more specific as to the location of the multi-spade ground terminal? Is it accessible from the engine compartment? Are all its wires black? Would the application of some dielectric grease help improve future reliability?

FYI - I've owned at least five 240s in the past, but the last one gave place to a minivan when we went from two to three kids (now we have four!) Now my oldest is 18 and his first car is the 740. We also have a '71 1800E currently hibernating in our garage (that one I know pretty well).

Anyhow - thanks again!

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