Strange electrical thing

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Bruce:
The fans and lights and horns on the ERA are all grounded to the front suspension X member via a common ground wire bundle. I had a headlight issue and parking lite issue that with Bob's help and guidance was found to be a grounding issue. We deduced and defined the overall cause as old and less than optimal connection of the ground (13 years and a wee bit of too much powder coat and surface corrosion).

In my situation, the frame was powder coated and the common ground connection on the X member needed some attention. What I did was to scrape some of the coating on the X member and buff up the wire bundle contacts. I sprayed the tapped hole with some CRC contact cleaner and then put on a dab of dielectric grease. This helped out greatly.

I then followed from my trunk mounted battery to each and every grounding strap. Where the straps or cables were bolted to the frame or engine/trannie, I removed the bolt, cleaned and buffed the frame (removing coating and again CRCing and Dielectric greasing) and also buffed the cable/strap connection.

Although this sounds like a tedious and complex deal it was easily done in just one episode of Car Talk (NPR Radio) on a Saturday morning. That said all my lights work swell. My advice to you would be to first and foremost check and insure all ground points from the battery to frame are 100% perfect.

Second, I would see if the Lone Star employs remote relays on hi or somewhat hi amperage circuts like the Headlights and fans. If not you may want to consider using them. The relay will eliminate long and resistive cable runs which sap voltage.

I would also use an ohm meter to trace typical wire resistance in the gauge you car uses. This can help point out a poor solder joint or crimp and perhaps a bad wire.

Hope this helps Bruce.