You've perked my curiousity Can you recap exactly what things don't work? You mentioned many interior issues but when you mention that the headlights don't work I find that odd. Your headlights don't turn off with your ignition right? It would then be the headlight relay that is not getting power? I don't think it would hurt to run a new power line to the interior fuse box. I also concur with cleaning up the interior grounds.

Josh

Roger-I did inspect a few grounds today and found nothing funky. I'm sure that I have more grounds to check and will get on that. I've not done a good enough job checking fuses and will hit that tomorrow. A guy at the dealership has a copy of a service manual that I don't have-it covers nothing but electronics and wiring. He ran down a list of things to check and made a copy of the pages I need. I'll pick those up later this week and follow that path as well. With any good fortune I'll find the troublemaking part and have this resolved once and for all.

The worst part of this is that I can't duplicate it. Going over a bump or wigging wires has never created or solved the problem. It either happens or it doesn't and when it does happen it's only when I first turn the ignition on.

ArbitraryNotion-the headlight problems are a new and I believe completely seperate issue. I took apart the switch and cleaned up what I could. That seems to have helped with the brights but not the low beams. Go figure. I could hear the relay under the hood clicking but nothing would happen. I've swapped relays and it's the same. Roger has a great write up on exactly this issue. In my frustration, I threw in the towel and bought a new switch. The dealer had it in stock and helped me out a bit on the price, so I bit the bullet. I'll put that together in the morning so I have wheels. I'm moving tomorrow so I really need my truck!

Roger again-on your website you mentioned not being sure if you could get to the switch without pulling the steering wheel. On a 92, you can't get to it. The wheel has to come off. I would have smacked myself right in my beak if I hadn't read your tip about leaving the nut loose on the steering column while giving the wheel a yank. Thanks for the tip. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Since it is an intermittent issue, you might try taking a volt meter and measure and record a selection of voltages around the engine bay and under the dash to get an idea of what the normal condition is like. Then next time it acts up, re-measure those same points and compare the numbers to normal. Find test points that would let you check the voltage on various circuits so you can try and find some root cause of the issue. And try tracing out all the affected devices on the FSM wiring diagram and see if there are any common connections or points upstream of them.

Yep, that steering wheel pulling tip has been a face saver for me, heard it a long time ago and have used it ever since.

FIXED!!! At least I think it is.

I have been in to the dash so many times it makes my head spin. The last time I didn't find anything out of the ordinary but the problem seemed to stop so I quit chasing it.

It started again a week ago and something crossed my mind that I'm embarassed to even admit to the board... I remembered that the alarm, when triggered, does a very similar thing by cutting power to the dash. Perhaps the alarm is screwy?

Well, that's what it was. I didn't find it or fix it myself but the guys at the car alarm place found it. Apparently they cut in to one of the ignition wires to add something and that's where the problem was. 13 years ago I had the alarm installed and they checked it out and fixed it for me at no charge.

I knew it was something simple. I just couldn't find it or figure it out. FINALLY I think it's fixed for good. On the off chance that someone else has a similar problem I felt compelled to update this rediculously long and drawn out thread.

Thanks to everyone that contributed. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Holy cow. And an alarm place that lasts that long in business is rather unusual in this part of the continent.

Thanks for posting, and putting another possibility into the troubleshooting tree.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Nice.

I'm installing a new radio and have the whole dash out... just driving with the cluster. I decided to pull all old electronics out to minimize electrical gremlins. It was kinda scary seeing how my alarm was installed. I'm also taping off old splices from previous radio installs.

(I have the dash out because I'm painting all the plastic)