Ok. The Odyssey is over, and I'm very happy with the result. Pursuant to my recent posts concerning rehabilitating clearly unsafe brakes (complete with strut assembly swap due to broken caliper bolt, etc.), new tie rods/ends, ball joints, wheel bearings (front and rear), I finally wrapped up this week and took the car for a test drive. Having good brakes again is a revelation. To me, the pedal may be a little soft, but I can't honestly remember what a firm brake pedal is supposed to feel like! It does not travel to the floor and the car comes to quick stop without any shaking or rattling. Most impressive, the steering wheel is tight tight tight, which I attribute to a combination of new wheel bearings and tie rods. No strange whirring noises or clunks after having the entire front end apart, so I think I'm ok.

But, now that those mechanicals are out of the way, here are some lingering problems that I need to address:

1) On start up, there appears to be a charging issue. I don't have all the dash lights coming on, and I need to rev the engine up over 3500 rpm in order to get the voltmeter to go from reading low in the orange up to normal '12' o'clock position. I have replaced the alternator with a known good used one with good brushes. The battery is a couple years old, but I may need to test it?

I had posted on this issue before, and the responses were inconclusive. I'd really like to have the dash lights on start up and not have to rev the car to "activate" the charging system.

Could there be a problem with speedo cluster? BTW, I re-routed the small wire to the alternator so that it does not go under engine with the large ground.

2) For ages I was having the classic tailgate wiring harness issue. I knew it was a broken ground in both hinges. I fixed that by re-routing both the harness and ground in a rather clever way that requires drilling holes in the car. I'll post pictures. It finally took care of the tailgate problems, and I once again have license plate lights and a rear wiper that is more spirited than I can remember.

But on my test drive, both L/R brake lights went out. At first it was only the right side, and the bulb failure came on, then both brake lights went out and there was no bulb failure light. The center third brake light works fine. The reverse, tails, and turn signals all work. The rear fog does not work though. And strangely, when I turn the rear foglight switch on, the bulb in the switch does not light (headlight switch on) if the rear foglight socket is in place. If I remove the socket from the taillight, the rear fog dash light comes on.

I've read that it could be the bulb sensor, but I don't think it is in my case. I only say this because I have 5 spare bulb failure relays, none of which fixed the problem. I know it's not scientific, but the odds of all 5 being duds seem long. I will try with the known good one out of the 244 later tonight, but something tells me there is a short or some other gremlin hiding somewhere.

What's odd is that after I fixed the tailgate ground, everything worked fine for about the first 30 minutes of the test drive. Then the right side brake light went out, and then shortly after both sides went out.


I would love to get the brake light/rear fog sorted and the charging issue addressed. I will then be able to get an updated inspection and feel like I finally have my 245 back.