Y'all know I redesigned my tailgate wiring. If you don't, click here for details.

Yesterday I was at U-Wrench-It, and they were having a half-price sale. They had just gotten in an '85 245GL and among other things, it had a virtually brand-new set of tailgate struts. The ones on my '85 were getting weak, so I grabbed 'em. Please note that the struts were not OEM - this becomes important later on.

Later at night, I noticed my tailgate wiper only worked very slowly. I also noted that switching on the wiper caused the plate lights to come on. How odd.

Today, I went to check if my rewire failed somehow, and found a bad crimp - so I fixed it. I went and rechecked the functions (with the tailgate open) and all was well. Then I closed the 'gate, and BANG! same problems.

To make an already too long story a bit shorter, this is the moral. Volvo OEM struts carry a ground path regardless of position. These particular aftermarket struts only make a ground in the fully extended position. That's why everything worked when the 'gate was open!

I added a heavy ground wire from the body to the 'gate, and all is better now. Just consider yourself warned - don't make stupid assumptions. I never considered that the tailgate struts might have had something to do with the problems, and wasted an hour troubleshooting. Adding the ground wire took 2 minutes.

So I win today's moron prize.

Evan