Hi. New to the board, but I hope to stick around for a while.

Anyhow, My 1980 245 DL is having a strange electrical problem. I recently replaced the horn, but like an idiot, I didn't disconnect the battery. At one point, I accidentally let the wires to the horn touch the frame of the car, and I saw some sparks. That's when the trouble started.

Sometimes, the turn signal and bright light indicators (on the dash, not outside of the car) light up dimly. When this happens, the turn signals don't work. If you try to turn the signals on, all 3 of the lights get brighter, but nothing happens. If you try to turn on the brights, it stalls the car, (but the brights don't come on). Hitting the horn also will stall the car I've noticed (but the horn doesn't sound). If I have the car in 4th gear, the OD light comes on dimmly, even if I don't have the OD switched on. Giving the dash a couple of good smacks over the instrument cluster will sometimes make the problem go away for a while, but it always seems to come back. Recently, it's been getting a lot worse.

My guess is that I somehow fried the voltage regulator thing that hooks into the back of the instrument cluster (that 3-pronged rectangle thing.) When I saw the sparks, the car didn't blow a fuse which is why it might be fried. I would just replace it, but money is tight, and I don't want to spend the $15 for a used one if I don't have to.

Any ideas? If not the voltage regulator, what else?