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I think you'll find that there are breaks and short circuits going on in the tailgate harnesses. There is a group of wires on each side of the car, routed through the hinges. These harnesses cost about $20 each, by the way, from FCP Groton.
I just put a complete set of them in my friend's 88 245, and it was not too difficult a job. Definitely a necessary one. You can inspect the harnesses easily enough- the wires are visible at each hinge for the hatch. You'll see a grey or black cable running through a groove in the hinge.
Here's what I think is going on. The harness is split and wires are broken. Some are touching each other, and some are grounded, possibly intermittently in each case. The wires going to the hatch include a lot of circuits, and it explains the symptoms you're having.
You've got:
third brake light wires (blue w/ white stripe I think)
defroster wires (yellow)
power lock
rear window wiper on and "park"
license lights
ground wires
If the defroster wires are shorted to either the 3rd brake light wire, or the license lights, you'll have those power sources back-feeding the def relay, and turning the light on.
The wiper motor power might be grounded, making for a continuous drain. There is the chance for a bunch of different circuits to connect to each other if these wire harnesses are damaged.
Replacign them requires pulling down the rearmost piece of headliner, and removing the inner hatch panel, then removing the hinges one at a time (support the hatch with wood or something) and pulling the old wires out, and feeding the new ones through. Bolt the hinge back down and do the other side.
Took me about 2 hours to do both sides. You just match everything up, and it goes pretty smoothly. I found a connector or two needed to be extracted from a plastic plug, to make it like a factory harness, but it was not hard using a very small flat screwdriver.
Good luck with it!
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 225K, 88 744GLE- 209K, 91 244 183K. Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 229K, 88 244GL, 146K, 87 244DL, 235K, 88 245DL, 236K
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