What's this?

Probably a dumb question, but what's this electrical control panel (located behind the radiator, to the right of the fuse and relay panel) for? No mention of it in the owner's manual. Is it aftermarket? It does partially obstruct the removal of the spare tire.

Also, you can see that two of the connectors pulled off their screws (left hand side). Any ideas as to how (or whether) to reconnect them?

Finally, probably unrelated, I lost my side marker lights as well as the instrument panel lights. The 15A fuse looks fine. Any ideas how to track that one down? They were working not long ago.

Many thanks!
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Ah, that makes sense. I'll have to check if the speakers are working.

So unrelated to the loss of my running lights.

 

Many thanks for this. Would you mind expanding a bit of this for someone who is new to automotive electrics? Is the picture here the back of the fuse board? And where exactly are the blue/white wires? And, finally, where are the grounds to the side marker lights?
The car is a 3.2 (1987). The fuse board was replaced several years ago, so I'd be disappointed if it's starting to fall apart.
Many thanks!

 

I was looking at the fuse box today, gently wiggled some wires here and there, just to see if there was something obvious -- there wasn't -- and pulled out and snapped back in a couple of the white plugs to get a sense of how things worked. And then twisted the indicator stalk (position 1) and, lo and behold, the side lights and the license plate lights were working again. So it was back to normal. Then I tried the window washer, which didn't work before -- and still doesn't -- and after that I was back to having only front and rear lights, but no sides or plate lights.

Interestingly, when the side markers come on, the green indicator light on the dash that lights up is the regular headlight indicator (second from top on the left column under the left turn signal); when the side markers aren't working, the indicator for parking lights lights up (third from top on the right column), even when headlights are up.

So I don't think its the grounds for the individual lights. And I suspect that it's more than a matter of bypassing the fuseboard to activate the side markers, because also the license plate lights and also the fog lights are involved. And the window washer as well.

Looks like I'm going learn things about electrics that my German and Japanese cars didn't teach me

I'll take some pics of the fuseboard next time I'm with the car.

 

I think you're right. The challenge now is to locate the relevant ground sites. Probably at a level between the grounds for the individual lights and the ground straps bolted to the chassis. ...

I know it's been asked many times before, but does anyone know where I can get ahold of the wiring diagram for the US 3.2 ('87)? I'm hoping someone here might have a pdf. of the relevant lighting circuits. ...

 

I'm trying to proceed methodically as I learn about automotive electrical systems. So I'm starting with basic stuff: first checking all the fuses with a test light, and second, checking the relevant relays.

Fuses seem to be OK. On the other hand, I'm not sure I understand my results from probing the relay contacts -- hopefully some of you can help me!

On the external light relay (the "O" relay on my 3.2), the #30 contact lights up when the test light is connected to battery (-), so I have power on the load circuit. And the #87 lights when the test light is connected to battery (+), which tells me that the ground of the load circuit is good (right?).

On the control circuit things are not clear to me: both #85 and #86 contacts light when the test light is connected to battery (-) (#85 is a bit weaker). Shouldn't the test light illuminate only on the #85 contact (the positive feed for the control circuit)?

On the relay for flashing (relay "N"), I'm getting no result from the #30 pin (again, test light connected to battery (-) -- I should be, right? And there I have the same result on the control circuit as I do on the O relay, that is, both contacts light up when the test light is connected to battery (-).

If anybody can help me interpret these results I'd be very grateful!