Hi all,
This is an interesting fault chain I am unravelling on my new to me `96 850 GLT Wagon. Would love input on running these to ground. To begin: When I first looked at the car prior to purchase I was told that the POstopped driving it as the battery kept going dead. I knew these cars have sticking relay issues that would account for this problem so I was not terribly concerned. I noted a recent vintage lo budget battery (wrong size too) from the corner Autozone. I jumped the car and it started right up engine ran well and I proceeded to test the brakes and trans. Everything seemed to be in good order so I bought the car. Went around the corner and bought a new premium battery specific for the car, came back and installed it. When I was changing the battery I did note a slight spark when I connected the neg term so I knew I definately had some type of batt drain issue but was not too worried about it as the price was decent for the condition. As I was driving the car home I noticed that the backlighting on the LCD info panel didn't seem to work, panel works but not visable in dark. Most of the lights in the switchs in the console are out but all seem to function. The OEM Premium sound system radio doesn't seem to work even tho it has power. When I push the power switch the LCD on the radio comes on and says "OFF", LOL. The red security light on the radio flashes when the car is off. Iam wondering if the battery being out of the car might have triggered the theft function on the radio. The volume **** appears a bit loose but seems to work. I would really like to get this OEM radio working if possible, looks like a nice one. A couple bulbs out in the dash and the Climate Control panel was quite dark in places. I also noticed the temp control ***** were kind of sticky/difficult to turn in places,normal in other areas of the travel. A/C was quite cold (I was told the A/C worked great by the PO). Parked the car and went to bed. Next morning the battery was almost dead, wouldn't turn over the car. I immed checked the A/C controls inside the car to verify that I had set them to off prior to parking and I noticed a thick black wire running down and tucked under the console that I had missed the night before. I started tugging and out came about 3 feet of 2 conductor wire in a black sleeve connected to an obviously aftermarket toggle switch. I held my breath and flipped the toggle and the A/C clutch clicked. I doubt the PO even knew about this wire and switch. Apparently someone added this switch to manually engage the A/C clutch to deal with a (to them) unresolvable ECC problem. I have been carefully driving the car for 3-4 days and whooo-hooo flipping this switch apparently resolved the battery drain problem, LOL. The A/C compressor still cycles out after about 20-30 minutes of driving and has cycled out a few times due to WOT events. Doesn't seem to want to turn back on until a key off "resets" it. Funny enough tho if I flip the clutch override toggle switch the compressor comes back on immed and even if I turn the switch off the compressor stays on and the CC seems to function normally until it kicks off again. Havn't had time to trace this "override" setup back to find out where it was tapped in, I am guessing it is bypassing some type of de-icing or temp sensor. Saw the post regarding lint in the thermistor pickup areas so will check that and see if that wasn't the origin of the problems. Wouldn't that be sweet - as long as they didn't fubar something else with the bypass that is. So any thoughts on these problems, especially the back lighting on the LCD and the A/C control stiffness? Oh btw, OBD-II scan didn't produce any trouble codes and car passed the AZ OBD-II stringent emissions test perfectly...Thanks in advance for any thoughts or recommendations. This is a sweet ride and I would like to bring it back to theproper functioningthat it deserves. David in Cave Creek.