Electrical Issues

[TillamookB2]

I've got an 88 B2 with the 2.9. My windshield wipers, radio, and water temperature gauge all shut off. Randomly, they will all come back on at the same time, but then all die shortly after at the same time. All the fuses are good.
Any idea where the issue might be?

 

[Shran]

Short somewhere in your wiring harness or a bad ground would be my guess. Check all the plugs on the driver's side, under the hood to see if they are melted or have broken wires.

 

[adsm08]

Check down behind the driver's side kick panel. There is a black wire going into a loop and bolted to the body. It is Ground 200, and is the one piece of circuitry I can find that is shared by the 3 components you mentioned.

 

[TillamookB2]

We looked through wiring for about a half hour until we discovered the problem. The part of the ignition switch that has the spring and slider was held in place by a zip tie. It was no longer making good electrical contact. When we clipped the zip tie, the whole thing fell apart. After we put it back together and bent the tabs to hold it shut, everything that had stopped working had begun working again.

 

[4.0B2]

Lol mine is on with a huge ziptie right now...