Easter Sunday...

ARRRRGH!

So this weekend I learned how frustrating working on the car could be. My plan was to get 2 things done: new brake pads and rewire the reverse lights. Saturday I was lazy and just drove the car around, and I didn't spend time actually fixing it. So Sunday rolls around and I feel like I'm still golden- these jobs can't be that hard.


So I get the wheels off and take a look at the front brakes. I've been suspicious that the pads would be worn down to practically nothing because they feel really weak when I try and press them. But looking at them, they look fine. They're wearing evenly, they just barely rub the discs when at rest, and they look nothing like the guant, brittle slivers I had imagined. So I put those back in. Obviously the weak brakes are something else. My next best guess would be the brake fluid is old, and needs to be replaced, but I wasn't ready to do that yesterday, so I moved on to the rewiring job.

Which was even more perplexing! The reverse lights were coded with RB/B wires coming out of the bulbs and into a big conglomeration of wires, all taped together and dissapearing into a tiny hole in the body panel in the back. Looking at a service manual, I found where the wires reappeared in the car (passenger's footwell) and began a tedious search for RB/B pairs of wires. I began to realize how bad the seats needed to be upholstered while lying upside-down in one, with my spine pressed against the metal seat siding. Finally, I found a pair of wires, and tested them with a DMM against the car body- only to find that they were somehow grounded. So I assumed those couldn't be them, and kept searching. Found another pair. Tested. Grounded. At this point I was cramped and sweaty and tired of wires, so I looked at the transmission to find the actual leads to the reverse light switch: which turned out to be the only good news of the day. Putting the car in reverse does close the switch, so I won't have to take the transmission apart to fix that, at least.

But in short, the wiring is a mess. There are orignial wires that have been cut, and previous-owner installed wires that end in mysterious black cylinders. There is also an aftermarket radio/cassette player from the early 90's, but all the car's speakers have been taken out. I really need to take the entire dashboard off to get a look underneath, so I guess that's on the agenda for next weekend.