Hi all
Time to address the various electrical issues that bug me but I just live with. One I knew about a while ago and thought I'd sorted - when I detached and reattached the handbrake cable to the handbrake lever, I noticed a tiny spark. Bad earth somewhere was what I discovered when I searched the forum. So I checked every earth point that I could find, cleaned up the connections, and replaced one earth cable (starter motor body to chassis) just because I happened to have a new one kicking about. I took out the center console and checked under there, poked around the fuse box, took the drivers door (LHD) door card off and had a look in there as the window goes up very slowly. Checked all the wiring running from front to back underneath the car as best I could. So lots of wiggling wires. I did get the spark at the handbrake issue to go away but I have to be honest it wasn't apparent how.
I lived with the other issues - heater fan not working (AC fan works fine), electric window very slow (stops about half way up if the headlights are on), wipers slower when headlights are on, and headlights dimming when I do try the heater fan.
I've now noticed that the headlights dim / flicker when I move the handbrake cable so I guess that issue is back.
Also, back when I first noticed the spark at the handbrake cable, I also thought my thermostat had conveniently bugged up at the same time (temp needle in e fed, warning light flashing). Laziness and the fact that I live in Portugal made me just take the thermostat out and leave it like that for now. However I tested the thermostat today - it's fine, so I put it back in. Temperature gauge goes into the red, warning light flashes, I wiggle the handbrake lever and the warning light stops flashing and the needle starts dropping. And if I give the handbrake lever a wiggle again I can make the temp warning light flicker and flash.
Oh and very occasionally the central locking locks the doors without me doing anything. Haven't locked the keys in the car yet, but I've only got the one set...
Jeez... Anybody got any pointers or ideas?
Cheers!

Ah, fusible links! Right, that'll be the next thing to check although I suspect the spark at the handbrake cable might be a different issue (?) Still, it's something to have a poke about at.

Never did replace the fusible links, but a local garage suggested putting an earth cable directly from the battery to the body. Did this and it stopped the headlights flickering when I wiggle the handbrake lever. I've yet to test the other electrical items it was messing with (it's currently ****ing down), other than the wipers which are running faster but I'm hopeful that it has solved several of the problems!

GrantPT said:

Never did replace the fusible links, but a local garage suggested putting an earth cable directly from the battery to the body. Did this and it stopped the headlights flickering when I wiggle the handbrake lever. I've yet to test the other electrical items it was messing with (it's currently ****ing down), other than the wipers which are running faster but I'm hopeful that it has solved several of the problems!

Click to expand...

It sounds as if you have a classic case of "bad earth", check and clean the main battery earth connections and make sure there's a good earth connection engine block to the chassis and body, if the problems persist after addressing those try and track all and any earth wires you can and clean and re establish them.