[Roadsters] Another electrical question

[John Stromgren]

Hello, All!

Here's another puzzle add to the recent electrical questions.

I had my 1970 2000 painted this (northern hemisphere) winter.  I carefully
cleaned all the connections as I put the lights back on - everything seemed
to be working well - including the refurbished radio, that I had never
heard since buying the car back in 1997.

Then I got caught in a downpour at the end of a workday.  The new
windshield was not sealed - water was dripping heavily behind the dashboard
and onto my new carpet.  The lights worked but the wipers did not.  Nor did
the fan work, or the radio.  I got home okay and pulled out the carpets
(boy, that new padding is like a sponge!), disconnected the battery, and
let it all dry out.

Today I thought I'd see if I could figure out what may have happened.  The
fuses all looked good, but again, no joy from the wipers, radio, or fan.
 As I sat in the driveway several minutes with the car warming up,
pondering my plight, feeling dejected and defeated by my ignorance, the
radio came on!  I checked the fan - fine!  The wipers - they worked, too!

What do you suppose happened?  It's a mystery to me, and I'm not sure where
to look.

I am slowly learning about electricity, but it's a long process.  I've got
a fairly new GM alternator, wired into the "S/Brake" light so that the
light goes out when the generator starts contributing (thanks to some
Datsun guy who had a helpful website on the subject), and I put in a little
digital voltage meter so I could corroborate with the light.  The battery
is a little over a year old.  I cleaned the grounds to frame that I knew
about, front and rear, and the battery to starter connections.  That's
about the extent of my knowledge.  It's the unknown that gets me.

If any of you care to venture some explanations or suggestions of what I
could do to make sure I don't run into this problem again, I would sure
appreciate it (I'm definitely going to get the windshield reset).

Thanks.

John

-- 
John E. Stromgren
SRL311-14061 (Red)
Portsmouth, NH