3 questions today: '89 765Ti

Hi guys,

I have three questions for you learned bricksters today, re: my '89 760
Turbo wagon.

First, the headlights and grille-side fogs on this recently-acquired awesome
wagon look grimy on the inside (I will highly polish the outside of the
plastic lenses later). I would like to take them off and toss them in the
dishwasher. In a preliminary looksee in the driveway last night, I could
not easily see how the headlight/foglight assemblies are removed. I
considered the Really Big Screwdriver, but came to think that that would
have been short-sighted ; ). Anybody know how??

Second, I have a problem with the tailgate electrics. It started as an
intermittent problem with the third brake light. The dashboard warning
light would come on, once again intermittently, telling me that the thrid
brake light was misfunctioning. Yesterday, on a wet and drizzly day here in
Toronto, the electrics went Wacko. The rear defog switch would light up the
third brakelight, the brakes would not light the third brake light, the
wiper stopped working altogether. This morning in the dry it is all back to
normal. It sounds like a ground problem, maybe, but where? I removed the
panel above and inside the back door, and the wiring there, and all around
the hinge all looks good. Is there a central ground or something within the
door itself?

Finally, and less pressing: anybody know where to find a really nice, good
quality, decent-fitting set of seat covers for the front seats of this car?
The leathers are tan coloured, and looking pretty tired. I may try to
thoroughly clean the seats, including the blackened wrinkles and creases,
but am also considering some nicer seatcovers.

Thanks in advance,

RF

 

The lights are held onto the backing plate with 4 sided clips that are
almost impossible to remove without breaking something. Putting the
lenses in the dishwasher would ruin the reflector's reflective coating,
so this is a bad idea.

The ground comes out that harness and is connected near the left
taillight. Also, just because the outside of the harness looks ok,
doesn't mean that the wires inside it are all good.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

Presuming I could get the four-sided clips off, can you not separate the
lenses from the reflectors? I just want to give the lenses a bath, and I
would clean the reflectors separately with some nice cottom rags. Proper
forward lighting is a pet peeve of mine, I want this car to be as good as it
can be. My other '89, the 740 GLE has the Silverstars installed. They look
great for a sealed beam system.

So you figure I should just get in there with the soldering iron and go
ahead and make new runs from the top inside of the door into the door cavity
itself? That is of course, after checking that the main ground is clean and
secure. I suppose the repair would only take an hour or so. Would I want
to find some new rubber tubing, or would a good careful wrap up with good
quality electrical tape suffice?

 

Get a set of real glass lights from Europe and throw the plastic junk in the
trash where it belongs, you'll be amazed at the difference.

 

That's the long-term plan. However, for the short term, I would like to
clean these ones up.

Where do I find a glass set anyhow?

RF

 

There's a company in Germany that sells them, I forget the name, you could
also just post on here and see if anyone can help you out.

 

Oh yeah, just make sure you get lights from somewhere where they drive on
the right side of the road.

 

The lens and reflector are bonded together. Sometimes they separate on
their own, but I wouldn't want to try it if they were still bonded.

Keep in mind when fixing any harness that has to flex that your repair
will be much stiffer than the unrepaired part so flex will be more
concentrated in the area right beside the repair. Wrapping with good
electrical tape will suffice if you're neat, especially if you can tuck
the exposed end of the tape under one of the grommets.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)