Hey guys. I'm trying to track down a gremlin in my '88 260E eclectrical(!) system that is related to a bulb that is located at the bottom of the passenger side rear door panel. I've had the car for over a year and it is driven by my son most of the time so it's not something I see - the glaring dummy light indicating a malfunctioning bulb on a daily basis. Yesterday being the beautiful Feb day it was here in Ohio, I thought I'd dig deeper into it.

I was elated at first that I had finally FOUND the bad bulb when I discovered the courtesy light was 'out' but further digging proved not so easy as a blown bulb filament! Bought new bulbs but should have simply saved myself time by placing a known-working bulb into the fixture. My next move was to check voltage at the wires and I discovered there is roughly 12v at EACH one of the two plugs! This seems strange, in that, if the two wires are shorting against each other somewhere in the harness, I figure that would cause a blown fuse someplace and there wouldn't be ANY voltage at the device (light).

I pulled the black insulation plastic off the two-wire combo (one was red/orange and the other brown/?) and noticed some damp-ness actually to the point of a drip or two. Dried it all the way into the rubber bellows tube at the door jamb near hinges. Still can't figure out the 12v coming through each of the leads?! Any thoughts?

Dale

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Dale