Some of you may remember me from the post about my gf flipping my 1990 XJS. Well I'm in the process of fixing the body damage (which was fairly minimal considering) and I've started getting strange electrical issues.
I'll preface this by saying I've checked all the fuses in both under dash boxes and the ones under the hood.

So here are the symptoms:
A week or so after the accident, the stereo stopped working intermittently. It comes on for a while randomly, then shuts back off randomly. No real frequency, just randomly on and off. I didn't really care, engine sounds are plenty entertaining alone, so I didn't bother trying to fix it.

About a month after, the windows started working intermittently. The passenger window seems to work fairly well, almost always opening and closing fine. But the driver window only opens every now and then, and when it does open, sometimes it won't close. To put it in perspective, I've driven my entire ride home from work (about 30 min) trying my driver window every 30sec without it opening, and other times it has opened as soon as I got in but took 5 minutes of trying to get it to go back up (it seems to go up more easily than down).

Now as of two days ago, my brake lights and turn signals don't work (they may be randomly working too, but I can't really check while driving). The normal constant on tail lights work when I turn the dial, but they don't light up when I hit the pedal. (I've been turning the dial when I hit the brakes while driving during the day to avoid getting pulled over, lol)


Given that the problems occur randomly, and the only common wiring area for all those parts (that I know of), I'm thinking there is a short somewhere under the center console that is moving around and causing the random issues.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

As the car has been flipped it is quite possible the car body has flexed.

Check the battery very carefully for cracks and distortions, also check the standstill terminal voltage.

Check your body ground points as one may have come loose.

With a few intermittent electrical problems always start with the battery then work your way around the car until you get back to the battery.

 

I actually put in a brand new battery right after the accident, but I will go around checking all the ground points first tomorrow before I attack the center console. Thanks!

 

Intermittent electrical issues as you have described will almost certainly be dodgy connections.

If it were the battery the car would not start and other high current draw stuff would not work. If it was shorting the fuses would blow.

I would start under the dash/console and UNPLUG ALL connectors clean them while your there with ISO Alcohol and a stiff brush, then plug them back in. I have been fooled many times repairing electronics by connectors that looked ok but had pushed pins (not making contact).

Replace any faulty plugs, as its inside the car you can use general purpose connector. Cut ONE wire at a time on both sides and crimp it then move to the next wire.

Here is a pic of the connectors I used 3 years ago to replace ones that were totaled by leaking coolant from the heater core.

 

I agree with cleaning plugs, switches and grounds. It's the first thing I did when I bought my xjs and I've been trouble free since