Spent a whole Saturday chasing an electrical gremlin in a '91 Civic
I was trying to get the tail lights working on a $500 Civic hatch I picked up outside Portland, and it ended up taking me like 8 hours. Turns out the ground wire under the trunk carpet had completely corroded away, which I didn't catch until I'd already replaced the fuse box and two bulbs. Has anyone else spent way too long on something that dumb simple?
18 bucks at the auto parts store for a new ground strap and you'd have been home by lunch. Sounds like you made that repair a whole lot harder than it needed to be.
Funny you say that, my buddy tried the "just buy a new ground strap" approach on his truck and spent three hours wrestling with a rusted bolt that wouldn't budge. Ended up having to cut it off anyway, so some jobs just fight you no matter what you do.