I was just fixing a short in my '93 Chevy truck the other day when I was reminded of MG's wiring problems. Which are nearly always DPO or age related. My truck was blowing fuses in the parking/tail lamp circuit, which brilliantly has all four corners on one fuse. I traced it down to some wiring that had been hooked up to run God knows what that wasn't on the truck anymore. Two red wires were coming off a power source; one to a switch that was connected to nothing, the other went across the engine bay and was connected to … the fender well. To those uninitiated to automotive wiring, that would a short circuit. Done on purpose. I'm sure the GDPO didn't mean to make a short circuit, and I'm sure they didn't mean to have no semblance of organization to which wire colors they used. But they did mean to make those connections at both ends of that wire. If they had done a better job of making the connections, the short would have made itself obvious long before I got the truck, and probably in grand fashion. This finding only cements in my mind the feeling that people that don't understand auto wiring should not play with wires anywhere near cars. If this had been an MG instead of a Chevy, there are many (MG owners included) who would instantly blame Lucas, even when faced with an intentional short that was obviously done sometime after the car rolled out of the factory. Remember, an MG wiring's greatest enemies are age and DPOs. The newest of these cars are 25 years old, and connections do corrode in them - as in all cars and trucks. Clean up the bullets and remember the female bullet connectors do not last forever. Alternators and starters wear out. These things happen after 30 years. As far as DPOs go, use your wiring diagram and look at the harness. If the harness tape or cloth has been opened up somewhere or otherwise molested, beware. If someone chose to rewire something "their way" instead of as shown in the diagram, beware. Yes there are folks who have added relays or other components successfully, but there are published methods devised by auto electric pros that show how to do this. The guys to watch out for are the guys that completely rewire the tail light circuits instead of correcting bad ground connections.

And now for something completely different, I just want to encourage everyone to join us for the Beer, Wine, and Cheese Tour. If you remember when the Land's End Rally used to be in Southwest Wisconsin, generally in the Baraboo area, you remember how fantastic the roads and scenery are in that area of the world. I think its worth going just for those reasons, but John has treats for our taste buds as well, so come on up with us. I'm familiar enough with the area to know that John will need to really try to find some boring drives up there. I know John well enough that I don't think he'll do that.