Loose ground wire ?

Hi guys! First post but been lurking a while.

I'm been getting this 83 Regal Wagon together. It was an in-process project that I got partially disassembled.

I'm trying to figure out what this ground wire is supposed to be for. It's hanging out of the back of the headliner right in the rear window opening. It has a female spade end on it. It is grounded to the roof.

It's too short to reach the rear cargo rectangular dome light. I'm also not seeing evidence that there was a third brake light on this thing. I'm thinking about just shoving it back up into the headliner and moving on.

Can anybody shed any light? No pun intended.

Thanks!

Longroof79 said:

Welcome aboard!
Let's see some pics of the wagon....we love pics...and wagons.
I'm thinking it could be a ground for the rear window defroster. Is the car equipped with a heated rear window?

I too first thought of a third brake light.,but I guess not.

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No rear defroster, although I wish there was one since this car will be seeing year round duty on the North coast. Good suggestion though.

Local Hero said:

No rear defroster, although I wish there was one since this car will be seeing year round duty on the North coast. Good suggestion though.

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Oh and I'll get a few pics up soon.

pontiacgp said:

3rd brake light wire is blue, did you test the wire to see if it's a ground?

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I didn't need to test the wire. Pulling down on the headliner,. I can visually see that it's is bolted to a cross brace in the roof. So it's definitely a ground.

It's also too short to reach the cargo area light assembly.

I was really more curious than anything. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I'll likely either remove it or tuck it back up into the headliner and move on.

I solved the mystery.

I recently got around to putting the interior back in. I was able to get all the cabin lights to work except the light in the cargo area.

I never touched the headliner since getting the car. It turns out that the previous owner put the rear roof panel back in reversed. So the cargo light was way forward and the loose ground wire wouldn't reach.

I pulled that panel down to test the light further and realized that the panel could go back up with the light all the way toward the rear. The loose ground then reached and now the light works.

I should just add this "repair" from the previous owner to the long list of stuff I had to reverse or fix or simply finish.

The rest of the car is now done and I'll add some current pics to my other thread once I take them.