Thanks again, Arne, wise move to post here so others can also benefit.

:surprised It's just not as easy as I thought it would be. I'm now wondering about the rubber plug which looks ghastly and may be a piece of the problem, remembering that although our Z is a California native, it is aged and lifelong on the California streets. Here are thumbnails (I hope) to show my degree of baffled:

That second pic is likely the cowl drain. I have a 280Z so it's a little different in that I have two of those. One for the cowl drain and one for the AC evaporator drain.

Google query had lots of hits on cowl drains, but none appeared to be out issue. I did find a link with really good clues on some known 240Z issues, although they don't appear to be our concerns. Worth a look, I believe.

http://datsunzgarage.com/probs/

Not a cowl drain. That is the grommet that the wiring for the wiper motor passes through in the firewall. See attached.

Great! It looks very old and haggard, but perhaps why the problem exists. Hope this weekend our family can go through all the diagrams and schematics and follow your helpful clues to a resolution. Whew, feeling a little less lost.

What is the black box that is wrapped up in the wiring? I'm not familiar with any item such as that in the OEM wiring. If it is a Wiper Delay module, that may be the problem right there.

I have no idea what the wiper problem is, intermittent, non-functioning, slow operation.... so it's impossible to offer solutions.

You mention that they ceased operating at the time you chipped off the tar mat (good move by the way), so it is highly conceivable that you moved or removed a ground or disconnected some other key wire.

2¢

E

It looks like an Alarm of sorts. What she needs to do is check the connector on the firewall then follow those same wires over to the pass. side kick panel area.

the last time I checked. those wires go to a small 3-pin connector in the P.S. kick panel. Just look for those same colored wires from the firewall connector at the P.S. kick in a small 3-pin connector and one of them goes to a Larger 6-pin connector. and that is a blue/red wire.

I still say it's a problem in the P.S. kick panel area or the switch itself.

Dave.

Not sure this photo from last year tells much, but perhaps. Your guess is definitely better than mine in terms of what this black box could be. When my brother returns from his trip, I hope he can give me some clues as well.

http://asta.bizhosting.com/KickingTires.htm and scroll down to the view with the black box.

I have said it before and I will say it again. This forum is amazing. Without it my car (#009070)would not run, would not stop would not have lights, yada yada yada. I have 4 different 70/71 diagrams and none of them are as good as what is here on this thread. Working on making the lights signals etc all work.

So sorry for the thread ressurection but I had to say thanks. Richard.