Solved my electrical problem
 

It turns out that I had four (4) of the crimped connections corrode completely apart.

One in the alarm harness, one in the body harness, one in the CLU harness and one in the power window / door contact harness.

Three of the connections were near the driver's side left foot, between the CLU box and the driver's door jamb/sill. The other was right at the bend where the driver's door jamb/sill turns toward the driver's seat.

In all, what a pain. I'm glad I've got it fixed. The only issue now is the rear hatch doesn't turn on the cargo light, but manually switching it on does. Maybe there's a contact switch in the trunk I need to look at?

Lastly, I'll be driving around with the carpet out for a while to make sure I can see and fix all the leaks coming into the car.

I'll try and post pictures tomorrow. I know a few of you have inquired to me via email about this problem. Hopefully this helps. If you've got the same problem as me, you don't need to remove the carpet. If you can get to the CLU, then you are pretty close to all the broken connectors.

FYI, I clipped the wires, spliced them by soldering, added liquid electrical tape to the solder splices, then heat shrunk the splices, then liquid electrical taped them again.

Nice. Glad to hear that : )

Now that I no longer have a nightmare, I can start the tweaking and modding :)

Sounds like a plan : )

Wow, that's some detective work! I had the same problem with my 1990 200 and...
 

the dealer spent 5hrs trying to find the short. It was the wires in the drivers door boot. What a pain, and that was back when labor rate was probably 75.00.

Glad you figured it out -

Well done. Quite the undertaking, congrats on a successful resolution.

Have you found the source of any leaks yet? Drains for battery tray, sunroof a/c??? I'm curious...
 

..and even if you fix the wires, if you never find the source fo the leak, you'll be in trouble again.

Nice job tracking down the failed wires!!!

This is why I'm still w/o the carpet. I'll check body seams for cracks tonight among other things

I'll have pics up after lunch...all interested parties, stay tuned

Pictures of the affected area/harnesses - Large pics (beware)
 

Also I can provide of details that correspond to the Wiring Diagrams for the CLU circuitry.

Basically, if you're having the same symptoms that I had, you have to get to the wiring and check all the crimped connectors for corrosion and replace them.

<img src="http://www.kendrish.com/galleries/S6/wiring/S2_Q11_Q57_sm.JPG">

<img src="http://www.kendrish.com/galleries/S6/wiring/B202_sm.JPG">

<img src="http://www.kendrish.com/galleries/S6/wiring/good_crimp_sm.JPG">