164 electrical witchcraft

[ascher@domain.elided]

well,

while driving through the city today i experienced by far the weirdest
thing ever with either 164.  I had just driven a pleasant two hours in my
wounded 164S (rear-ended earlier this week), stopped briefly, and then
restarted.  when i restarted i tried turning on my lights (always drive
with my lights on), but nothing happened.  i tried them on and off for a
while but still nothing.  also, no moon roof power, power windows, f/r
fog lights; all of these i tried repeatedly too.  radio and climate
control worked.  the worst was that at this point i'm driving in traffic
and i watch the water temp gauge start climbing.  in a few minutes it was
nearing 250 (at which point i finally found a spare patch of asphalt to
pull over).  i let her cool down (yes, the antifreeze was really at high
temps), and while fidgeting turned the lights on.  presto!  everything
worked as normal.  i drove around all day and night with no additional
problems.  someone suggested a corroded relay might have been jostled
loose with the impact of my being rear-ended.  might this be it?   i am
very puzzled with this one, because i don't think there's any one relay
that governs all of those things.  plus, unless my fan went out (very
possible since i didn't immediately check - until all started working
again), what might have accounted for the overheat?  i checked the
battery terminals, but no visible corrosion.  any ideas alfa vets?  fed
di, this might be one for you?

ascher
- ------------------------------------
      ascher@domain.elided
- ------------------------------------

------------------------------