Thanks to all who suggested the cig lighter as the culprit. After cleaning
the fuse contacts et al, I pulled the radio, checked the wiring, rewrapped
one or two, but none of them seemed bad, then I checked more wiring and up
comes the loose connector from the back of the cig lighter - a nice solid
piece of metal just looking for a place to touch a ground. I know someone
was in there a couple of thousand miles ago checking something out on the
heater cable for me - it's just possible it got dislodged just enough to
work itself loose - once or twice it must have touched briefly causing the
CD player to turn off (the stereo's the only device on the circuit that's
always on, so that's why I noticed first that it had gone out), then later
it must have worked its way to a place where it was in permanent contact
with the wall, thus causing the permanent short.
I checked the wiring diagram - the turn signals feed off of the purple
circuit too, but on a separate feed, so that may explain why they got a
little funky.
Finally, since I had the battery disconnected, I took the opportunity to
clean the horn contacts, and my horn sounds louder too (I think - at least
without the engine running), so overall, it worked out pretty well.
Thanks to all who helped - particularly those who suggested the cig lighter
as a potential source of trouble!
- Tab
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