Electrical Problem

[Josh185]

Hello,

 

My 2007 Silverado has having some odd electrical issues for the past several months and I am hoping I could get some insight or suggestions here.

 

Occasionally the NAV radio head unit will lose power for a second and then power back on. Also the Instrument Panel will also sometimes appear to "reset" and a couple of the indicator lights will flash and the DIC will say Stabilitrak off for a second or two then go back to normal. All this happens while I am driving. There was one time were these intermittent power losses lead to the truck's electrical system to completely die after I shut off the truck. I couldn't restart it or anything. No power to anything. Lights, door locks, nothing. After about 45 minutes everything just powered up again and started working like nothing. I checked the battery thinking it was a loose cable but everything is snug.

 

Any suggestions on the cause or fix would be appreciated.

[ColoradoDave]

It sounds like a ground problem to me.

 

Start first with the easy stuff like making sure your battery cables are making good connections to the battery terminals and that the terminals are clean and show no signs of corrosion (green or white). There are two ends to battery cables...make sure to check both ends of the cables, not just the end at the battery terminals.

 

Next, I would critically evaluate each ground connection in the engine bay. You need a good quality handheld DMM to do this. If you dont have one, I strongly suggest getting an name brand, auto ranging meter (not the cheap ones you see at wal-mart where you have to manually select the range you expect to be in). Fluke 70 or 80 series DMM's are excellent handheld meters that you can use for everything electrical..automotive and household. Use it to critically measure the ohm resistance and or voltage drop on each ground wire and cable. You'll likely find the problem to be a high resistance wire or bad ground connection, and it will probably be something that you cant easily see, hence the need for a quality meter to find it. Also know that the kind of problem you are describing can be very difficult to find. If you are methodical, you'll find it.

 

If you have no clue about what I am talking about, spend a little time Googling how to measure voltage drop and resistance of automotive cables. If any of this seems over your skillset, take it to a shop. Chasing electrical intermittent problems can be challenging even for a seasoned mechanic.

 

Good luck