Electrical issues Need Help

adamj2121 · January 19, 2018

1 minute ago, Robert Sutton said:

Ya I do not believe it myself. I will do as they ask though. The next time I have to take it in I will be raising h3ll. So much time out of my day dealing with this. So many rentals. How long and how many times until I can pull Lemon Law into the equation?

I believe with a lemon law it is 3 attempts to repair or 30 days out of service. If you are at both of those or have exceeded them, I have far exceeded the number of days out of service with my truck, you can file a lemon law case. Before that GM or the dealer will probably offer a "good will" buyback (basically a trade in offer that is weighted in your favor), my truck is going in again next week for transmission issues. If it is not resolved this time the dealer has said we will discuss the good will buyback options from GM.

Robert Sutton · January 19, 2018

15 minutes ago, adamj2121 said:

I believe with a lemon law it is 3 attempts to repair or 30 days out of service. If you are at both of those or have exceeded them, I have far exceeded the number of days out of service with my truck, you can file a lemon law case. Before that GM or the dealer will probably offer a "good will" buyback (basically a trade in offer that is weighted in your favor), my truck is going in again next week for transmission issues. If it is not resolved this time the dealer has said we will discuss the good will buyback options from GM.

How does this cover the modifications I have done to my truck? I have sunk some money into it already. Maybe I will start doing my own research on it. The truck is in the shop now for the same issue for the 3rd time. It was in once before for a different electrical issue but I won't count that. Damn, I really like my truck...

adamj2121 · January 20, 2018

Just now, Robert Sutton said:

How does this cover the modifications I have done to my truck? I have sunk some money into it already. Maybe I will start doing my own research on it. The truck is in the shop now for the same issue for the 3rd time. It was in once before for a different electrical issue but I won't count that. Damn, I really like my truck...

I have no clue on the modification aspect, I believe that would be something that you would have to work out with the dealer/GM. I have also put a decent bit of cash into mods for my truck; sport bar, floor liners, line-sx, undercoating, etc. If I find anything with my circumstances that may net you any further insight to potential outcomes I will be sure to let you know.

Robert Sutton · January 20, 2018

Just now, adamj2121 said:

I have no clue on the modification aspect, I believe that would be something that you would have to work out with the dealer/GM. I have also put a decent bit of cash into mods for my truck; sport bar, floor liners, line-sx, undercoating, etc. If I find anything with my circumstances that may net you any further insight to potential outcomes I will be sure to let you know.

It is nice talking through this with someone else. I will be threatening Lemon Law if I need to bring it back in again. I have tons of extras on my truck already, many fitted for my specific cab and bed size and internal layout. Ugh. I will keep updating this post for any one else who may see something similar happen to them.

Robert Sutton · January 23, 2018

OK here is an update. I got my truck back Friday the19th. Today is Monday the 22nd. The truck has done it again. On my way home the radio started flashing at me again.

I am calling shop tomorrow to take it in again. This has been an awful experience so far. I love my truck and its so perfect in every way. Sucks this one little big problem keeps happing. I don't want a new truck or another truck, I want mine, they don't have it any more for the price I bought it.

Robert Sutton · January 24, 2018

I am no electrician but I do have a basic understanding of how electronics work and how electricity powers them. I do have a vast troubleshooting background though and know how to eliminate components that are not the problem. So here are my thoughts on this.

The radio is always the first to turn off. When it turns off, anyone on a phone call can still hear me, but I cannot hear them. My OnStar Module fried the 1st week I had the truck, during the rainy season, it was replaced by the shop. Then the sunny season came and no issues. When it fried, I lost microphone capability but kept sound. So the OnStar Module is probably not the problem. These problems seem to only happens in the beginning of my drives and after 5 minutes of driving no symptoms ever appear again. Also seems to only happen when cold or wet outside. I live in Oregon so this is quite often. So with this knowledge, I need to figure out which component is failing/short circuiting/or not grounded properly.

The fact the radio screen turns off but comes back on as if it didn't turn fully off makes me think it could be shorting out. This could be a ground having moisture buildup and shorting enough power to stop the screen from working but not powering it off all the way. Which makes sense why it happens when cold or wet outside and never happened during the summer. Once heated up the moisture evaporates, making everything run normal. To contradict that though, I have driven in huge rain storms and not had any problems. Maybe this ground is also where the Dash and OnStar Module connects. I wish I had an electrical map of where these all go so I could properly single out the components.

I might try unplugging my Radio completely and drive around for a week to see what happens. If the Dash lights fail again then the Radio is not the cause. I can then rule that out completely. I want to get these tests done now while the rain is still here. Once summer comes this will probably stop again.

I no longer trust GM on fixing this problem, 3 visits to the shop, 2 radio updates and 1 blame on my dash cam later, nothing has even been done.

I want to install a second battery and add some extra electronic mods to the truck but don't want to start that project until this is fixed. This issue is holding up my projects!!!!

davester · January 24, 2018

Lemon law depends on which specific state you are in. Some don't have one, and the ones that do have varying requirements. You need to find out about it for your state.

adamj2121 · January 24, 2018

Here is the upfitter electrical diagram: Upfitter Electrical Guide

That should help you with finding grounds and trying to determine other possible causes. I haven't looked through it very much but it is a pretty large file and full of all kinds of good info

Robert Sutton · January 25, 2018

3 hours ago, adamj2121 said:

Here is the upfitter electrical diagram: Upfitter Electrical Guide

That should help you with finding grounds and trying to determine other possible causes. I haven't looked through it very much but it is a pretty large file and full of all kinds of good info

Thanks for that. I searched my radio model (IOB) and found that it connects to G325

Searching for more info on G325 I discovered it is the ground connecting all the electronics I am having problems with.

I found its location.

Then now a nice little photo. I am going to try looking for the ground myself tonight.

I want to do this myself. I talked to the shop today again and they still don't have a rental for me. I tried telling the technician my thoughts and tried having a conversation with him about these issues. He obviously knew nothing about electronics or how to single out the problem. He just wants to call GM again and ask them what to do, which hasn't yielded any results yet.

I do have my Dash Cam cable running over this ground and I also have a Columbia jacket with the Omni-Heat silver shiny layer on top of the ground. Perhaps it could cause an issue, not sure about its conductivity as I can't find material details online. I also could have shoved it down there and disturbed the grounded cables. I put it there a long time ago and left it.

So I will try this easy Ground check and see what happens.

Loco-diablo · January 25, 2018

Did you check the battery negative cable as suggested by adamj2121 in the second post on 12/19? Or look at the G218 ground as mentioned in that video you posted on 12/21?

Have you checked your state lemon law? I know in MA the lemon law applies to 1 year, 15,000 miles after delivery of new vehicle. After that, Lemon law goes away for said vehicle.

Robert Sutton · January 25, 2018

I live in Oregon and we have a good lemon law that I am still eligible for quite a while. 2 years 24,000 miles. I am under a year still and at 7,000 miles.

I could not get to the G218 when I tried. I asked the shop to try and they did, said all was fine with it. In my last post I took a look at the G325 myself and that yielded no results. The issue happened again today.

After work I plan on testing my Alternator and battery. I have a multimeter and am going to check the alternator in depth following this video:

Any other suggestions from folks on what to try to single out the problem?

Loco-diablo · January 25, 2018

Well good luck dude . I hope you find the problem.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Robert Sutton · January 26, 2018

I tested my alternator for like 15 minutes and it continued to jumped between 15v and 16.6v on average. Alternator was squeeking, made a clicking sound like it was turning off and on in the beginning. This was when I got some 17v spikes.

So I’m no expert and will be doing some research on this soon, but from first thought I don’t think it’s suppose to be that high. Maybe too much power is hitting my components in the cab and causing my issues. Maybe they’re the only ones I notice.

I will say my gas gas mileage has dropped significantly since a few months ago. Averaging just under or around 10mpg city and 16.5mpg hwy.

Thoughts?

Robert Sutton · February 15, 2018

Update.

So the shop told me the high voltage spikes are normal. I took it into the shop and my tech I was working with was out on vacation so I got someone else. 2 days later I get a phone call telling me to come pick my truck up, they found the issue and parts were on their way. The tech told me there were two modules having issues. I asked how he came to this conclusion and he said they pulled the whole dash apart and tested everything and found the modules shorting out. I picked the truck up and they said they expected the parts Tuesday.

Well it is Wednesday now and I decided to call them because no one ever called me. I got my old tech back and he was all disorganized. Well he tells me its 1 part and its just a replacement radio. Then tells me Saturday to bring it in and its going to be an hour to an hour and a half to switch everything out.

Extremely annoyed still but am hoping this fixes my problems and I can wash my hands of the situation. GM Customer service has been absolute trash this whole time too. It has been months now dealing with this problem and I have had 3 different GM reps and talked to them a total of 3 times. I left tons of voicemails during this time. Hoping my next post will be saying it is fixed and this thread can die.

Robert Sutton · March 9, 2018

Another update. I have a 4th GM advisor working on my case now. Meaning another new person, not by my choice either. Every time GM calls me they tell me they will call back on a certain day, which they never do. I leave them voicemails that they never return. Awful customer experience, worst I have seen ever. Even worse than Comcast!!!!

Anyways, the shop has had my truck for quite some time now. 5th time in. 2 updates, 1 blame on the camera, a screen replacement, then a radio replacement. Now they are saying they found moisture in the fuse box under the hood and there is corrosion on some terminals. So they are now going to replace the whole fuse box component.

We will see if this resolves my issues. Will report back when I am certain it is fixed or not.