Radio and Dash lights not turning off

Greg09Ag · May 5, 2018

I've got an issue I've been chasing down for a couple days now, whenever I turn off my truck, take the key out of the ignition, open and close the door, the radio and gauge cluster lights don't turn off. The dome light turns off as it should. I've checked for blown fuses, and checked for parasitic voltage across all of them, even checked all my relays and still nothing. I replaced the ignition switch and it's still happening (does the same with the old and the new one), however, when I pull out the ignition switch and pull the connector on it from the BCM everything turns off. I sprayed some lubricant inside the door latch to see if that was causing it but to no avail, still happening. Could it actually be the door latches? Or maybe the ignition lock cylinder? Body Control Module? Something else? Any help is appreciated!

silveradosid · May 6, 2018

i posted about this problem about a month ago, and believe it or not but it is your wiper motor that causes this. just had the same problem on a 2006, you can just replace the board on the motor

Greg09Ag · May 7, 2018

The wiper motor functions (the wipers act as they normally should) is there anyway to ohm the wiper board to see if/which of them it could be? Or maybe check for parasitic current?

Supreme Pizza · May 7, 2018

Yes, unplug the wiper motor power supply wires, and see if the problem goes away.

Greg09Ag · May 9, 2018

I unplugged the wiper motor board and the check battery light stayed on. Wipers actuated fine. But lo and behold when I unplugged the ignition switch the check battery light turned off. So unless Oreillys sold me a broken ignition switch it's gotta be the ignition lock cylinder? What else could it be?

Supreme Pizza · May 9, 2018

I have seen these types of problems before. Not easy to fix. I usually install a master kill switch.

Greg09Ag · May 10, 2018

Where would I place it, if it comes to that? On the constant 12v in, on the ignition switch wire?

Supreme Pizza · May 10, 2018

I have installed many of these over the years. Put it in the center column or dash area. Run the wires to your battery area. Use it to connect your battery to vehicle's power supply AFTER the starter lead. You can follow main power wires from the battery to figure out which one goes to the starter. You do not want to have your starter juice flowing through your kill switch. Sometimes the splicing is done in a power distribution box, and sometimes near the battery.

Edited May 10, 2018 by starman8tdc

tigers2007 · December 27, 2018

I want to post an anecdote regarding a successful repair of my 2009 Silverado that had the same symptoms - the radio would not shut off and dome light would not turn on when exiting the vehicle after shutting the engine off. Clearly the Retained Accessory Power (RAP) system had a fault. I highly suggest that you do not impulse purchase a new door latch. Replacing the door latch is not the end-all solution. Unfortunately I didn't take the time to watch this YouTube video and learn to perform about ten minutes of diagnosis to figure out it was just a dead ground wire. The YouTube link is for the older GMT800 series trucks but the concept is the same. To test the entire system, you'll have to pull the door cover off. Watch this YouTube video on how to get the door cover off (and how to replace the door latch if really needed). But before you pull anything apart I suggest following the steps below:

1. Pop off the side cover exposing the driver side dashboard fuse panel. The upper left connector houses the wire harness that goes to front drivers door. Leave the connector plugged in. The first test will be to run a test wire from ground to a specific wire in this connector. Now referencing the top wires of the connector and the plug position to the rear, go forward to the third spot. There should be a thin gray wire with a black stripe. That is the signal wire that goes to the BCM. When it is grounded out, it completes the circuit to the BCM and then the BCM knows the door is UNLATCHED/OPEN. Thus it kills the radio (the RAP circuit) and also activates the dome lights.

2. Get a long piece of wire and attach it to a known good ground. I have a ton of pigtail wires that already have alligator clips attached. Turn the key ON and then OFF to pretend that you are attempting to exit the truck after driving it. The radio should be on as the RAP thinks the door is still closed. Now ground out that gray wire with the black stripe that I described above. The radio should immediately shut off and the dome light should have turned on. I used a paperclip and poked it into the connector space where the gray wire with black stripe is.

3. If the above happened, then we know that the BCM is functioning fine and is not the problem. The problem is either the latch assembly or the supply ground wire to the latch assembly went bad.

4. You'll have to remove the entire door panel (follow my second YouTube video link above) to get to the latch from the inside of the door. You do not have to take the latch assembly out of the truck to complete this step. Unplug the connector near to the top of the latch by carefully lifting up on the purple locking piece and pulling the connector back. I attached an image to this posting that is the diagram for that connector. From here it is easy. Test and see if the small black wire (position 8) has a solid connection to ground. Mine didn't. If yours does have a good ground there, then you can suspect a bad door latch assembly.

5. Now if the ground there is non-existent, then run a new ground wire. I spliced mine about a foot behind the latch connector and spliced the other end to the black wire near the right-angle connector that goes to the door lock/unlock switch. You are finished. Put it all back together and drink a beer.

6. If your ground wire was good, then you need to see if the BCM signal wire AKA "Left Front Door Ajar Switch Signal" has continuity to the same gray with black stripe wire that you tested in step 2 above. Check for continuity - it should have it all the time. If it has continuity, then I'm 100% sure your door latch is bad. This is because you just verified that the ground wire is good and the signal wire (gray with black stripe) is also good. Replace the part following the second YouTube video link made by 1A auto. I suggest you buy the OEM AC Delco part and not Dorman. I paid $111 shipped to my door for a genuine GM part from RockAuto. Installation only took about 20 minutes.