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Electrical Failure 99 Suburban

grunion0

By grunion0
in Ask A GM Technician

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grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
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I have a 99 suburban with 170K and everything was working fine. I drove it to the store and after 5 minutes got back in and it would not start. The radio and ignition sound came on like normal but when cranking the engine everything went dead.

 

 

Symptoms:

 

Turn ignition on and the standard beep sounds and gauges seem to work but then…

 

1) Turn lights on and beeps stops and gauges go dead except the fuel gauge does a 180 completely off the chart.

 

2) Turn hazards on and a very weird sound comes from under the hood like a unlubricated wind up toy. No flashing just a very dim glow. Gauges go dead except the fuel gauge does a 180 completely off the chart.

 

3) After charging for a long time and turning the key to aux I finally got the windows to roll up without the same gauge and seemingly short effect.

 

4) Blinkers cause the gauges go dead and the fuel gauge does a 180 completely off the chart as usual.

 

5) Car will not start or turn over. It’s like there is an automatic short that is stealing power.

 

6) Interior light will come on dimmer than usual when key is in aux position.

 

 

Things I have checked:

 

1) Fuses all check out and look clean.

 

2) Battery checks out. Had it load tested at AutoZone.

 

3) No visible signs of burned wiring or lose connection. No burned smells.

 

4) Disconnected the amp and stereo which is on a separate circuit I installed myself to no avail.

 

5) Pulled every fuse while the hazards were on hoping there would be a change and help identify a bad circuit but no luck.

 

6) Disconnected the ECM and it did not change the situation.

 

 

I have a general mechanic background and have worked on my own cars all my life but not professionally. I just recently (about 6 months ago) replaced the intake manifold gasket. I have an electrical background and can follow any advice in that aspect or would like to think so. I am at a complete and utter loss here. I really have no idea what to do next other than start dismantling the components and doing ohm test but still would not know if the values I am looking at are within range or not.

 

 

Any advice that ANYONE can give me would help me greatly. This is our main source of transportation and is dire for it to be working again.

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I have spent some time at our shop discussing this issue with various mechanics and have recieved a few different opinions. One thing I should point out is when I disconnected the battery and reconnected it, it did not spark or arch like there was a load on it. (actually not at all)

 

1) The voltage is being disrupted either by a corrosion or a loose connection in such a way that any load kills the circuit like a circuit braker also known as a ghost voltage.

 

2) See if arching the starter will allow it to turn over. (Although I see this as tough considering the location) If it does not check the battery terminations.

 

Thats all I got for now. Once I get home at 5pm I will tinker with it some more. I can say that these things do not make sense as this happened instantly like a component went bad but I am will to try anything. This is not an intermitant problem so it should not be that hard to find......at least I hope.

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

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Ok, after I got home from work I did some poking around. I bypassed the starter and the altenator and everything was good until....I got to the fuse box. Doing a continuity test from fuse to fuse from the main entry terminal at the front of the fuse box for reference I found that the ECM fuse did not have continuity. I pulled the fuse out and checked the contacts and tested. From one side of the fuse to the other it registers for a split second and then goes open. I have no voltage running through the system and I am using the tone testing mode with my fluke meter.

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
  • Author
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After further checking I have found that with the ECM umplugged and checking the resistance between the two fuse contacts between the fuse block, I get a reading of 11K ohms. I believe my fuse block is the problematic peice of this puzzle. I will update my final findings later. If not for anything else... maybe for the search engines to help someone later with a similar problem. :lol:

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
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Well someone has got to do it. I am that guy.

 

Any advice would be helpfull but I fear I will have solved the problem before I get what I came here looking for.

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
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Ok, its another day and I am back at it. I left off with the ecm fuse in the fuse block under the hood. Checking the two fuse contacts for the ecm fuse (with the fuse pulled out of course) I am getting a reading of 11K ohms. This should be open with no reading as the fuse should be the only path for voltage to pass but it is getting around this circuit somehow and giving me a reading. I am at a loss. I guess I will attack the ignition switch next.

pennzoil29 Senior Enthusiast

pennzoil29

Posted
Posted

I admire your persistance. I sure hope you get it figured out. I tend to stay away from electical problems myself. I always wind up getting flustered. :lol:

grunion0 Enthusiast

grunion0

Posted
  • Author
Posted

After getting into the steering collumn and ignition switch I stopped and started thinking (something I rarely do :lol: ) "Maybe, just maybe I am making this more complicated than it actually is"...I turned the hazzards on and touched the newly terminated batter cables on the (TOP) posts instead of the (SIDE) and it immediately started working. Autozone load tested the wrong damn posts on the battery and they even asked me which ones I used for my car. The side posts have a dead cell which was causing the issue. I bought a new battery and put my car back together and everything is good. I feel like a donkey.

jrbean Enthusiast

jrbean

Posted
Posted

The side terminals on the battery will seperate from the internals of the battery itself, usually on the positive side. I've seen several just fall loose from the battery while connected to the cable. Overtightening the cables is usually the cause, or sometimes just age.

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