fed up with this thing (searched)

[joyride]

Actually now that I think about it, I know the passenger side sunvisor, the mirror thing is broken, so it's possible that thing is staying on. I'm tempted to just pull the fuse and say f it. lol

 

[Hammer450R]

Props to Sunlit!! Everytime i read about an issue on these forums, Sunlit always has great advise. Im sure i speak for all the DIY guys when i say thanks for helping out!
It is appreciated!

 

[SunlitComet]

Actually now that I think about it, I know the passenger side sunvisor, the mirror thing is broken, so it's possible that thing is staying on. I'm tempted to just pull the fuse and say f it. lol

It is fuse number 3 but if you pull it you will loose a lot of interior lighting.

 

[joyride]

bummer. Well today I guess my parents tried going somewhere and couldn't. Apparently were out of gas and now it started back up with 2 gallons of gas. This was after I had cleaned the grounds out back, assuming one is a fuel pump ground like it is on my s10...same motor minus 2 cylinders so i assume similar fuel pump setups. With how many miles are on this thing I thought maybe the fuel pump finally went out since the gauge acts crazy but now it's better. One thing though, after the truck is turned off the gauge pegs out to the right...that isn't....normal is it? It used to shake all over and not give a good reading on the actual fuel level but now it's normal except for when it's turned off it just pegs right...Any thoughts? Oh, and it was squeaking again after not starting it for a day so I'm assuming something is still draining the battery.....

 

[SunlitComet]

movement is not normal and exactly what was squeaking? mice?

An open in the circuit provides completely full indication but only when key is on. The pcm processes the signal from sender to pcm then sends it to gauge. So if the key is removed and it jumps to full something controlled by ignition switch is not getting shut off. Otherwise wire the spring in the gauge would fall to empty. Also the pcm is playing a roll in this so as it stands you have two issues. One, ignition switch is not shutting everything down or is shorting internally and two, something is causing the pcm to give false data signals.

Charge everything nice and neat and below the dash is a big rectangular connector undo the bolt in it with a 10mm socket and disconnect it(big one in the picture. That half is normally bracketed down but the other half has a bolt to remove and then pull it out.) and then check the battery later to see if it has drained again. By the when this is all said and done with the battery will be no good anymore as it has been killed to a point that it will not fully recover.

 

[joyride]

I meant to say the belt was squeaking since I assume the battery has been getting drained still somewhere, so upon startup the belt was squeaking but shortly after went away.

Thing is the battery died a few a weeks ago after I had just cleaned the grounds yesterday in the taillight harness and near it. I forgot to check the starter today as I kinda played around with my SS Monte instead.

So what you're saying is, unplugging that connector under the dash will just test to see if the battery is getting drained by.....what exactly? and after it's all said and done, i'll have killed the battery completely and have to go back to autozone for a 3rd time with battery issues hoping they'll exchange this one after going in this past weekend after it had been drained from installing it 2 weeks ago...?

 

[SunlitComet]

By disconnecting the steering column wire harness you are eliminating the ignition switch and anything that feeds on it.

 

[joyride]

Oh ok. But what exactly did you mean when you said "By the when this is all said and done with the battery will be no good anymore as it has been killed to a point that it will not fully recover."

I'm confused with that one. ^^

 

[SunlitComet]

Bad and mis-phrasing. I was trying to say after all the really bad battery discharges it would not function normally again but seeing as how you made several trips to autozone I have gathered you have figured that out by now.

 

[joyride]

Gotcha. How many miles do you think the average ignition switch would last? With the way the gas gauge acts would you suspect it has something to do with that more than anything else? For the longest time the gauge would always act sporadic and never really give a good reading. Now after I cleaned the grounds in the back with a wire wheel the gauge seems normal and doesn't shake, except for the issue after the key is off. I'm not stuck on just the gas gauge and the ground being our issue, just curious to why it would do that all of a sudden. Does the ignition switch control that or is the fuel sending unit bad or something? Or could a wire for the fuel sending unit be bad? Like I said earlier though I didn't bother checking the starter yet but I will tomorrow after work. Can I put the digital multimeter to it and see if there is a resistance there? If so, how would I go about doing that? Grounding the negative lead, and putting the red lead, on the starter itself? or one of the wires? I'm assuming there's a purple wire in there...It's been awhile since we replaced the starter so I forget...lol

Once again though, thanks for your help!