It's raining, and I'm crawling under the Suburban EDIT: Flooding!

[ccarley]

Of course! Nothing bad happens when it's sunny & warm out.

Now that's it's raining & like 45 degrees, of course I have an electrical gremlin. I noticed my turn signals stopped working... so I checked the fuses, and found the fuse blown. The brake light fuse was blown too... not too good!

My wife helped me check the tail lights after replacing the fuse, and we found (after blowing another one) the right turn was out. OK, pulled lens, blown bulb. Of course I don't have any... so we head out to Autozone, and picked up some bulbs, 15 amp fuses, and some new wiper blades since mine were chattering.

Replaced bulb, fuse still blows. Suck! OK, get the creeper out. It's still raining. Not lightly either. The undercarriage is still dripping from the drive too. Wiring looks OK. Next I'm looking under the dash. This is where I would like to thank the previous owner. Wire nuts, wires wrapped around stuff... plenty of tape too.

Without pulling the panel under the steering column I was able to work the wires a bit, but of course it's raining on me as I have the door open laying sideways on the floor. Once the rain stops, I'm going to have to dig in under there again. Thankfully, the air duct for the left vent is missing (more previous owner work) so it's all open & easy to get to.

Thankfully when I was done, all the lights work again. I just really need to go through all that wiring that the PO worked on . Wire nuts galore, even under the hood (which I have since replaced with butt-connectors).

Clay

 

[K5_Fla]

I don’t know what some people think... it's amazing to me what they do to their truck. I had all kinds of "surprises" and dirty wiring on my K5 when I got it.

Defiantly clean up that junk and use good clamps/connectors. Electrical problems are the worse... keep us updated. check for chewed up wires along the driver’s side of frame..

 

[K85 Octane]

I feel ya on the rain, especially in your scenario. Sucks when it rains on a weekend too. BUT I love it, o well.

O and I plan on scrapping the truck when I'm done with it. While my work is above sub par , still don't want to be a PO. I could do the work blind folded and be better than my PO.

 

[ccarley]

So far, thankfully all the wiring underneath is OK. I just wonder what exactly was replaced.

Pretty sure these guys wrecked the front at Pismo. All they told me was they "painted it themselves!", but one side of the front looks like they used a roller, while the other side looks like they used a brush on the fenders.

The column had a GMC wheel on it, and the grille said GMC too; but it is indeed a Chevy.

I sure am glad I got the wiring under the hood taken care of when I did, but dang, I wish I got the stuff under the dash taken care of then too! I just hadn't seen it yet. Oh yeah, looks like rain & thunderstorms for the rest of the week!

Clay

 

[ccarley]

Haha, looking at the weather station at my office. .69" of rain today so far, and it's 9:00! This "storm" since Friday: 1.89". Doesn't sound like much compared to snowfall, but believe me, it's quite a bit of rain for us so far.

Sunny California? Well, it's sunny here in the summertime!

http://weather.sonic.net/

Clay

 

[scottsdale86]

Yeah i'm in the same boat! In San Bernardino i got a pond in my backyard!! It is just not letting up1

 

[K85 Octane]

The column had a GMC wheel on it, and the grille said GMC too; but it is indeed a Chevy.

If it drives straight, be happy.
It could be worse. My dash said sierra classic, but it's a chevy. The frame and core support both have junkyard "86" written on them. But it's an 85
Just happy it drives so nice. <-- me praying it stays that way

 

[ccarley]

Here's some cool photos from an outing today. Fun stuff, I don't know why I was nervous about driving through the water though. Wasn't more than a foot deep, and not really flowing!

Many thanks to my wife, for getting a little wet while getting some photos!

The rain has held off for a little while, but it's getting dark again.

Clay

 

[Fordum]

A word of warning from someone who crosses rivers and streams from time to time.

First, just remember a little water can hide a lot of trouble. Washed out roadways culverts, BIG potholes......

Also, if you are crossing water like that, its different since you have side rails out of the water. But, if you are crossing where there are no side rails, and you feel a sort of rocking motion, OPEN THE DOORS!

Friend of mine was crossing a section of road where the creek was flowing across. I was behind him and saw the rear end of his truck give a little wiggle. I started yelling to him over the CB to open his door, but he would not listen.

As a result, when his truck finally did sink, it was about 50 feet out in the swamp.

I made sure my door was open, so my truck did not float off and I was able to pull him out of the swamp after I got across.

Fortunately, he did finally listen and turned off his engine before it sucked any water down.

I did make him dive down and hook up the winch cable though for not listening to me.

His cassette deck was never the same though....

 

[4X4HIGH]

Could be worse, I once bought a 49 chevy truck and the PO rewired the entire truck with RED wire. The wrong kind of wire as well.

 

[ccarley]

A word of warning from someone who crosses rivers and streams from time to time.

First, just remember a little water can hide a lot of trouble. Washed out roadways culverts, BIG potholes......

Also, if you are crossing water like that, its different since you have side rails out of the water. But, if you are crossing where there are no side rails, and you feel a sort of rocking motion, OPEN THE DOORS!

Friend of mine was crossing a section of road where the creek was flowing across. I was behind him and saw the rear end of his truck give a little wiggle. I started yelling to him over the CB to open his door, but he would not listen.

As a result, when his truck finally did sink, it was about 50 feet out in the swamp.

I made sure my door was open, so my truck did not float off and I was able to pull him out of the swamp after I got across.

Fortunately, he did finally listen and turned off his engine before it sucked any water down.

I did make him dive down and hook up the winch cable though for not listening to me.

His cassette deck was never the same though....

Good advise! I was watching others cross before we did, just to make sure the road was still there, and to check how deep it was.

The water certainly wasn't flowing anywhere. There are signs before you get to that point saying "flooding in winter". You'd think they would fix the drainage problem eh?

It worked out great in the end, and washed off some of the mud we hit. The mud was scarier to me, driving on nice hardpack and then all of a sudden the tires sink! We had no issues thankfully

I'm definitely going to remember to open doors should that issue arise with us

Clay

 

[ccarley]

Could be worse, I once bought a 49 chevy truck and the PO rewired the entire truck with RED wire. The wrong kind of wire as well.

Man I hate that! Sucks so bad for troubleshooting. I'm guessing THHN solid red wire? LOL

I was telling my wife earlier that I love the GM color code under the truck too. I used to work at an RV shop, and wired many trucks for 5th wheels & regular trailers, and learned the GM color code quickly!

Clay