Weird Electrical Issue

[ZJumper]

Having a weird electrical issue with the truck and can't figure it out, nor do I know where to start. Electrical is NOT my thing...I hate it.

Here's my issue and related symptoms:

1. Stereo was acting weird the other day...wouldn't turn on. Stereo would only blink, acting like it was going to turn on, then nothing.

2. Ejected the CD that was in it, then the stereo head deck would work.

3. With the stereo running and whenever something is plugged into the cigarette lighter, the stereo will shut down. Unplug the item and you can turn the stereo on again.

4. Any time a door is opened while the stereo is on, the radio shuts off. Can't turn it on until the door is shut.

5. Turn on the dome light, dome lights do not work now, but the courtesy lights in the footwell area do...turn on the light and the stereo shuts off.

6. Try and honk the horn, the courtesy lights in the footwell area light up dimly and the stereo shuts down.

These are the things I've experienced so far. I don't know what he heck is going on. I checked the battery connections and those are fine. I looked under the dash at wires etc and those look fine too.

So, any ideas where to look? Stereo head deck messed up? Light switch bad? I"m at a loss and don't know where to even start looking.

Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas.

 

[Fordum]

Ok, we can handle this.

You are going to need a dead chicken, a three toed Newt, and some holy water........



Or you can go back and start checking power and ground leads. First, post make, model and year of the truck.
Then look at the firewall under the hood and see if you see some red wires on the passenger side.
Depending on what truck you have, these are the power leads to the truck. Your problem is you have a bad connection either at a power lead, or a ground lead.

The equipment in your truck is only getting enough power to run some things. It can run the radio system, but not the radio and the motor for the CD player at the same time.

Also, the radio, but not the radio and the lighter.

The ground is the same as a power lead, if its not making contact, you get low power also.

If there is a small black wire from the battery cable clamp to the body of the truck, make sure its tight and not corroded.

We can possibly narrow down what to look for when we find out what you are driving.

 

[Blue85]

Check the fuse block. There are actually 2 different circuits for the dome lights and when you pop one of the fuses, everything on that circuit becomes a (poor) ground path. I was thinking that the footwell light would always glow softly under this condition, but that probably depends on what kind of stuff is intalled on that truck.

 

[ZJumper]

Vehicle is a 1989, 350, Silverado, power windows and locks etc.

 

[ZJumper]

Thanks gents...CK5 pulls through again.

Found out the problem.

1. Chassis ground from battery was a bit corroded. Cleaned it up and started checking fuses.

2. For whatever reason the Horn fuse was blown. Replaced the 20A fuse and all is well.

 

[Fordum]

Lucky thing. The '89 Silverado takes a 4 toed Newt for the repair spell, and they are hard to find.