Anyone seen this electrical problem? 2003 Tahoe

[rockola1971]

2003 Tahoe 5.3L Z

This all started yesterday but got worse today.

Yesterday The instrument cluster was totally blanked out and mirror digital temp/compass blanked out.

This morning had Tahoe warming up in driveway to leave and went out to it not running and headlights on.
Charged battery back up and started fine. Got ready to leave and while in drive I watched the Climate display go dim to blank then the clock on radio did the same within 1 min. Shortly after Tahoe just died. Wouldnt even click the solenoid. So I pulled battery out of my Yukon and Tahoe ran fine for over 30mins in drive. I went to Gas station about 7 mins down the road and on the way back home the climate display went blank, cluster hasnt been lit up since yesterday at all and all gauges dead. Engine started getting a surge like it was not getting enough power to the ignition coils. Made it home and parked it. Went to restart and got the solenoid clicking.

Im thinking shorted diode pack in alternator. And of course I cant find my voltmeter so have no way to verify alternator output. both batteries are less than 2 years old.

Anyone ever seen this before?

 

[OR VietVet]

It sure sounds like the alternator to me. The injection system needs the alternator to run because the power needed will drain a battery quickly. I would also check all grounds on the frame and under the hood for clean and tight. I would also check the battery cables for cleanliness and tight and if there is corrosion under the insulation near the battery. Check the connections at the starter too. The battery age can come in to play, especially when you have a bad alternator and is not charging and the rest of your systems are draining it down, like it sounds like. Replace the alternator if is bad and the battery if is old enough. The diode tray could very well be a problem but typically because a diode is designed to allow electrical flow in one direction, or at least it used to be that way, if it is bad it will drain a battery sitting overnight, like you left the lights on.

 

[rockola1971]

Got her figured out. Luckily I have 2 2003 Tahoes and I robbed the alternator off the wife's Tahoe (Its waiting for me to change out the transfer case). Im wandering around my house wondering where on earth my voltmeter is and it dawns on me...."Hey Stupid, You have a Tech 2 and it will show alternator voltage". Well it sure did. With engine running the voltage was 11.6V. So I swapped out the alternator and all is good now. Putting out 13.9v and cluster, Auto climate display and mirror temp/compass all work fine now. Apparently the Cluster is Very sensitive to voltage under 12v. It was all completely dead. Gauges, message center and all indicator lights.

 

[OR VietVet]

Great. Those gauges and other readouts are very sensitive to dirty and loose grounds and battery connections and corrosion. It all comes in to play. Very glad it is fixed. This may be one of the quickest "It is fixed" threads I have seen. All good.

 

[rockola1971]

Great. Those gauges and other readouts are very sensitive to dirty and loose grounds and battery connections and corrosion. It all comes in to play. very glad it is fixed. This may be one of the quickest "It is fixed" threads I have seen. All good.

Well I did work on the electrical for the F/A18C Hornet when I was in the Navy and have been an Electronic Tech for a couple decades or so. But its hard to troubleshoot electrical without a multimeter but the Tech 2 kept me from chasing my own rearend once I remembered it could show me the system voltage. Now if you could just tell me where I put my voltmeter!! Any guesses?

 

[OR VietVet]

Well I did work on the electrical for the F/A18C Hornet when I was in the Navy and have been an Electronic Tech for a couple decades or so. But its hard to troubleshoot electrical without a multimeter but the Tech 2 kept me from chasing my own rearend once I remembered it could show me the system voltage. Now if you could just tell me where I put my voltmeter!! Any guesses?

I can help with that too. I will give you my phone number. You call me. Then you walk around your home and garage with the phone and I will look thru your phone while doing that and I will tell you where I see it.

Since you are waiting for parts or $ for the other Tahoe repair, have you looked inside that vehicle under the seats or laying in there somewhere? May be laying under the hood someplace. But multimeters are a dime a dozen for the cheap ones.

When I was in the Navy, during Vietnam, I used to walk around the flight deck and hanger deck and talked with some of the squadron techs that kept those jets airborne. F-4's, A-7 Vigilante's, A-6A and A-6B and others. It amazed me to say the least.


Is these pics them?

 

[OR VietVet]

More pics from the same source. Pics supplied by a friend of mine whose son is on the carrier. The group of ships traveling with them, their escorts, he has a friend that shot these two carrier pics.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Well I did work on the electrical for the F/A18C Hornet when I was in the Navy and have been an Electronic Tech for a couple decades or so. But its hard to troubleshoot electrical without a multimeter but the Tech 2 kept me from chasing my own rearend once I remembered it could show me the system voltage. Now if you could just tell me where I put my voltmeter!! Any guesses?

 

[rockola1971]

[QUOTE="PNW VietVet, post: 1414993]


I can help with that too. I will give you my phone number. You call me. Then you walk around your home and garage with the phone and I will look thru your phone while doing that and I will tell you where I see it.

Since you are waiting for parts or $ for the other Tahoe repair, have you looked inside that vehicle under the seats or laying in there somewhere? May be laying under the hood someplace. But multimeters are a dime a dozen for the cheap ones.

When I was in the Navy, during Vietnam, I used to walk around the flight deck and hanger deck and talked with some of the squadron techs that kept those jets airborne. F-4's, A-7 Vigilante's, A-6A and A-6B and others. It amazed me to say the least.


Is these pics them?[/QUOTE]
Yep but I worked on C model Hornets in my squadron 1997-1998. The Super Hornets (E&F models) were still being tested and hadnt been sent out to the fleet yet. Was on the Roosevelt and Enterprise. Stationed with VFA-37 NAS CECIL FIELD

And I still havent found that damned multimeter! I looked in the Yukon and the Denali. Its gotta be buried in my house somewhere. (spring cleaning and moving 80ft to a brand new house that I had built in a couple months).

 

[OR VietVet]

I was on the Kitty Hawk CV-63 when in Vietnam. The Enterprise was the first nuclear carrier and was CVN-65. Knew guys on there at the same time I was overseas.