merlin1128
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2010
- Posts
- 24
- Reaction score
- 10
I have been reading through a lot of posts and see a lot of people are having dash lights come on, having things come up in the message center on the dash if your Tahoe or Suburban has that, codes coming up in the computer when scanned and trying to figure out why.
I had the same exact problem with my rear wiper just going on by itself for no reason, then tighten fuel cap, sometimes an airbag light or ABS light, then seat belt light over the course of a year.
Then all havoc broke loose with anything and everything coming up on the dash, horrible fuel mileage, you name it.
I have an awesome old school mechanic and cannot believe I did not remember this when mine started to have this happen. He had a vehicle in there doing the same thing and he told me that a lot of times mechanics and even dealerships rely on the scan tool and are looking for codes. Changing parts to clear them, and more and more starts to happen.
He told me when he gets this when a vehicle has many problems is he does not scan it right away he checks all the ground wires first due to the vehicles are old and all rusty underneath and that is where some of the grounds are at.
With mine doing all this slowly over the course of about a year with all this then all the havoc broke loose I remembered this and cannot believe I did not remember him telling me this many years before to check grounds. I found my front ground wire off that is located going down from the battery negative to the frame where their is a loom of wires in a connector. That the bolt that holds that one on rotted away and the ground wire was just hanging off. I cleaned up the frame with a Dremel too to get rid of all the rust so make it nice and shiny again. Of course cleaned up the connector too and used a stainless steel bolt and nut to put it back on.
I then checked all the other grounds and you will see on from the hood to the fire wall and one by the battery connection box by the fuse box.
Then their are two located by each other under the frame of the drivers side door.
All problems solved and no one dash light on or message came up. I then sprayed them all and anywhere I could get on the frame with truck bed coating due to all the rust on it and to seal up my grounds.
Current will always take the path of least resistance and with all kinds of intermittent problems going on that go the ground that is partially left and something else loses it. With mine falling off that is a no brainer major things are going to start coming up on the dash.
This may or may not be your problem with lights on the dash just going on, messages coming up, horrible fuel mileage, weird things going on, codes showing up on the scan tool due to they do not have a proper ground. It never hurts to check all your grounds to make sure they are all grounded and not rusted up getting a partial ground with the age of these vehicles and them being so rusty underneath.
I just wanted to put this up after reading so many post of things happening and people not sure why or codes coming up when scanned.
That this could just simply be a ground wire not fully grounded or in my case falls off. I have seen on YouTube videos of people this happening to and one person spent around 2K at the dealership with them changing parts going by codes they scanned then later the ground wire fell off like mine and all it was is the ground wire was not completing the circuit for the parts they changed which were good just going by codes scanned.
Needless to say in that YouTube video he was heading to the dealership finding his ground off like mine and putting it back on and all was solved problem free to complain about the 2K he paid them basically for just a ground wire they never checked.
I know this is long, but it is also preventative maintenance with the age of these vehicles and it may fix problems you do not even know you have that is going on in the computer now that all grounds are solid and good.
I had the same exact problem with my rear wiper just going on by itself for no reason, then tighten fuel cap, sometimes an airbag light or ABS light, then seat belt light over the course of a year.
Then all havoc broke loose with anything and everything coming up on the dash, horrible fuel mileage, you name it.
I have an awesome old school mechanic and cannot believe I did not remember this when mine started to have this happen. He had a vehicle in there doing the same thing and he told me that a lot of times mechanics and even dealerships rely on the scan tool and are looking for codes. Changing parts to clear them, and more and more starts to happen.
He told me when he gets this when a vehicle has many problems is he does not scan it right away he checks all the ground wires first due to the vehicles are old and all rusty underneath and that is where some of the grounds are at.
With mine doing all this slowly over the course of about a year with all this then all the havoc broke loose I remembered this and cannot believe I did not remember him telling me this many years before to check grounds. I found my front ground wire off that is located going down from the battery negative to the frame where their is a loom of wires in a connector. That the bolt that holds that one on rotted away and the ground wire was just hanging off. I cleaned up the frame with a Dremel too to get rid of all the rust so make it nice and shiny again. Of course cleaned up the connector too and used a stainless steel bolt and nut to put it back on.
I then checked all the other grounds and you will see on from the hood to the fire wall and one by the battery connection box by the fuse box.
Then their are two located by each other under the frame of the drivers side door.
All problems solved and no one dash light on or message came up. I then sprayed them all and anywhere I could get on the frame with truck bed coating due to all the rust on it and to seal up my grounds.
Current will always take the path of least resistance and with all kinds of intermittent problems going on that go the ground that is partially left and something else loses it. With mine falling off that is a no brainer major things are going to start coming up on the dash.
This may or may not be your problem with lights on the dash just going on, messages coming up, horrible fuel mileage, weird things going on, codes showing up on the scan tool due to they do not have a proper ground. It never hurts to check all your grounds to make sure they are all grounded and not rusted up getting a partial ground with the age of these vehicles and them being so rusty underneath.
I just wanted to put this up after reading so many post of things happening and people not sure why or codes coming up when scanned.
That this could just simply be a ground wire not fully grounded or in my case falls off. I have seen on YouTube videos of people this happening to and one person spent around 2K at the dealership with them changing parts going by codes they scanned then later the ground wire fell off like mine and all it was is the ground wire was not completing the circuit for the parts they changed which were good just going by codes scanned.
Needless to say in that YouTube video he was heading to the dealership finding his ground off like mine and putting it back on and all was solved problem free to complain about the 2K he paid them basically for just a ground wire they never checked.
I know this is long, but it is also preventative maintenance with the age of these vehicles and it may fix problems you do not even know you have that is going on in the computer now that all grounds are solid and good.
