wysiwigs

I sure hope someone here can give me a few more ideas to try. I'm at the end of which direction to go next.

1995 Chevy Tahoe 4x4 LS
Was in storage two years, lots of mouse damage..I've repaired. Drove great for a while then all of a sudden I would have all lights and instrument panel, blower etc. flashing on and off with a clicking sound in the dash. Everything works fine if the high beams are on, but once I switch to low beam it all goes haywire again. Some days I can get them to work for a short period of driving, and all of a sudden they don't. It is not consistent. Sometimes the engine wants to start dying out on me as well when this happens, it drops down to almost a stall. All of the plugs/wires and relevant tune up things are brand new as of last month.

So, research showed it to be probably the multi switch lever on the steering column. That was replaced today with a new one, along with the dimmer/headlights switch on the dash.
It didn't fix it, I have the same problem, but now I have no low beams on at all...they don't even flash on and off. Left turn signal won't go off when turning either. Mechanic who installed the switch is fixing that tomorrow.

I was just in the engine and have discovered some additional things wrong. First, the braided ground wires that go from the back wall to the engine block? are broken/rusted and not connected at all. Not sure where they both go, but I will get to that tomorrow.
Also, the battery cable wires are pretty bad...the green wire that goes to the alternator has barely any threads connected. It has corroded and split pretty bad, if there is any connection going on there it's minimal.

So, my question at this point is, can either of those ground wire issues be causing the flashing electrical issues when on the low beam setting? These ground wires will be fixed tomorrow, but if that isn't feasible to be causing the problem I need to know what else to look at. Operating on high beam headlights coming home from work at night has caused some close road rage incidents....on icy roads.

I have also been reading about the DLR module under the dash, but that doesn't seem to be relative to all of the symptoms with the flashing and clicking relay noise.

I sure hope I can get some ideas here. This is costing me heavily...but I have to have this truck to get to work. There is NO money for another vehicle of any kind, and I really don't want to buy some piece of junk that someone else couldn't figure out the problems with. LOL

Thank you

Wysi

Just adding a thought. I inspected the old Multi switch lever and the contacts appear to be very dirty and dark color, greasy. Kind of wondering if the contacts on the steering column itself could be dirty too and they just need cleaning off? Has anyone tried this and have it work? The mechanic is going to try to fix the turn signal issue tomorrow, I was thinking of asking him to clean those contacts, but not sure what to clean them with. Rubbing alcohol and a q-tip usually works on other things.....

V12TT

If I'm you I would go to the automotive store for some electronics cleaner. Spray them on all contact points to remove corrosive.

wysiwigs

Thank you. I bought a can of contact cleaner today, but have not done the spraying yet.

An update, I discovered that the wires at the dimmer switch were getting very hot to the touch and the clicking noise was coming directly from the switch. So....I installed a new ground strap from the engine to the chassis and tried the switch. Bingo....low beams work, wires aren't getting hot and I drove it for more than a half hour waiting for the problem to begin again. It didn't start to happen again, so tomorrow I'm going to take it for a very long drive and see if the problem comes again, if not...then I have to assume the missing/corroded ground strap was the problem. I sure hope that's it, but I'm not going to wave a glory flag until time/run tested completely.

V12TT

That's great news. Bad grounds are hard to detect. Those electronic contacts cleaner is great for older cars.

wysiwigs

Okay, while I'm here I have one more thing I need to replace for sure. The cable going from the battery (positive terminal) to the alternator, it's frayed toward the middle of the cable and in really bad shape. It's almost cut in half. The end going to the alternator has a rubber cap on it similar to a spark plug wire and connects onto the alternator. Does anyone know what this cable is actually called, or a part # I can reference to look for a new one?

Thank you!

V12TT

Sounds like this one?

V12TT

Here is a link for cheaper options. Look through them to see which one is similar to yours

wysiwigs

Geez, never occurred to me it would be called a battery cable...{{homer simpson says: DOH!!!}} I thought that frayed cable was a separate component. ROFL!
You have been so helpful, thank you! I see exactly what I need now.

V12TT

Glad I was able to help. Just a reminder, it's best to disconnect the negative cable from the battery first then reconnect after the swap.

wysiwigs

I drove the Tahoe well over two hours today, back roads..highway..and never had a single problem with the lights or any overheating wires. So, I believe the problem has been resolved with the replaced corroded and broken ground wire.
I fixed the Alternator cable without having to pay for a new one, and there is one more ground wire to replace going from the frame to the body. The rest are just clean up of corrosion and cleaned off to be sure of solid contacts.

Hopefully this will help others to save themselves some time and money. Check the ground wires first when having electrical issues. It's a cheap fix!