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Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666689 July 22nd 2014 12:22 pm
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Fixed the popped head but the problem still persists. Checked both headlight grounds, cleaned and lubed with dielectric grease.
[Linked Image]

The opposite end of the wire connected to the motor has oil on it but looks fairly clean. Will clean it off tomorrow.

Weird thing is that the flashers work, however dim. The turn signal is lacking. Back to the drawing board.

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Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666702 July 22nd 2014 2:50 pm
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I still don't know that you have said what does work on the lights. This is on the right side, but front or rear or both? Do any of the side markers work? Do all the lights on the opposite side work? Lets focus on getting all the parking lamps to work first before worrying about the turn signals and flashers. These are related when in turn signal mode (the side marker and turn signal probably alternate). So, do all the parking lamps work? Which ones don't? You will need a test light or voltmeter to check the sockets. With park lamps on, check for voltage and ground at the side marker sockets. If you are missing either, check the wires right before the socket by sticking a pin or needle through the wire insulation and checking for voltage or ground. Bad sockets are common in older trucks. If these are ok, repeat for the front and rear park lamps/turn signals.



1992 Chevy G20, 110" wheelbase, Mark III conversion, L31/4L80e swap, Express wiring harness.
Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666727 July 22nd 2014 6:00 pm
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Ok let me explain. The parking lights and side markers work except for the front right parking light and front right side marker. The turn signals work on the left side but does not work on the right side. When activated on the right side the rear light illuminates but doesn't flash. The front right doesn't illuminate at all.

When I activate the flashers all 4 corners illuminate however the right front parking light and right front side marker is dim.

Now speaking only for the front right side; when I remove the parking bulb, the side marker bulb illuminates but only dim. When I place a bulb into the parking light socket the side marker bulb goes out.

Now a question for testing the socket for continuity with a multimeter. Should the digital multimeter alarm? I ask because I obtain random numbers but no alarm. This is done with the negative battery terminal disconnected. I read the directions for the multimeter and if I remember correctly that it will only alarm if the reading in under/over(?) 30 amps.

Thanks for the input thus far!

Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666734 July 22nd 2014 6:47 pm
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Ok. So your front right park lamp and side marker don't light. Your turn signals working normally on left side and only lighting the rear turn signal continuously (not blinking) means that you don't have a good bulb or connection to the bulb on the front right. The flasher needs both bulbs to light (draw current) in order to heat up and break the connection, causing bulbs to momentarily go out. Then, a second later the flasher element cools and lights the bulbs again. With only one good bulb lighting, that one bulb will light up and not flash.
Everything points to a problem with your front lights/light sockets. Your multimeter does several functions. The two that will be useful to us here are the Ohm-meter (Resistance) mode and the Volt-meter (Voltage) modes. For each mode, your leads may need to be plugged into the correct sockets on the Meter, indicated on the label.
Ohm-meter mode. Only use this on circuits that do not have voltage. Most meters are damaged/blow internal fuse if connected to a circuit that is energized. Check for voltage in Voltage mode first if unsure. Ohm-meter mode measures electrical resistance between two points. A low reading (0-10 ohms) indicates that the points are electrically connected. If you check your negative battery cable to the frame, expect to see a low resistance. If your see a high number, 100 ohms or more, or the reading OL, there is not a connection. You can use this mode to check your bulbs, a low reading means that you have a good bulb element. A high or OL reading means that the bulb element is open. With all of your lights turned off, you should have a low resistance reading from your lamp socket part that connects to the brass part of the bulb on an 1157 bulb to the negative battery terminal or a good connection on the metal body. On a 194 bulb, one side should be grounded.
Volt-meter mode. This tells you the voltage difference between two points. Be sure leads are in the correct ports. You will be using DC Voltage mode on your vehicle. DC is sometimes represented by a dashed line on the Meter. AC mode is NOT what you want, that is for your home. AC is sometimes represented by a sine wave (the capital letter "S" on its side). You have a nominal 12 Volt system. If you check your battery when the vehicle is off, battery charged, you will see 13.? volts. With the vehicle running, you will see 14.? volts across your battery terminals. This is a good way to check if your alternator is working. Some Meters won't read less than full volts/ohms. These are fine for most uses. You will be using Volt-meter mode to check for power (voltage) at your bulb sockets while your lights are on. With the Negative (black) voltmeter lead on a good ground point, you should see a DC voltage on one of the socket connections that connect to the lamp element. Usually this reading be less than the battery voltage. As long as you see 6 Volts or more, this will be fine. Sometimes it is hard to get a good ground connection. You need bare, clean, shiny metal.
The Alarm you mention is probably Continuity mode. This mode is sometimes the same as Ohm-meter mode or sometimes is a separate selection on the Meter. This is an aid to electricians when checking continuity. It will make "beep" noise when the resistance between the leads is very low (5 ohms or less, on some meters). This allows you to check for low resistances without being able to see the meter display. You could use this to connect your negative Meter lead to the Negative battery terminal with an alligator clip. Then, you could extend your positive lead with a piece of wire and when you hear a beep, you have touched the extended positive lead to another grounded point on the cars body.



1992 Chevy G20, 110" wheelbase, Mark III conversion, L31/4L80e swap, Express wiring harness.
Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666779 July 23rd 2014 9:22 am
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Very thorough my friend. I do have to agree that I believe the culprit is the socket and will resume testing tomorrow. Thanks again and I will update.

Another question I have. While under the van I traced two wires from a device of some sort from the rear of the van to the engine bay. However in the engine bay the wires don't connect to anything. The previous owner used a butt connector but had snipped the wire.

Does this look familiar to anyone? If this is an aftermarket harness I will remove it.
[Linked Image]I also observed two separate snipped wires under the dash. One grey and one white. The grey wire (in my hand in the photo) has a conjoining black wire. The both wires run down from the steering column and attaches to the firewall of the van.
[Linked Image][Linked Image]

The white wire is from a 6 wire harness behind the dashboard.
[Linked Image]
Checking my manual now.

Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #666960 July 25th 2014 2:13 pm
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I can't tell from the pictures, do you still have the floor mounted High beam / Low beam switch?


[Linked Image from live.staticflickr.com]
Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
kursed #667120 July 27th 2014 8:37 pm
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Originally Posted by kursed
I can't tell from the pictures, do you still have the floor mounted High beam / Low beam switch?

Yes the high low beam switch is mounted and active. Will finally have a chance to get in the garage to work on the van. Report coming.

Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #667129 July 27th 2014 9:50 pm
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Make some progress. I set the multi-meter to 20 on the AC setting. Using an alligator clamp I attached the negative lead to a bolt on the doghouse.

I probed the white wire and the reading was 8.41. I turned on the dome/cargo light and the reading dropped to 0.20. Am I correct in assuming that this is a hot/positive wire?

I also probed my horn assembly. I removed the center cap to reveal this:

[Linked Image]

First I pressed the button you see at the 11 O'Clock position and heard a pop. Checked the fuses and a 10 amp fuse blew. I replaced the fuse, set the multimeter to the ohm setting. With the negative lead on the same bolt, the multimeter alarmed when the positive lead touched the center bolt of the steering wheel and when I pressed the wire in the middle of the spring against said bolt. According to you statement this was proven to be a ground.

With the ohm SOP I probed the grey wire and I didn't receive any reading. I then set the multimeter to AC (20) with the same result.

At this point I think that the white wire was supplying power to the grey wire. Since the co-joining black wire is grounded on the firewall this is possibly supporting evidence. I'm tempted to connect them and see what happens but I though I'd seek outside opinions. Let me know what you cats think!

I also found this behind the doghouse!

[Linked Image]



Re: Short or ground issues? 79 G20, right parking lamp
Prince_Ruben #667434 July 31st 2014 1:53 am
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Bueller?

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