Do I have a ground issue?
Asked by Guru99XYB6 Oct 05, 2020 at 09:44 PM about the 1993 Chevrolet C/K 3500 Silverado Crew Cab LB RWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I’m having issues with power windows not
working,unlock switches are weak, headlights
aren’t all working, and cab lights and headlights
come on when you press unlock button and gauges
go crazy
2 Answers
Isolate first...all of those things are on different circuits from your fuse block on the +12v side, but may share a common ground. Its likely/common for common grounds to get rusty, weak, break loose etc causing issues to multiple places. The quick check is to grab jumper cables or some thicker wire and go from your neg battery terminal and look for grounds around the engine bay/frame (follow the neg battery cable as much as you can) and touch it with the other end (basically creating a new/stronger ground and seeing if things get better...if so..you found the weak ground. But, generally speaking you have to find the wiring diagram and start at one end with a multimeter and walk backwards until you find where things go bad...usually in some wiring harness where you cant get to easy. Wiring issues are never fun. If you have a volt meter, there is metal exposed on the top of every fuse you can probe and check voltage at the fuse block, to at least eliminate the power side of things being ok, check the fuse block and then at the device or switch without much effort. Tracing grounds is a bit more of a project. But in the end its usually a loose screw, rust or a ripped wire or pulled pin on a harness.
Isolate first...all of those things are on different circuits from your fuse block on the +12v side, but may share a common ground. Its likely/common for common grounds to get rusty, weak, break loose etc causing issues to multiple places. The quick check is to grab jumper cables or some thicker wire and go from your neg battery terminal and look for grounds around the engine bay/frame (follow the neg battery cable as much as you can) and touch it with the other end (basically creating a new/stronger ground and seeing if things get better...if so..you found the weak ground. But, generally speaking you have to find the wiring diagram and start at one end with a multimeter and walk backwards until you find where things go bad...usually in some wiring harness where you cant get to easy. Wiring issues are never fun. If you have a volt meter, there is metal exposed on the top of every fuse you can probe and check voltage at the fuse block, to at least eliminate the power side of things being ok, check the fuse block and then at the device or switch without much effort. Tracing grounds is a bit more of a project. But in the end its usually a loose screw, rust or a ripped wire or pulled pin on a harness.