Hello, first of all!

Ok, I've got a 01 with some strange electrical issues... which maybe all related to one thing...

1. The LED interior lights in the rear view mirror randomly turn on, sometimes together, but mostly one at a time, and most of the time they won't shut off with the buttons. It doesn't matter if it's day or night when this happens, and it seems to happen every time the car is driven, multiple times.

2. The twilight sentinel, seems to only work 'most of the time'... tonight, when I started the car, no lights, I manually turn them on, and then when I shut the car off, they stay on for the 30 second or so delay, the next time I start the car a few min later, the lights turn right on.

3. In the lower FM band of the radio, i.e. 89-91ish when the lights, parking or headlights, are on there is a loud buzzing on some stations. This I've seemed to trace to the dash lights. When you dim the dash lights all the way off, the radio is perfectly clear.

4. After driving the car tonight, when I returned I was told that as soon as I turned the lights on, the TV in the room next to the driveway went crazy. After I left the driveway it was fine. When I returned and pulled back in, the TV went crazy again until the delay headlights shut off.

So somehow, the "lighting system" is I dunno, not grounded right? The car had a weak batt when it was purchased not that long ago, and has a new batt now.

Any ideas what might be going on here?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance. -J

 

This guy is really good with electrical stuff:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=896875

 

Not to raise any real worries, but, has this car every been water damaged, or stored for a long period in a very damp place?

These problems might stem from one bad ground or poor connection -- to find out you will have to do some very detailed circuit tracing, but I have seen them on cars that were driven into a a ditch with two feet of water and left overnight, or flood damaged, etc.

The interfference of the TV was a common Corvette problem going back many many years (on C1s through C3s) but has been solved entirely in later models with good electrical shielding of ignition, etc. Unless the TV gets poor reeeption most of the time anyway, I would think this indicates that the ignition or other shielding has been removed and not properly reinstalled, or there are weird connections, grounds somewhere else (not in the lights) which might indicate a lot of wiring repairs were done in the past or sloopy engine work was done.

 

I agree with Lee. You have a dirty or loose body ground issue. Dave01 listed a sight that shows the probable cause. Sometimes engineers don't realize what a screwup they have done until a couple of years down the road. GM probably has a TSB out on the ground issue. [8D]

 

Thanks for the link, if the weather is nice this weekend I may try and check/ clean some of those connectors.

I don’t think the car has ever been water damaged, there is no record to indicate that might have been an issue. The TV doesn’t normally get bad reception, and I agree that it would normally be an ignition issue, but the car can run in the driveway with the lights off and not cause any interference. As soon as the lights are turned on, that’s when the problems begin.

Also let me ask, the radio and climate displays are actually brighter when you turn on the lights. It would seem to me during the day when the lights are of they should be the brightest. I know on some cars during the day you can turn the headlights on and the light sensors keep the dash lights off, if that is the case with Corvettes, then the light sensor isn’t working.

Thanks for all your help! -J

 

Not only clean grounds, but loosen the bolt, rotate the gound connection back and forth a bit, then securly tighten the ground bolts. Do this to all your cab and chassis grounds you can find. [8D]

 

So the weather last weekend wasn't good, I didn't get a chance to check anything. This weekend should be better...

Keeping my fingers crossed, -J

 

Just an update, I looked at the some of the grounds, they looked fine, I took them apart and cleaned them anyway. Nothing seems to have changed so Monday the car is going back to the dealer and they can spend the day hunting around.

I'll let you all know the outcome... -J

 

The next step would be to check body control module for codes, since u probably don't have a GM scanner (Tech 2), probably have to go to dealer, like you said. Still think its a body ground issue or a lighting relay that has a bad coil in it, causing the RFI on your readio. Good Luck.