Weird electrical problem.

[benoit454]

Well we keep having an electrical problem on our 86 k10. My dads a great mechanic but he isn't able to check it out himself right now, and I don't know much, not on the electrical systems and diagnosing and such. I only know or do what he tells me to do or check and sometimes that gets complicated or fighting starts lol.

Here's how the story begins:

When we got the truck we had working dash lights to light up the guages, and the guages worked to my knowledge except for the temp., it stayed pegged past HOT and it wasn't plugged in. When cold weather hit the battery stared dying out, we might go for a ride once a week or every other wek maybe twice a week. So in dec. we put in a new battery, in Jan. when another cold snap hit it done the same as the old battery. I beleived it to be the led light that's in the alram and blinks to let you and others know its armed, so I unhooked it w/ no help. Still done it. I tested the alt. it was good, so we went to autozone and they tested the battery and said it was only doing like 10-11 volts and so they put us in a new one.

Well that was fine for awhile(today) a few weeks ago we started having a problem w/ the right turn signal light in dash and the park lights. When you pull on the park lights the right turn indicator blinked!!! when you turn on the right turn signal it clicks really fast inside the cab, I'm pretty sure it blinks normal though outside. Sometimes when you pull the parklights and you look at the front right one, it flickers.

All of the guages float up and down badly and have for the past couple months. Like the gas hand will read E then about a mile and a half down the road it'll drop to 1/2 or full. So we keep putting in $5 bucks to try and avoid running out of gas. The oil pressure guage starting jumping around shortly after we got the truck and started driving it. It would go to zero and stay there, then bounce up to 30, then right below 60 lbs. It still does that, and we put in a new sending unit when it first acted up. The temp. stays pegged past hot, and I think the volts guage is the only one stays in place right above 13 when its running. If you thump the dash the oil will move, and the fuel will drop down if its pegged or something. The fuel guage started pegging out way past full the other day. Then after a mile maybe of driving it went down.

Well today after not running or being moved in a wek or so the battery was dead. Once we got it started it ran out of gas. I put in 5 gallons, slapped on the charger, unplugged the cd player and the amps from the battery and got it started. Stil has the same park light and turn indicator problem. We checked the wires under hood didn't see anything wrong w/ them.
I've checked and changed fuses w/ no luck.

Soo....

Does anyone know what might be wrong? Mainly something to check or change for the parklight/ right turn indicator blinking fast and lighting up solid when the park lights turned on. That really worries me as to what's up there.
I think there must be a bad ground or a grounded hot or something.
What should I do or check next?

[marvxyz]

With eeverything turned off on your truck, disconnect one of your bat. cables as youre removing it you will probably see a spark. This will tell you that you have a current leak. You might try putting back the cable and then remove fuses one at a time and then disconnect the bat. cable each time. When you get no spark at your battery you have found the circuit where the electric is leaking. I also would check to see if your left parkong light hoising is well grounded. These are just some ideas I have on the subject. I am no mechanic.

[Ltd4wheel]

If you have a way to read continuity disconnect the + side of the battery and disconnect anything thats not stock wired in or was added to the system. Then check to see if there is a current draw from the + post to the + cable. My last car the owner put in a CD player and some how it was always on. If I did not start the truck once a week the bat would be to low to crank the motor.

[Hard_Core_Hick]

sounds like the same problem my truck was having its a 87 r10 and it turned out to be the alternator , might be something to get tested or rebuilt or a new one , just my 2 cents

[benoit454]

Well I unplugged the cd player, and amps last night. I had them wired to a fuse holder and right to the terminal so I popped the fuses out. They are grounded to the seat mounting brackets. The cd player is plugged into an add on circuit in the fuse block and grounded to the lower metal part of the dash. I unpluged it from the fuse block.
I was told before how to do a current draw on the battery kinda like you guys are saying only it involved a test light and you removed the neg. terminal then used the test light to go from terminal to battery and if it lit up something was pulling juice.
Then remove fuse at a time until it quit. I need a good test light because mine sucks but after yesterday I'm thinking I need to try it. I'll go thru fuses first if anything lights up and if it doesn't I'll hook up the stereo and amps and see if somethings drawing.

Right now there's only one thing hooked up to the battery that's aftermarket and that's an alarm. I'll know more next time its decent. I'm not too worried about the current draw because I know how to fix that I just need to know why the freakin turn signal blinks really quick, then when you pull on the park lights the indicator light in dash comes on and stays on. We checked the wires on it they all looked good, not burnt or cut or anything.

[NeCrOmAnCeR]

A fast blinker is an indication of a burnt out bulbe on the side which is flashing fast (could also be a bad connection in the socket itself, or ground) and the indicator lighting up when you turn on the lights is caused by the same thing (bad bulb, connection). The gauges floating around is again typical of a dash cluster which has a bad ground. Good luck.

[magnethead]

yea, it's all something inter-related under the dash. happy hunting!!

[benoit454]

That's exactly what we are thinking, a bad dash ground. I knew the quick blinkin was a sign of bad bulb but they all work so it has to be a ground issue.