Lou from Wi.
Well-known Member
1995 GMC Sierra, one heck of a truck, however, the problem we have is a reoccurring one. Every 12 yrs it requires a ignition harness on the steering column replacement. The first one the wire pulled out of the terminal block and left the head in the block, wire completely broke off. It cost $277.00 at the dealership to have a new one put on, the only reason we had a dealer do it was we was told it could blow the airbag off into our face while working on it.
Yesterday we went for a tractor for my daughter (same truck) and after paying for the lawn tractor and had it loaded on the lawn trailer, we backed out of the driveway, stopped shifted into drive, guess what? No tachometer,no speedometer no 1st or 2nd gear in the transmission, the light for the selector was out. So today,my Son pulled the harness without incident, and we checked the continuity with a ohm meter in the wiring harness , all showed continuity. The problem was discovered by my Son taking the harness block apart, which contained 6 springs,6 lever contact points,and a rotary selector. Contact points were pitted with arcing deposits. We cleaned them off,and buffed with a scotch brite pad, reassembled, reinstalled, and guess what? It works again without the $139.99 harness (new) and shop charges at the dealership. Without the makeup of the harness you could burn the transmission up, no first gear and no overdrive, no tach or speedometer. Son spent 5 hrs between disassembling, tear down and cleaning parts and reassembling, and reinstalling everything. I'm truly sick and tired of something that was installed several years back, to fail again yesterday. GMC is a nice truck,however this problem gets on my nerves. Do any of you guys have a GMC like that with the same problem? I hope you don't,as it is a money pit item failing over and over again,and GMC knows about it.Welcome to the world of do it yourself fixing.
Regards,
LOU
Yesterday we went for a tractor for my daughter (same truck) and after paying for the lawn tractor and had it loaded on the lawn trailer, we backed out of the driveway, stopped shifted into drive, guess what? No tachometer,no speedometer no 1st or 2nd gear in the transmission, the light for the selector was out. So today,my Son pulled the harness without incident, and we checked the continuity with a ohm meter in the wiring harness , all showed continuity. The problem was discovered by my Son taking the harness block apart, which contained 6 springs,6 lever contact points,and a rotary selector. Contact points were pitted with arcing deposits. We cleaned them off,and buffed with a scotch brite pad, reassembled, reinstalled, and guess what? It works again without the $139.99 harness (new) and shop charges at the dealership. Without the makeup of the harness you could burn the transmission up, no first gear and no overdrive, no tach or speedometer. Son spent 5 hrs between disassembling, tear down and cleaning parts and reassembling, and reinstalling everything. I'm truly sick and tired of something that was installed several years back, to fail again yesterday. GMC is a nice truck,however this problem gets on my nerves. Do any of you guys have a GMC like that with the same problem? I hope you don't,as it is a money pit item failing over and over again,and GMC knows about it.Welcome to the world of do it yourself fixing.
Regards,
LOU