This is bizarre!!!!!!!

Goose · Jul 31, 2010

I've been a Ford Service Manager and a GM Assistant Service manager, among other automotive activities, and this is a new one on me.

Here's the scene. 1999 Olds 88 LS. Left turn signals are lazy with the indicator light glowing slightly as if a light bulb were burnt out, but all the bulbs light up. Simultaneously, the ABS and Traction Control lights come on, the wipers only work on high speed and then they're slow, washers don't work at all, and when driving with the cruise set, hitting the left turn signal disengages the cruise. There are no codes stored.

This blows my mind. Has anyone else seen anything like this? Before doing any serious checking myself or farming it out to a GM dealer, my instincts tell me either the Body Control Module itself or something in the left turn signals is affecting the BCM. Possibly the multi-function switch? And it's intermittent, although most of the time, so that would seem to rule out fuses.

Just when you think you've seen it all..........

Don-Wi · Jul 31, 2010

My first guess would be the combo switch, however I don't have much (any) experience on newer cars.

I do know the switch went bad on my 95 olds once and it had some funny symptoms too.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Bus Driver · Jul 31, 2010

Check all grounding paths, especially those with straps to the body. They sometimes get knocked loose or broken in the trunk area. The vehicle wiring diagram may show the location of the straps.

tlak · Jul 31, 2010

Your ABS light comes on if the third brake light is burnt out. Don't know about multiple symtoms. I would try the cheap fix first changing both third brake light bulbs.

camju · Jul 31, 2010

I'll second changing bulbs.Have a 95 volvo lights would act real funny.Messed up all kinds of things.was told it was a short in the wire by VOLVO all it was was the bulb.6 hrs later

Allan in NE · Jul 31, 2010

Common GM problem.

See Bus Driver's post below.

Allan

frdmnn · Jul 31, 2010

my mom had a ford tempo that started doing all sorts of crazy things with the lights and turn signals and wipers, a trip to the ford dealer and lot's of $$$ later, the culprit was found to be a zip tie too tight in the steering column shorting out lot's of wires.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 31, 2010

Brothers Dodge van was doing all sorts of crazy things like that and it was a loose connection on the fuze that powered the BCM Just a thought Bernie Steffen

MeAnthony · Jul 31, 2010

I have a "96 Bonneville, was behaving badly, would quit running, power windows wouldn"t work, door locks wouldn"t work, burning up fuel pumps, etc. All circuits would malfunction at the same time, was very erratic, might be fine for weeks or do it several times in a day. Turned out to be a corroded common ground connector, I think referred to as G340 Common Ground, just a piece of flat tin stock located under carpet beneath the driver"s door sill trim, has 9 or 10 ground wires attached to it. Why would you put a bare ground connection in a wet location in the first place? Seems like asking for trouble, and definitely turned out that way. I"ve heard it"s quite a common problem.

Hope this helps and have a great weekend!

Anthony

RodinNS · Jul 31, 2010

Bad ground or loose primary connection to the power box?
I'd bet it's pretty basic somewhere...

Rod

cadet trooper · Jul 31, 2010

I'm not as experienced as the other fellars on here but I had an 89GMC S15 that all of sudden when I would push the brake pedal the interior cab light would come on. When I talked to a neighbor who was a GM tech he said check to see if if I had a brake light burnrt out which I did and the problem went away after replacing the bulb. He said GM had a screwy grounding system. I thought it was a cool way to let you know if you had a brake light go bad he said that was not a feature offered.

KEB1 · Jul 31, 2010

Another vote for a bad ground. All sorts of odd things can happen when a bad connection causes a "ground" point to float at some voltage above the actual chassis.

Keith

HughB · Jul 31, 2010

I had an older car do something similar and it was a short in the
wiring.

Roy Suomi · Jul 31, 2010

I've been to 2 county fairs and a heifer breeding, but I ain't never seen anything like this...Good Luck

RusselAZ · Jul 31, 2010

The ground you seek is the one in the left fender/grill area screwed under all the crap in that corner.

A 99 caddy taught me.

Chris (WA) · Jul 31, 2010

Had a Ford van start honking the horn when the left directional was turned on. Come to find out a buddy had wired the flasher bulb to the horn wire!!... The real odd thing was that we had another van do the same thing a week before from a short in the steering column!

SCHMUCK 1 · Aug 1, 2010

Check for loose/broken/faulty ground connections. I work on locomotives and you would simply not believe the havoc a bad ground can cause.

Billy Shafer · Aug 1, 2010

Had a 97 F150. If you needed the wipers or interior lights. You had to open the passenger door. Never did figure that one out. Hit a Deer and totaled the truck before I could.

Gary from Muleshoe · Aug 1, 2010

I had a Ford Contour that when you filled the gas tank completely full, the speedometer would quit working. Then one day while driving through Co. the A/C started acting up. While accelerating it would only blow out the defroster, when you reached cruising speed it would switch back to the vents. Never did find out what caused it. I traded it off, and told the dealer what it was doing.

olgentdc · Aug 1, 2010

Sounds like what my nephew did in hi school for a aprankon his buddys 72 ford truck ,, HE WIRED THE HORN TO THE BRAKE LITE SWITCH .... every time the kid hit the brakes THE HORN WOULD BLOW !

tjdub · Aug 2, 2010

I don't know if you've figured this out or not, but all of those things are controlled by the swith module in the steering column right? I would replace that first.

This is bizarre!!!!!!!

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