I found these zip tied to the metal support under the steering column. I believe it is an after market alarm system or keyless remote. Does anyone know for sure?

 

Is that 8 different relays??? Unless you have a zillion different offroad lights installed....

If it's some kind of aftermarket alarm or keyless entry there should be a larger square box somewhere in the vicinity of those relays which would handle the wireless communications for said system. And if it is such a system, whatever you do, don't mess with it. Countless horror stories of wiring gone wrong and endless electrical problems....

Beyond that, they could be controlling the headlights/fogs/etc. It's overkill if it's controlling the lights though. could be a set for the low beams, a set for the high beams.... Easiest way to tell would be pull one relay out at a time and figure out what doesn't work anymore. At least they're socketed.

Good luck!

 

That many relays in a pack is probably (99% sure) for a remote starter or starter/alarm combo. There will be a box like Blazer B said that will be the brain of the remote starter. If you can find the brain then you can find out what make/model it is to check if it works.

 

Blazer B, that is the issue. I am chasing a ghost. The engine stalls intermittently. It doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold, it dosen't matter if you are driving it. It dies just as if the key is turned off. Had it put on an analyzer, they found that the IAC had high readings. They cleaned the IAC motor, throttle body and spiders, and the MAF sensor. IAC readings are now normal. Still dies intermittently. I know that this is not part of the ignition switch recall. It is a 2000 Blazer with 250,000 miles. I had it checked again by the same shop. All they could come up with is that the alternator probably has a bad diode and will sometimes put out A/C voltage. I replaced the alternator. When I did I had the negative battery cable disconnected. When I tried to start it the vehicle after installing the alternator the engine did not turn over. I could hear the fuel pump engage but the starter would not. I suspected a column problem because of wiper control issues. After I moved the multifunction switch for the wipers around I was able to get the starter to engage. I found these relays when I was changing out the multifunction switch. The Blazer does not have any after market lights added to it. I was thinking of removing this (already a nightmare), maybe take it to a steering column specialist to do so. I have searched this site (which is great) and had it at a shop a couple of times but with it running how do you find the exact issue. It sounds/feels like an electrical problem to me.

 

Check the previous posts, they said "aftermarket remote start/alarm" look under the dash for a control box on the drivers side that would point to that.
Did the previous owner give you key fobs for an after market keyless entry/remote start?
the vehicle randomly stalling would point to a problem with that.

 

It also might not be visible either since people hide those aftermarket security systems pretty well. Just start tracing wires to find where they go (which is pretty much what you're going to have to do to find out what they run). Do you hear any clicking lines a relay when the vehicle dies or just before? If so then there's an aftermarket security's it that's doing it.

 

That setup and wiring harness is EXACTLY what the bulldog security system with remote starter looks like, I know this as I recently purchased and installed it into my blazer. I would look at one of those relays as possible suspect. One of them which is definatly a starter immobilizer feature could be the cause of this, It can be easily bypassed and cost no money to fix. You just have to trace the connection from the wireharness to a Yellow wire under the steering column. The one connected to that is the place to start, you can bypass that "feature simply by removing that relay and connecting the 2 yellow wires back together under your steering column. If you were close to me I could even do it for you in about 15 mins. it really is not terribly hard to bypass. and it would give you a definitive tracing route from there if it didn't resolve the issue.

 

If those relays are standard relays or at least have the standard relay pinout, they can be tested one at a time fairly easily. Locate your horn relay, remove it. Verify that your horn no longer works. Slowly swap in each of the relays you found under your steering column into the slot for your horn relay. Test your horn. Once your horn stops working, you've found your dead relay.
Of course, in the likely scenario that you have a relay that "sticks" or only doesn't work "sometimes" it would be hard to catch with this test. Another method would be to swap the relays the other way. That is, put in a good relay in place of each of the possibly bad relays and see if your blazer runs fine. But that would depend on how often your blazer acts up.. Unfortunately there isn't an easy answer here.
Yet another more definitive test could be to remove each relay, and then measure the resistance across the switched terminals with the relay on. The one with the highest resistance would be your failing relay. This however requires a fairly good multimeter and a way of reliably activating the relay.

And of course all these tests would only fix/verify an issue that would be related to a bad/failing relay. Not any other issue which may be present.

 

take a close look at all the scotchlok wire splices associated with that mess
I HATE those connectors
I prefer solder and shrink tube when at all possible

 

There is also a diode in the back of the relay plugin connector, so that is also an option to look at.