1999 Bravada Strange Electrical Issues
 

So I have this 1999 Bravada that has recently broke down. I was idling one morning and the truck stalled. The fuel pump refused to kick on since then.

Yesterday, I went out to go check to see if the fuel pump relay was at least clicking. I went to turn the key to the on position and saw that my battery was pretty much drained and a weird thing was happening. The odometer was flickering at a very fast rate. I went ahead and put the truck on a battery charger and attempted to charge the battery for 30 minutes. The voltage gauge would never go past 9 volts and the odometer was still flickering. I decided to see if the truck would crank. This must have been a bad idea. The truck did not crank at all. The starter made the usually ticking noises as if the battery was dead and the truck freaked out. The windshield wipers came on, the gages went nuts, and somehow, the remote start activated itself. The truck literally tried to start on it's own 3 times. There was all kinds of noises coming from the dash just to top it off.

I tapped my foot on the brake to stop the truck from attempting to start and took the charger off. I was very frustrated by then so I just went inside.

Today, I went outside to see what would happen when I turned the key on. Now I get this weird sound that is emitting directly under the drivers side of the dash. The odometer still flickers but now much dimmer almost unreadable. The only thing that seems to work correctly is the dinger, the interfere lights, the security light, and the radio.

Electrical systems can do some weird things as you have no doubt experienced. i would suggest putting a battery charge on the vehicle and slow charging the battery over night (more then 8 hours at 3 amps or less) I would then disconnect the charger and attempt to turn on the radio. Start small see what happens see what the gauges do. If everything is going well attempt to start the truck. If you get the same result calmly remove the negative battery cable. If it starts up and continues to run then I would suggest testing the alternator.

I just put it on the charger. My charger can only charge at 15 amps so I will check on it in a few hours. I'll let you know what happens when I test everything. Thank you for the quick response! Very appreciative.

I just went out there and it had enough of a charge to test everything. Here's what happened. The radio worked fine on accessory. I turned it all the way up and back down. Once I turned the key on, the gauge cluster lit up and was very dim. That weird noise from underneath the dash was gone. I tried to turn the wipers on and the gauge cluster dimmed even further and the wipers moved real slow. Then i shut them off. Then I tried the turn signals and that made the radio shut off and the gauges freak out. The fuel gauge specifically jumped from empty to full and back to empty real quick. The odometer still flickers but not as dim. I think there is a short somewhere but I'm unsure were to start. I did not try to crank it because of what happened last time. I really can't afford another starter. So let's not let remote start kill it.

I would suggest pulling the battery and having it tested if the truck isn't getting good or steady power all of the electronics and electrical system will be fighting for the same power (which appears to be quite limited) and could cause the freak out. With electrical testing you always want to ensure that the battery or power source is in good repair or any tests you perform will be useless. I hope this helps.

A parasitic drain/draw test (you-tube the procedure) will tell you which circuit or circuits are causing the problem.