Hoping to get some help on a 2 year old problem. After having the alternator replaced I've been experiencing electrical problems. To start out ABS light is on always and no codes show up. Afterwards the alarm and central locking quit working and now the air conditioning switch will not activate. I check the fuses for each and the alarm one keeps on blowing every time I replace it. If the vehicle sits for more than 2 weeks then the battery drains. I did have a battery and the positive lead replaced and was told that the under hood fuse box may need to be replaced. Any thoughts on what is causing the issue i.e. a bad ground or is the under hood fuse box the culprit? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Checking all of your body and chassis grounds is always a good place to start on electrical issues. Download the RAVE(in my signature). It has the electrical diagrams you will need.

 

1. By air conditioning switch, if you mean the Off-1-2-3-4 fan switch, that is probably just age and needs cleaning, you have to take off some of the plastic panel that surrounds it, to get the circuit cleaner spray into the switch. It is vertical and parallel to the front panel, various size brass strips.

2. The theft alarm controls the central locking, so those are related. There are several fuses involved with alarm, which exact one (not the "yellow one") are you swapping that blows?

3. The underhood fuse box is not likely to be the problem. It does have lots of connections that can be loose or dirty, and cause other problems. These are cleaned up by inpection, remove the wire, use a metal brush to clean away corrosion (while battery is disconnected).

3. The main ground from the battery is the black cable, follow it down to a point on the fram near the edge of the radiator, below the battery. This should be cleaned and installed tightly.

4. Your "takes two weeks to drain battery" siuation may be a drain, which can be located with a meter, or it may be that your battery is not getting a full charge (which can also be checked with a meter). To check charge, crank truck, and let it idle. Volts across battery posts should be 13.8 - 14.4 volts. Once that is good, turn on head lights, AC, wipers; this extra load will test the alternator. If alternator is good, volts will remain above 13.2 volts. The two wires at the front of the underhood fuse box are important, one is the power from the alternator, and the other is the power from the battery to run the truck or be charged by the alternator. Those have to be clean and tight.

With truck off, you can remove the battery cable. Put voltmeter on "amps" and put one wire on the empty batterypost and the other on the cable you removed. After a few seconds, if a current remains, you can unplug fuses or fuse links one at a time until it drops, then you are headed toward finding it.

ABS has many fuses, you may have missed one. And a fuse can look good, but have a hairline crack in it. Check these:

F3 - satellite fuse panel # 2 under dash
F4 - satellite fuse panel # 1 under dash
F1 - fuse panel under dash
F14 - fuse panel under dash
F5 - under hood fuse box
Master fuse link 6 - under hood box

 

Sorry for the late update, been pretty busy. So here's what i found out.

1. The fuse for the alarm was missing in the main fuse box. Replaced it and as soon as I put the negative lead on the battery, the alarm and horn started to sound. A simple unlock and lock solved it and now central locking and alarm works. There is a byproduct problem now which is the remotes work sometimes and sometimes they don't. I read post were if you activate the alarm with the remote and if you can't deact and instead use the key then the alarm will sound. Instead of replacing the remotes ($100) I'll opt to just use the keys from now on. Another problem, the driver side and rear gate locks don't open all the way. Actuators are good but I think the springs in the latch are bad, so will be ordering them from ebay to replace.

2. ABS light is still on and I think it might be the sensor. Haven't check the grounds yet (the rave's electrical schematics are like sanscript to me) so it will have to be later when I have time to look at them and find the grounds.

3. The air conditioning "button" not the fan switch doesn't engage or light up when pushed. The rear air conditioning button does engage so I wonder if its just the button to replace? Not sure if anyone sells it or if I have to replace the whole heat/air console. Any advice?

Sorry about the long post but figure I respond since I see so many post go without updates. Thank you for the good advice and directions!

 

The AC switch should light up if the blower control is at some speed other than "0". If not will need to look for fuses. When rear unit is "ON", does it being on the AC clutch and compressor and you get cold air?