Thread: Interesting g20 problem

This might be a bit lengthy but i do appreciate the help. A few months ago i put a new interstate battery and a new alternator in the G. About a month apart. Since that time no issues anywhere in the form of electrical. Saturday we were driving the car and i heard some kind of pop through the rear speakers. Like a speaker blowing. I put a aftermarket head unit in there a long time ago and cant remember if its on the factory amp..im almost positive its not.

Ok like i said this last saturday i heard the pop but nothing really happened. Drove the car all day with no issues. Saturday night was coming home with a buddy of mine flipped on the brights came on then both went out at the same time..not good in any situation but i happen to live on a very curvy rural road. Freaked for a brief second and flipped down to dims...they worked fine. No biggy got home. Checked all my connections i could think of under the hood and they looked ok. I figured ill have a buddy of mine look at it this weekend, im not a mechanic in any shape or form. Well fast forward to this morning. My wife gets a mile from the house in the G and calls me and says both dims blew, one then the other. Now everything in the car that is electrical is working fine. All the other lights inside and out, power seats, moonroof etc you get my point. The battery light on the dash is on. Anyone ever had this issue or have any ideas why? It sounds like some kind of surge but why would affect only the headlights? Once the chance of them both blowing at the same time? Im thinking slim to none. If my questions sound dumb excuse me.

Could it be some kind of regulator? Are the headlights on their own circut that i can try to trace the problem through...it has the proper fuse in it i havent went up or down in amps on the fuse. And so far it only seems to be affecting the headlights. Im baffled help!!!!! please!!!! Sorry dont know if it matters are not but its a 95 p10 manual gearbox.

It just hit me as i was typing that. I had a 94 p 10 that did that with the tail lights..i finaly traced it back to a bad light socket on one side..it was frying tailights as soon as i put them in.

Usually when I see lights blowing out it is because of a voltage regulator problem with the alternator overcharging or a short in the wiring. Do you have a voltage gauge on the car? If not, you can use a multi-meter and check what voltage the alternator is sending out. Also, make sure that the fuse-able links are good and that there aren't any shorts in the wiring for the headlights in the engine bay around the fuse/relay block.

Brent

Thank you ill start there no voltage gauge but i do have a multi meter.

What type of head light bulbs? I had a set of Silverstar bulbs burn out within a week of each other (maybe 3-4 days). Could be a coincidence, but worth checking.

Coach is probably closer to the culprit, but I wanted to throw it out there.

Josh

Whats up stranger? They are plain bulbs sylvania 9004 nothing fancy. But becca said the first one that when out this morning seemed to get brighter then normal then pop then the second went right after which leads me to believe we are getting to much juice. The old girl is still running good though. I need to visit some time but Suki is not a big fan of mine..lol

Yeah man, the brighter before the pop leads to me to the over voltage issues. Get that Alternator checked out.

Brent

I know you just bought a alternator but it might be throwing to much voltage,my friend has a 240 with a rb and his headlights always blow since his alternator voltage regulator went out.it only happens wen he goes past 5k rpms,the good thing is that he works at autozone so he just warrentys them lol.good luck

Thanks guys. On the alternator issue would it wait five months for the problem to show up? If its too much juice now wouldnt it of been like that new too? Not doubting your answers just a curious person without alot of knowledge.

No, it can go bad after time. Often alternators if they go will go in the first 6 months. There is also external factors like water/salt and other things that impact them. It would be worth at least testing the alternator before you dive into all the rest.

Brent