1996 Lights not working

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618 Syndicate

You won't...
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The roller is turned up and yes the green light is on in the Cluster when the switch is at off
Okay, so the green light indicates that the DRLs are functioning normally. They are controlled independent of the light switch, so this means that the fault is likely not the lights or bulbs, which leaves the switch itself or the relay.
 

sewlow

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The headlight switches in these trucks are known to be a problem.
The H/L's draw their power through the switch creating a heat issue within the switch itself.
Hot to the point of burning wires & internally cooking the switch, causing large clouds of smoke to emit from the dash.
Some trucks have been burnt to the ground because of this power-drawn-through-the-switch wiring design.
Once that switch is cooked, nothing lighting-wise is going to operate properly.
Rewiring the H/L's with relays alleviates the heat within the switch, along with providing higher voltage to the lights resulting in them actually burning brighter, albeit with a slightly shorter bulb life.
Gotta give a little to take a little.
Brighter lights, though! These trucks need all the help they can get in that area.
Just another thing to check, because by what you describe, there's more than one issue here.

Start simple. A volt/ohm meter, a wiring diagram & some patience.
Check & clean all grounds. These trucks do strange-weird things when those aren't up to par.
Inspect those cables too. Is that green corrosion just within the first couple of inches or is it running the whole length?
Originals cables? Ugh. They're old. Upgrade! Do the big 3.
Make sure the basics are good before moving on to any individual issues. With these trucks, sometimes those most basic of basics can create seemingly unconnected problems in other areas.
I hate electrical gremlins!
 

Jesse_Wenting

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The H/L's draw their power through the switch creating a heat issue within the switch itself.
Yeah I actually saw this the other day. Was having issues suddenly where I'd go to flick on my high beams, and would loose all headlights.

Ended up being a bad connection at the pins of the headlight switch on the (maybe the OP has a similar issue? I just removed and bent the female pins as needed) but while I was back there I noticed the Yellow wire in particular was very brown right where it mated with the connector. Kinda scary, will be upgrading to a HD headlight harness w/ relays in the near future
 

Obslova

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Update guys so there’s alot of homeriggin going on with my truck I ordered a new headlight switch no difference, replaced the rear bulbs nothing still i went through i put everything back to stock that I could see wiring wise he had that aftermarket brake controler and wiring harness all jacked up I’m changing the combination turn signal high low switch tmrw and then headed to the wires it looks the the harness going down on the frame on driver side was butt connected to **** almost every wire has a butt connector so looks like i might have to rewire that all
 

GoToGuy

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If you have a good test light, rather than " guess part changing" , try doing some actual function testing with a test light. You have the wire diagram, if you have power out from the switch, move on the problem is downstream. Total functionality inoperable is either no power input or having power, then no functions = mechanical breakage or no ground, therefore no actions.
An exception to this rule is incompetent add-ons creating insane diagnostic problems.
 

Jesse_Wenting

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It should be easy to do.

Look at the wiring diagram I posted earlier. To change the trucks to be like the utilities,

- remove the power connection coming from the relay going to the hazard switch (see the terminal marked "E2" on the switch in the wiring diagram) and

- move it the terminal marked A1, as shown on the switch in the diagram.

I would guess the wires are already present on the hazard switch, you just need to change the wiring at the connector in the steering column where the hazard switch connects to the vehicle.

The GMT400 utilities have a connection on the lead going to A1 and probably have the connection on E2 unpopulated (or otherwise unused); the opposite should be true of the trucks.

Maybe we ought to make this a sticky.

I feel the same way you do; I want the flashers to be flashing when they're supposed to be flashing.

So I just got around to doing this now lol. Thought I'd post my findings for anyone who's looking to make the same change.

I ended up moving the A1 connector to the E2 terminal, and leaving the E2 terminal loose (covered and tied off I promise). On my 98 K1500 this resulted in my hazards continuing to flash when the brake is depressed, while still illuminating the 3rd brake light

I may make this a dedicated post if there's enough interest.
 

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