Wild electrons and low BLM's

[captndave737]

Well I got my fuel pressure issue sorted out, seems it was probably just a loose terminal on the hotwire relay but I still have my emergency kit with me.http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/stuck-on-the-side-of-the-road.414355/

So I once again leave NC headed for Boston. Everything is running great. At 1:00 am I pull into a rest area to catch a few z's. I wake up at 3:30, start the car and I have no headlights! I check all my other lights and my right rear turn/ hazard light isn't working either! I go back to sleep until sunrise then finished the drive to Boston.

While along after my nap I have very low BLM's below 2200 rpm in the 110 range. Before my nap they were all 120-122, a little low but acceptable. I took some fuel out at the lower ranges and no change. My INT numbers are high. I've never seen this before. I got 20.5 mpg while pulling a very light trailer on this trip and the car seemed to run fine even with the funny numbers.

Now that I got a good night's sleep it's off to troubleshoot the lights. Pretty simple circuits but what a PIA. The last 2 times I lost headlight's it was the high low beam switch and the last time I had a problem with the tail lights it was a broken wire. What were the GM Engineers thinking when they decided to use aluminum wire in some places?

 

[captndave737]

Well let's make it 3 times the dimmer switch has gone! Original 23 years, second 2 years, 3rd 2 years.

 

[phil_jordan]

Damn that sucks!!

 

[Wahoo]

The dimmer switch affected your headlights?

 

[Nascar83Fan]

The dimmer switch is a part of the Parking lights / Low Beam Headlights switch box, weird why the OP has had bad luck with that switch going out.

 

[GNRick]

I had similar results with the headlight switch. Not sure how long the first one lasted since I am not the first owner, but I got about 7-8 years out of it and then needed a new one.

 

[captndave737]

Headlight dimmer switch or high low beam switch which ever you wish to call it. Power goes to it from the headlight switch on the dash and the lever on the column controls it. $11.95 part at Autozone.

 

[TurboBuRick]

FFT Bad grounds and coraotion will over draw and overheat the switch.

Rick

 

[captndave737]

Agreed but the last 2 switches weren't they were broken mechanically inside. When I get home in a couple of weeks I'll autopsy the thing and post the pictures.

The right rear turn signal was a burned/arching connector pin on the connector for the turn signal switch on the right side of the steering column.

BLM's have been 122-128 for 2 days now and I didn't do anything!