1994 K1500 dash electrical oddities

Feb 10, 2008 1 Replies
  1. When cold, turning the headlights on will result in immediate headlights, but a 10-20 second delay in the dash lights. At the same time, there will be a 10-20 second delay in taillights as well.

--Headlight switch was replaced. Same issue resulted.


  1. Typical "sensitive" dash gauges. Any draw on power to the dash will result in the gauge needles jumping. When I turn on the turn signal, the volt meter jumps +/- 5 volts with every blink of the signal, and the speedo will jump a hair for the first blink or two of the turn signal.

--Truck has 2 new dual batteries and a good alternator.


My wag is a bad ground. Either dirty or loose but probably dirty. Loose would cause the dash stuff to flicker when you hit bumps. Dirty means it has to "warm up" the ground connection to work. The easiest one to check is the ground strap under the hood from the firewall to the engine. The tougher one is behind the instrument panel or in the big plug in to the instrument panel. My second wag is that both problems are caused by the same bad ground.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required