1999-02 Cluster Parasitic Battery Draw

Looking into Instrument cluster battery drain for 1999 2000 2001 and 2002 Silverado, Sierra, Avalanche, Suburban, Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade.
Class 2 data BUS is keeping the cluster awake.
For quotes I can be reached at [e-mail]

[@jeffescortlx]

Correction to my terminology: Technically this is Class 2 data bus, not CAN bus. CAN BUS started in 2007. My bad.

[@Moondog66602]

I have a strange issue in my 2000. Sometimes the blinkers flash at double speed, which seems to draw power from the motor with each flash, but not when flashing at normal speed. It seems more likely to happen when turning or braking.

[@jeffescortlx]

@@Moondog66602 the instrument cluster doesn't have any control or influence on how or when the blinkers operate.

[@williamhanna5224]

I have a feeling I will be sending my 2002 GMC Sierra 1500HD cluster to you after I find out where my parasitic draw is coming from.

[@AP9311]

I have to say, doing business with you Jeff, is so smooth, and seamless! So freaking fast fix and return! With shipping and money transactions. I am extremely happy with my rebuilt cluster! It's exactly what I wanted the color of the LEDs and the full repair! Very well worth the money!

[@jeffescortlx]

I appreciate that!

[@rpsmith]

Great video,! Thanks Jeff!!

[@larryandbelindaflowers4828]

Good to see you doing more learn a lot from your videos

[@williamhanna5224]

Excellent !

[@dereksimenac8844]

All the Chevys that I've seen it is usually the radio not going to sleep and keeping the cluster awake

[@nadakeenr7715]

The cd player part of it or the radio part of it? There are two in the yukon denali. Thanks.

[@athhud]

My ‘03 2500 had IC related parasitic draw that turned out to be some kind of microscopic trace corrosion on the back side of the board. I never could see it with my eyes or zoom on my phone, but a thorough flux/heat/clean immediately fixed the .2amp draw that hung around after everything went to sleep. Back then I didn’t have a thermal imaging device of any sort. I’m sure it would have been obvious through the lens of one.

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes this is pretty common for the 2003 PCB. In the later years they added conformal coding to help protect against it.

[@WJHandyDad]

I honestly thought that all the GM's just ran down batteries after a couple days. I don't think I've ever owned a GM that could sit parked for more than about 4 days without needing a jump start. We owned (or own) a 2002 Yukon, 2003 & 2004 Avalanche, 2005 Suburban, all of which would drain the battery within a few days and all were bought brand new.

[@jeffescortlx]

2003-2004 GM full size clusters very commonly develop parasitic battery draw. The good news is that it is fully repairable and preventable.

[@WJHandyDad]

my 2004 is the one you fixed. Haven't noticed the battery drain lately... maybe you fixed that too!

[@jeffescortlx]

​@@WJHandyDadYes the repair for the battery drain issue in the 2003-2004 instrument clusters is included with my rebuild service.

[@zx8401ztv]

I did think about a relay, but i thought naaa im being silly. Then you did it ha ha :-D I also thought about putting a silicone diode in the power wire, reduce the voltage slightly and see if it helps. Threshold levels can be a bugger to fix.

[@JonnyFix]

I was thinking this was a pointless grasping at straws decision by the owner. The thing that's staying awake and spamming the CAN bus is going to still be staying awake and the owner will still have dead battery issues.

[@SuperTurbocoupe]

There is no CAN bus on this cluster. The trucks didn’t get CAN on the clusters until 2007.

[@Discretesignals]

Yep, Class 2 bus

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes class 2, sorry about the mix-up classification.

[@colossalsky]

Usually a parasitic draw is the result of some sort of corrosion usually in one of the main ecm boards, mostly it’s the pins that connect to the board

[@kh77926]

Possibly stupid question as I'm mostly familiar with the 05 clusters. Could you not have lifted the power pin on the canbus transceiver and fed it a switched source and accomplished the same thing without a relay?

[@jeffescortlx]

Theoretically yes that sounds like it would work. Unfortunately the transceiver for the 99-02's are tucked away on the underside of that little daughter board.

[@amundsen575]

full diag of vehicle required using a scope to find the faulty module waking up the cluster, as that module is also not going to sleep and drawing current.

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes that would be the right way to handle it. But a proper diagnosis costs time and money. My service is pretty cheap compared to a shop diagnosis charge. So a modification like this becomes a cost worthy option.

[@amundsen575]

hopefully lowering the draw by 600 Ma is enough to make the truck reliable. the offending module will need the same type of fix or replacment

[@jeffescortlx]

​@@amundsen575I'm hoping that the source of the key off parasitic draw will be easier to find now.

[@firstlast---]

But on the bench there's no module to keep it awake it's only getting power. What came first? The chicken or the egg?

[@jeffescortlx]

​@@firstlast--- GM clusters don't require data bus to turn on until much later in the generations. For 2014 and older they will power up with just ignition circuit.

[@emmettturner9452]

I thought my 2000 Pontiac Montana was having a problem with parasitic draw but it turns out that the ignition cylinder was releasing the key when it wasn’t fully returned to the Off position which would leave the vehicle in Accessory or whatever position instead, running the battery dead overnight. I say “was” as if it were something I fixed but in reality I’m just being mindful of it. ;)

[@Conqueef-tadoor]

Hey Jeff, do you repair the 99-02 rearview mirrors with compass/temperature display?

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes

[@fromthat_559]

What wires do you connect to give it power like this

[@rickchowsr2532]

It sounds to me With out diagnosing, cause I can’t from here lol, the BCM is not going to sleep hence causing the cluster to stay awake. The owner has other issues and not a cluster issue.

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes, it could be the BCM, others have also reported the radio or HVAC also keeping the cluster awake. Unfortunately we just don't have a complete diagnosis at this time.

[@BRED23]

I have 99 Silverado my gauge cluster will go on and off while driving sometimes all the backlight and everything else work fine only the gauges will all go down then bskc up also when that happens by battery light will ding alongside with a “security” light on the display

[@jeffescortlx]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3SUgJetjLd5qrMsi=ve5HKYUbjhENjLUI

[@mikeeustice4452]

A lab scope would show a network being active, those gm use power modeing threw the bcm , the bcm sends the wake up call to the modules a scan tool that shows what power mode its in is needed, a generic code reader wont work, it should go to a specialty shop

[@eddiereichel9354]

I start drain testing with a thermal imager. I had a buick Lesabre that the HVAC module was sending out garbage waking radio and IPC up.

[@Failure_Is_An_Option]

Nothing about that tells you what the source of the issue.

[@eddiereichel9354]

Thermal imager is a starting point. My IPC was hot and my radio was hot. So from there I used a scope on the data lines and by unplugging stuff came to the conclusion that the HVAC module was sending out wake up signal. Parasitic drains are one of the hardest things to find on a vehicle. Especially a Ford because they communicate for almost an hour after ya shut the key off. @@Failure_Is_An_Option

[@claypaul2012]

So is the security light not supposed to stay on or flashing while the alarm is set? For a 2001 Tahoe? Just curious. I have an intermittent drain. Curious if this could be the possibility.

[@gregheideman36]

I've got a similar situation (60 milliamp parasitic battery drain). However, mine is the "security" issue. Security light is on solid, vehicle starts, and runs fine, but if I leave the instrument cluster fuse installed, the battery dies in a day or two. Looking at the instrument cluster connector, I don't see any discrete signal for "Security". What is the cause for the "Security" indication, which I presume is keeping my cluster awake, and killing my battery?

[@jeffescortlx]

The security signal is commanded through the bus line. You might have something going on with the ignition switch.

[@Jake4369]

Hi sir I just have one question I can’t seem to find the answer to. 99-02 cluster my high beam indicator is flashing then occasionally will turn off then come back. High beams will be on while it’s doing this. Is it just one of the 1/4 turn socket bulbs on the back I can replace?

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes the high beam indicator is on a twist socket. It's one of the smaller sized bulbs.

[@alexkay1874]

Interesting just wondering why canbus would be active when truck is off to begin with ?

[@Discretesignals]

They use a one wire Class 2 serial bus, not Can. Reason could be a module isn't going to sleep that communicates on the bus or some type of aftermarket device is on the bus keeping it awake.

[@arcticfoam5480]

@@Discretesignalshi, I know this comment is 10 months old, but do you think it’s possible an auto start could be causing this?

[@MegaMarclar]

what do you use to simulate the bus?

[@jeffescortlx]

It's Chevy ECU and BCM in a bench top box hooked up to the power supply and pots.

[@susanmj62]

How can I contact you with specific cluster question? Thanks!

[@jeffescortlx]

My email address is in the description of this video.

[@MrLongshot762]

I feel like you missed something. Shouldn't all the gauges fall to zero with the ignition off?

[@jeffescortlx]

Kind of sort of. This cluster has two different off states. The first off state the needles are electrically forced to the zero starting location. After the 15 seconds when it goes to full sleep, it de-energizes all the air core motors and they just sort of float to where they naturally want to go.

[@eddieaguirre2845]

I have an 04 silverado that the high beam indicator turns on and stays on when the truck is completely off, what could be causing it?

[@jeffescortlx]

Silver migration corrosion. With a typical rebuild this along with all of the other common problems would be taken care of.

[@eddieaguirre2845]

@jeffescortlx could that be anywhere on the board or close to the light thats having the problem

[@mikeutley-v9l]

what color is that bus wire

[@jeffescortlx]

The low speed wire is gray.

[@andykindberg8422]

I have 2005 Chevrolet pick up ,I hit a bump in the road,and all the lights in the cluster came on for just a few seconds and the gauges now don’t work! Any idea what happened? Thanks for any feedback.

[@jeffescortlx]

Usually ends up being fractured solder joints for something like this.

[@arthurrodesiler3109]

Have to say they have these vehicle way to high tech. They don't want the DIY doing anything these days. They have really not gone any were with gas millage over a stock carb engine of up to 1970. I had a 1968 impala with a 327 with a 4 barrel 250 HP full size car and got 20 miles to a gallon. My mom had a 1963 chevy nova with a 6 cylinder in it which got 30 miles to a gallon.

[@Discretesignals]

30 miles per gallon with a 194? Maybe more like 18 mpg. Even though these newer cars are more complex they are not that hard to work on if you break each system down understand how they work and what tests to use for diagnosis. OBD 2 diagnostics made it really helpful for us techs. Once you understand how the system functions, you can fix it when it breaks. The hardest part of working on them is access to detailed theory of operations of each system. Some system operations service info are really vague and you need to reverse engineer by watching inputs and outputs with scan tools and scopes to see what is going on logically. But yes, older carb and points ignition cars are much easier to work on. As far as reliability new cars are much more reliable.

[@offthebeatenpath5326]

have you ever had a ford explorer sport trac spicfic (05) instrument cluster come in for a fix ? i have one that i took the battery terminal off and now have no cluster or interior lights or power windows everything i can find goes back to the cluster not telling things to turn on because of the battery saver unless maybe i had a loose connection that finished off idk im stumped since i had no issue until i unhooked and hooked the battery up and the 05 sport trac is different than the other models supposedly it has no gem module 🤔

[@jeffescortlx]

I have had a couple of sport tracks in, but maybe only seen a small handful over the last decade.

[@offthebeatenpath5326]

@@jeffescortlx i ended up figuring it out kind of lol i just started pulling fuses and plugging them back in cause i litterly couldnt find anything and it started working again so it must have been a bad connection in one of them but in my investigation i found a company that all the forums talked about and they seem to do what you do so alot of ppl prb send them there but i really appreciate your reply and now am a subscriber

[@davidlester6092]

👍👍👍

[@michaelgreathouse5565]

What do I need to do to fix my cluster the battery drains the message center shoes every possible message and my gas gage doesn't work at all I've replace the cluster already had no luck with any of it being fixed no bad wiring or corrosion and the fuel pump assembly was just replaced

[@jeffescortlx]

If you have a full size 99-02 GM, all message trouble indicators scrolling and non working gas and temp gauges points to the cluster not receiving the bus signal.

[@chevyfan82]

👍

[@KentuckySlotCarGuy]

any chance i could send you mine and see if you can figure it out? i have a 2003 sivverado 2500hd all the lights work backlights, turn signal, check engine, glowplug, but i have no lcd display, no prnd display and none of my gauges are working, has new stepper motors. ive also checked the fuses and thier good

[@jeffescortlx]

Yes all common PCB issues are covered with my rebuild service.

[@KentuckySlotCarGuy]

@@jeffescortlx how do I go about sending you my cluster?

[@jeffescortlx]

​@@KentuckySlotCarGuyI can be reached at [e-mail]

[@eduardoguzman9450]

@jeffescortlx what’s your email? I would like to get my gmc cluster repaired.

[@jeffescortlx]

I have added my email address to the description of this video. Thank you.