Our 99 'Burb decided the day we take it in for inspection (Texas) that it won't have tail lights, rear license plate lights or parking lights. A review of the Haynes manual shows in the wiring diagram that there is a parking lamp relay located in the mid bussed electrical center, but of course doesn't show where this is. This relay is suppose to be connected to all 6 lamps that comprise the front (parking and marker) and rear (tail) lights. The owners manual shows the under the hood box and the left hand fuse box (both which have diagrams of what relay and fuse is what), but of course no mention of the mid bussed electrical center. I see a electrical box on the fire wall, left hand side by the e-brake cable that has two different relays (one like all other relays and one smaller). Nothing is labeled on this box except for color codes.

Note the fuses under the hood and in the fuse box (left hand side) are fine - even went as far as to replace the 20 amp that is for the parking lamps - still a no go. I've seen one other post regarding this issue (02/04) on the forum, but the single answer posted stated the connectors were bad and needed to be replaced (sorry - not possible that ALL parking lamp fixtures would go bad at the same time).

I called Advanced Auto and asked for the relay, they don't show one, but said being it in we can match it!

Thoughts, suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers from Temple Texas

If memory serves me correctly, the mid bussed electrical centre is the electrical box on the firewall by the e-brake cable.I'm not sure what either relay operates.

Hi Folks,
Thanks for the reply - I took it to my local Chevy dealer this morning and here's what it turned out to be - the connector to the head light switch (on the dash) was almost completly disconnected. This connection has two clips that are suppose to prevent this from happening, but of course if the unit is been disconnected and not pushed back together as it should be normal viabrations will make it pull apart.

Interesting part here is that the only people who have been in the dash were those at the factory and this dealership. Three weeks ago the dealership replaced the AC head (the item with all the controls for AC, heat, etc) and had the dash apart at that time. BTW this is the second time in a year this AC head has been replaced (under warranty this last time).

The service rep (the guy who checks you in and isn't a mechanic) was adamant that they never could have knocked this loose because the AC head is in the middle of the dash and the head light switch is on the left side of the dash. I talked to the mechanic and he said it was a possibility, but then the Service Rep cut him off again stating it just can't be so.

We all know from working on vehicles that the manufacturers are cheap about leaving any little extra amount of wire to make replacement of items or plugging in connectors easier .... :)

While this only cost me $44, it does cast a dark cloud over the dealership when the service rep isn't even open to the possibility of the cause.

Anyway - problem resolved - hope this helps someone else down the road with the same type problem.

Cheers from Temple Texas

It can be a pain in the rear dealing with some dealerships.For the cost and the time to actually do the job,I think the dealership should have not charged you.The mechanic was probably honest in his comments.The switch is over to the left of the dash, but you know sometimes other items must be moved to get better access to the item you are actually working on.