Electrical problem, 2003 Denali

[scootersteve]

I purchased an 03 Denali last week. Noticed a slight flickering of the headlights and dash lites at night. Does not seem to be related to bumps on the road. Any ideas???

[stevesavage]

I purchased a Yukon Denali in July and have also experienced a problem with the headlights and interior lights flickering. The dealer was unable to find any error codes or loose wiring. Has anyone else encountered this and found resolution.

thanks

[copout221]

My 03 Denali does the exact same thing but it is not as bad as my 2001 Corvette. I think it is a normal occurance with certain GM vehicles. I upgraded my headlight system to HID and have not noticed the problem like I did with the stock halogens.

[nogimmies]

We too have noticed the problem you are describing. The dealer thus far has only said the computer showed an error code for the steering column and that resetting may have corrected the problem- I doubt it, but will have to wait and see.

[zutoo]

Originally Posted by copout221

I upgraded my headlight system to HID and have not noticed the problem like I did with the stock halogens.

You put HIDs in your Denali? Have you had any problems with them? I had my regular install shop install HIDs in my '03 Denali and they had to replace the pass. side ballast twice in less than a month. They said it is common for problems with HIDs in Denalis. I also had problems with aftermarket HIDs from them in my Lexus. When I stopped in another install shop I ran into a friend who I havn't seen in years. Turns out he owns the shop and he said they never had problems with HIDs in Denalis. So I took out the other ones I had and had him put HIDs in my low beams and fog lights. Hopefully these will work better!

[copout221]

It all depends on the quality of the entire kit you purchase. The cheaper $300.00 kits off ebay that are made in China/Taiwan are total garbage that will not last and may cause a lot of problems down the road. The ballasts on these kits draw a ton of current when firing up and really need starter relays for safety. In addition, the overall quality of the ballast is one of the most important factors with HID kits along with the bulbs. Phillps bulbs are the only way to go. They do not have colored glass to produce fake kelvin temp and are the highest quality Xenon bulbs being produced in the world. This is why Mercedes and BMW only use Phillips bulbs and ballasts in their cars. Hella ballasts are also very nice and will last a long time and are used by several high end vehicle manufacturers. If you do your research and stick to German made ballasts and bulbs you will have no problems for the life of your car. DO NOT buy a HID kit from Misterjung.com. The only thing nice in his kits are the ballasts and his instructions direct pepople to use the factory headlamp harnesses for direct power to the ballasts. This is not only stupid but also dangerous. There should be starter relays for each lamp along that are connected directly to the battery for supply witn 20amp fuses or better. The Jung kits WILL overheat your factory wiring and will burn out ballasts or possibly start a fire. This is going to be a huge issue with the Federal Transportation saftey admin because there have been numerous cases of vehicle fires due to cheap HID kits and bad installations. My new kit is from www.xenonfactory.com and it is very very high quality and priced right.

[StentmanFrank0110]

Originally Posted by copout221

It all depends on the quality of the entire kit you purchase. The cheaper $300.00 kits off ebay that are made China are total garbage that will not last and may cause a lot of problems down the road. The ballasts on these kits draw a ton of current when firing up and really need starter relays for safety. In addition, the overall quality of the ballast is one of the most important factors with HID kits along with the bulbs. Phillps bulbs are the only way to go. They do not have colored glass to produce fake kelvin temp and are the highest quality Xenon bulbs being produced in the world. This is why Mercedes and BMW only use Phillips bulbs and ballasts in their cars. Hella ballasts are also very nice and will last a long time and are used by several high end vehicle manufacturers. If you do your research and stick to German made ballasts and bulbs you will have no problems for the life of your car. DO NOT buy a HID kit from Misterjung.com. The only thing nice in his kits are the ballasts and his instructions direct pepople to use the factory headlamp harnesses for direct power to the ballasts. This is not only stupid but also dangerous. There should be starter relays for each lamp along that are connected directly to the battery for supply witn 20amp fuses or better. The Jung kits WILL overheat your factory wiring and will burn out ballasts or possibly start a fire. This is going to be a huge issue with the Federal Transportation saftey admin because there have been numerous cases of vehicle fires due to cheap HID kits and bad installations. My new kit is from www.xenonfactory.com and it is very very high quality and priced right.

Copout:

I'm new to the forum; thanks for the information on the HID's for the Denali.

I had a 97' BMW 528i and upgraded the stock headlights to actual BMW Hella HID units. They were excellent. I want to do the same to my 03' Denali. I emailed Xenon Factory for a bit more information and wanted to know how long your installation took. Once I had the HID's on my last vehicle I can honestly say there's no other way than HID's. I believe it to be the lighting standard shortly.

At any rate, thanks for your help and any other information you could provide regarding this upgrade.

StentmanFrank

[copout221]

The install took me about an hour with the new kit I just installed from XenonFactory because I took my time and you have to mount the relays also. I did not want any parts of the headlamp kit to be visible with the hood open so it took me a bit longer. I would guess 30-45mins on average depending on the type of vehicle.

[csubik]

Strange but insightful, I too have the flickering light symptom. Returning from a ski trip at night and these lights flickered repeatedly the whole night. If this occurs in enough vehicles we may have a serious concern. What if they went completely out at a critical point in the future?

[tonytone]

Wow...the headlights flicker for a very brief moment on my '03 YXL every once in a blue moon; I didn't bother addressing the issue with the dealership since of course if they can't replicate the problem they won't even bother troubleshooting it...however, I will mention it at some point before my warranty expires.

[RS2945]

I also purchased a 2003 denali and my headlights and dash lights flicker. I took it to the dealer and they said they had a bulletin from GM that this is normal. Well you can imagine my astonishment and response. A friend and I took it out last night to try to determine exactly what will make the flicker happen. In the past it was just some rough road and especially in curves. We discovered last night that if it is jerked left and right agressively that it will happen every time. GM may want to ignore it, but it is fairly obvious to us it is a short in the wiring system - somewhere! While it was in the dealership I also had them check what seems to be an airsuspension system problem, that when cornering and encountering a dip or bump in the road the steering is erratic sort of a diagonal feel, any others experience this? - Of course the dealer said this was also normal - "it is a truck" - i was surprised by their revelation. Fords, dodge and toyota's are trucks too, and they don't behave in this unexpected fashion. Great ride during daylight and on smooth straight roads with no cross wind though.

[Rescue you]

I also have an '03 Denali with the same problem. After numerous attempts to fix at the dealer I noticed that the lights flickering only occured when I was turning a corner or going over a bump. All the connections were good (per Dealer) and they replaced the headlight switch. Still no fix. Since it only occured during bumps or conering I thought maybe it had something to do with the Stabili-trac. So on my next visit to the dealer I asked about the relationship. They looked in the computer under Stabili-trac and found a bulletin from GM. GM says (in part) that this is normal! That when the stability system engages it draws an excessive amount of current which causes the lights to flicker. I have a copy of the bulletin that I can e-mail to you if you want. I feel this is a safety issue and have reported it to NHTSA http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov and am currently persuing a BBB auto-line complaint resolution for GM to fix (they say they can't, it's normal) the problem or repurchase the car under the Lemon law. I urge you to follow the complaint resolution listed in th eback of the warranty maunual so GM will be forced to address this safety defect. Right now it appears that not enough owners have complained about this issue. E-mail me and I will be happy to share my experience so far. Not what I was expecting from a $50k vehicle. I have a $3k car that the headlights don't flicker on.

[tonytone]

Originally Posted by Rescue you

...Not what I was expecting from a $50k vehicle. I have a $3k car that the headlights don't flicker on.

But then again, I reckon your $3K car doesn't have Stabilitrak...j/k; sorry, couldn't resist. I hear ya, though--the lights on my Yukon XL flicker (barely--it flickers for like a microsecond or two) occasionally but nowhere near as frequently enough to be a grave concern to me.

[Vroom2]

I've seen the same problem - headlight flicker over bumps & turns at highway speeds - since day (night) one with my truck. Interesting that it's related to the stabili-trak. Out of curiosity, has anyone confirmed this by disabling the system and then taking bumps or high-speed turns at night?

I ask that question because I recently discovered another quirk related to the system. Since installing upgraded anti-sway bars, the ABS will actually kick in to pump the brake pedal once or twice during some high-speed turns (well, okay, they might not be considered "high speed" turns if I wasn't enjoying the sway bars, but I digress). In any case, disabling the traction control made the problem disappear.

Take care,
Jerry

P.S. I think I recognize the fellow above me from another site.

[Rescue you]

I have tried to turn off the stabilitrac and the headlights still flicker. Apparently the switch doesn't "disable" the stabilitrac completely, but only a part of it. I only found this out after many times to the dealer and they finally found the bulletin from GM.