High Beam Indicator Always On, Now a Dead Battery

[gERgMan]

Hi All-

My recently new vehicle is a '98 Chevy Blazer, 4WD. So, I have been having some weird electrical issues as of late. A few weeks ago, I noticed my high beam indicator light on the cluster coming on when the vehicle was shut off. Eventually, it would go off and I didn't think much about it. Lately, it has been staying on all of the time when the vehicle is shut off. When I start the vehicle, the blue indicator light goes away and everything is normal until I shut if off again (comes on when I turn the high beams on, goes off when I click them off). Now, I have a dead battery and don't know if this light being on drained it. Does anybody know why this indicator light would come on? I saw some threads talking about the DRL's, but not sure if this is the same problem.

The only other thing I can think that may have caused the dead battery is when I replaced a fuse for my 4WD on the inside fuse panel, I noticed the 20amp HVAC fuse was missing. So inserted one of the extras and forgot about it. I now notice that there is a fuse labeled HVAC1 as well in this fuse panel, and it had a fuse in it. The manual says HVAC (not 1) is for manual climate control. Mine has automatic climate control. Would inserting a fuse into a non-working fuse block cause something to drain my battery or is it really the blue high beam indicator being on draining my battery. Any and all info or help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Greg

[MT-2500]

Welcome to AF.
Was it working right before you stuck the fuse in HAVC?
Was the auto ac controls and blower mt working right before you added the fuse?

My mitch shows the HAVC and HAVC1 used for manual or auto ac.
But i would remove the fuse and see if all is well?
Let us know how it goes.
MT

[gERgMan]

It(vehicle) was working before and after I put the fuse in. Now the battery is dead and I am not sure if this has anything to do with it.

The High Beam indicator light was coming on sporadically when the engine was off and key removed before I put the HVAC fuse in. Now, the light comes on all of the time when the vehicle is off and never shuts off. Not sure why the High Beam light would come on in the first place.

By the way, thanks for the welcome. Hope I can help somebody else out with a problem.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by gERgMan

It(vehicle) was working before and after I put the fuse in. Now the battery is dead and I am not sure if this has anything to do with it.

The High Beam indicator light was coming on sporadically when the engine was off and key removed before I put the HVAC fuse in. Now, the light comes on all of the time when the vehicle is off and never shuts off. Not sure why the High Beam light would come on in the first place.

By the way, thanks for the welcome. Hope I can help somebody else out with a problem.

\
Make sure the battery is good and alt charging good. And.
If it is running the battery down put a amp draw test on it and find out what is pulling the amps.

[gERgMan]

o, I jumped the dead battery, it starts running and I keep it running for a while. Also, I have since removed the HVAC fuse that is in the IP block. Just like back before I added the 20amp HVAC fuse, all the heating and cooling controls still work (I think my AC is gone), blower works, everything seems fine. This leads me to believe that the HVAC control is not necessary and that the HVAC1 fuse is the real deal. Is it possible that when I had this fuse in this defunct slot, it was drawing current and caused my battery to die?

Also, the High Beam Indicator light is still coming on after I shut the truck off. Takes few seconds, and bingo, it clicks on. Goes away as soon as I turn the key past OFF. I tried removing the DRL relay. High Beam Indicator light is still on, DRL's are disabled, but my driver side high beam doesn't work. Low beams are fine. Put the DRL fuse/relay back in and the driver side high beam works again. Is this common if you disable the DRL by removing the fuse?

[MT-2500]

Check amp draw on the battery system and post back amp draw.

[gERgMan]

Sorry for the delay in responding, I had to go to dinner with friends after stopping at Checker Auto Parts to measure the battery. And as of this morning, the problem is weirder, again.

First, the battery measured 12.7V with the truck off and everything else off. With the truck idling, which also had the DRL, clock, and some misc. electrical stuff on that I can't shut off, the battery was drawing 14.5V. I proceed to measure the voltage with and without the HVAC fuse inserted, doesn't seem to change. So, from what I can gather, the battery and fuse seem to be fine. I have never measured the battery, so correct me if I am wrong.

Now, I mentioned it got weirder. So, after I got home last night, everything seemed to be fine. I parked it and left it till this morning. Get in to start it, and the 4WD fuse is blown. It seemed to be fine last night, so I can only assume it blew over the course of the night (doesn't make sense) or it blew when I turned the key to start it. This happened last week with it blowing, but seemed to stop after I had engaged 4WD and replaced the fuse to disengage it. The reason I know it blows, is the fuel gauge goes to "E", low fuel light comes on, battery light comes on, and the 4HI, 4LO, and 2HI light buttons disappear and are unresponsive. I believe all of these components are controlled by this fuse.
So, I replace the fuse and head to work. Everything seems fine, except half way there, the passenger side front wheel starts making a whining/grinding sound that you can only really hear at lower speeds and gets louder as you slow down until you come to a near complete stop, in which the sound is not there anymore. I pull into a parking lot, engage the 4HI, and the sound disappears. The sound reappears as soon as I switch back to 2HI. So, with the truck in 2HI, I pull the 4WD fuse to see what this does. The gear indicator box that tells you what gear you are in disappears along with the buttons for 4HI, 4LO, 2HI, which is what happens when the fuse is blown. However, the gas guage, low fuel light, and battery light don't come on like they normally do when the 4WD fuse is blown. So, I am at a loss as to what is going on there. Oh yeah, the sound is still being made.
Finally, when I get to work, the sound I am hearing by the front passenger wheel is gone.

I am absolutely baffled by what is going on here. Other than all of this weird crap, the truck drives fine, shifts fine. It never showed any of this a month or two ago when I bought it. Thanks for any help.

[MT-2500]

You have a short or feed back or a bad ground in the electrical system.
If fuse blowed you have a short someplace.
First step is to check the amp draw on electrical system.

Amp draw is the amps the system is drawing from the battery not the voltage reading.

Find a good electrical mechanic or repair shop and have them take a look at it.

[gERgMan]

Thanks for the suggestion. Is there a place where I can go to get a free amp draw done on the battery or should I go out and by an amp meter?

If I buy or borrow and amp meter, how do I go about measuring the amount of amps the system is drawing from the battery? Sorry if I sound like a rookie, but I never did much with electrical systems, but am willing to learn.
Thanks

[MT-2500]

Not many do that test for free.
But check you local auto parts places.
To measure amp draw you need a good volt/amp/ohm meter capable of measuring amps and mil amps.
Flute makes some good ones but the good ones may run over 200-500 US dollars.

The meter has to be hooked in line with the battery cable.
Unless you have a amp clamp over probe.
And meter set to amps and then to mil amps.

Hook it up and let the computers power down for 10-20 minutes and read the amp draw.
Anything over 250 mil amp will run a battery down sitting.

Feed back or dash light coming on can be a bad ground or connection to.
I would see if the dash is pluged in good.
And make sure all tail and brake and lisene plate and parking and head lights and turn signals are working right.
A bad ground on the lany light circuit can give feed back on dash.
But a blowed fuse is a short,

Good Luck
MT

[MT-2500]

Another test would be tap or remove all relays.
A relay sticking or bad could cause feed back and curent draw.
Also check ign switch for turning on and off everything.
Good luck
MT