97 K1500 electrical problems

[the_uglydog]

I have a 97 K1500 Silverado. It started going dead for no reason about a year ago, this only happens sometimes. Often it will be fine for months then it starts again, its ruined the battery so now it has a new one, same problem. I changed the alternator 2 times( That keeps going bad also). After it started going dead the alarm would go off for no reason, after about 2 weeks of that the interior lights started coming on by themselves then wouldn't go out, I removed the fuses and the switches, lights stayed on so I removed the bulbs. Then a few months later the doors started unlocking themselves, then locking themselves both while parked and while driving, now the door locks dont work at all, except they still unlock themselves sometimes. Then the power mirrors stopped working, first the left, then the right. I cant find any loose grounds. Is there some kind of a module somewhere that runs this stuff? Any suggestions? By the way, there are no codes for anything and a computer scan shows everything is fine. It's making me crazy!!!

[jdmccright]

Strange indeed. All your symptoms point to what's called the "convenience center" located under the instrument panel:


There may be a shorted relay in there or something, but sounds like there is a short to ground that is causing things to get hot, melt the surrounding plastic & insulation, and cause other circuits to become shorted as well.

Only other thing I can think of is the wiring harness to the window/lock switches on the driver's door has become fatigued at the hinge, causing the adjacent wires to break and short-circuit. This too runs up to the convenience center.

Hope this helps!

[the_uglydog]

Thanks, I'll check out the wires in the door and the convenience center. Thanks for the picture so i can find it.