Help me help my father's truck

[tiggs]

Ok, so my father's truck is being weird...

Truck: 1995 Chevy C/K 1500 v6 4wd

Problem: Brake lights are very dim, can barely see that they are on. When you turn the blinker on, the opposite blinker blinks opposite of the desired blinker.. Licence plate lights blink in time with the blinkers.. Front blinkers work fine. This isn't the only problem but I believe it's all linked together. The main problem is that when you start the truck, then try to go in reverse (ie to back out of the driveway) the rpms drop fast and die out almost before you can touch the gas pedal. If the truck is in park/neutral and you step on the brakes, the same thing happens and it stalls out. If you're driving on the road and turn on the blinker, the truck kinda chugs, misfires maybe. I don't recall it doing this while braking but I do remember it doing it while I used the blinkers. Nothing else electrical affects the truck, radio works loud and clear, headlights are fine, gauge lights etc are fine.

What we've done: Pre-lim tests from the dealer said a collapsed cat (I know, wouldn't do anything with the brake lights of course) so that has been replaced which was something that needed to be replaced anyway since we found pieces of the interior of the cat in the muffler (replaced that too). Extra wiring that would be used with a trailor towed behind the truck has been removed to make sure of no shorts. Replaced the Distributor cap and rotor/button, inspected plugs and plug wires/coil wire and those are fine. Currently the Alternator is off and my father is supposed to get that tested today, we haven't seen any problems with charging though and like I said, other electrical stuff has no effect on the truck.

My thoughts: Has to be something with the brake light wires somewhere? I've pulled all the blinker and brake light fuses and stepped on the brake and it still died. Yeah, not a real big thought huh? I'm getting pretty stumped. I'm usually pretty good at figuring this stuff out. If you have any ideas or experiences please share them. He's getting ready to just trade in the truck for something newer but 1)He can't really afford it and is paid off already and 2)This truck is pretty mint besides this crappy issue.

I need help!! Thanks in advance!

[Maeda]

Have you tried checking battery voltage?

It sounds like theres a large short as well as the battery is going.
Test for open circuits with a test light on the ground and chassis.
Automatics do REALLLY FUCKING WEIRD SHIT when theres a short.

[tiggs]

Yeah Imma dig out my multimeter thingy if I can find it.. But I think it's in my 240sx at my uncles getting the engine replace :-( I'm home from work now so I'm gonna start following wires here there and everywhere.

[tiggs]

Well, I spent about 15 minutes looking here and there and getting the alternator back on w/my brother.. Then I saw this black strap on the back of the block and followed it to the body, then another strap from there to the frame.. I lifted the one to the frame slightly and it snapped in two.. What can I say.. crappy ground wires :-P

Now who the heck uses a frigging flat copper wire.. non-isulated or anything as a ground?! Exposed to the elements and all, goodness..
The crappy part, the frigging napa and chevy parts dept closed at 5 and we drove up at 5:02 to napa and the doors were locked.. friggin' a.. they knew I was comin' too cuz I called. I'll never shop there again.

[chlatboy]

hahaha. Hopefully it gets fixed.

[tiggs]

My brother is out there boltin' em in right now. My father went out and got the wires. They're gonna piss themselves when they find out what I've been tellin' them for a week and a half now. "It's a wire.. Most likely a broken or coroded ground wire"

"No no, it's the fuel pump, it's the cat, it's the distributor cap and rotor/button.."

We'll find out what the $10 my father just spent does in a few minutes. Unfortunately I have very high hopes that this is going to fix it.. so if it doesn't Imma feel like shit, lol!

[tiggs]

I wish I had a picture of my father and brother together on my pc so I could do some ownage.

Just after I finished typing that last post I went outside to see if my brother was done and he had the truck running with every light on and flashing he could find and it was runnin' like a champ. Reverse worked, and all the lights were 10x as bright!

See, Hondas are good for something... My crx constantly having crappy problems like bad grounds taught me something! Luckily I graduated to my 240sx a year ago!

[Maeda]

Yup.

Once you get nissans down then its time to graduate to toyota wiring headaches. =)