whitebuffalo

on monday, in celebration of my last day off, me and a buddy decided to go ahead and reek some havoc and install my clearance lights on my truck. install went well, lights came out good. everything was fine.....then....

i got in my truck to leave, fired it up and my buddy notices the overhead console was freaking out. it was flashing the info very rapidly and very dim. while we sat there scratching our heads, we thought maybe we pulled the wire loose while we had the headliner lowered, or perhaps it became ungrounded. while we sat there looking at it.....the airbag light dinged and came on, then went off......~10 seconds later, the brake and abs lights came on. we shut it down, pulled out the scanner and scanned for codes. nothing. started it back up,....same thing.....overhead freaking out, brake and abs light on. we shut it down again. pulled the underhood fuse box to check that nothing got screwed up while we had it loose. everyhting looked good, so i disconnected both batteries, turned the key to start for 30 seconds (that cleared the comp on my gasser...have no idea if it does anything on the ctd). reconnected everything...overhead was fine, but brake and abs lights are still on. i told him to hell with it, id head home and if the lights didnt clear up, take it to the *******. backed out of the driveway, as soon as i hit 1st gear (2nd...whatever...it doenst matter) and rolled forward, both lights went out. nothing has happened out of the ordinary since.

so....***? metal shavings from drilling in the roof made the overhead ground poorly which freaked out the truck leading to the flash of the airbag light and the brake thing?

or just coincidental bad luck? any ideas welcomed. im not too worried about it.....since it hasnt done it since, but was curious as to what might have happened.

rammtuff

Your truck was protesting because you put silly lights on it....

(kinda like the look your dog will give you when you put bow on its head)

TAS05CTD610

Nothing like that happened when i put them on my 98. Maybe a shaving or two got down in there (spill any beer while working??), or you static charged it doing something (only guessing here). I used a vacume when I drill to suck all metal shavings away so they didn't fall inside. Maybe there was something going on near your house that day (UFO wise and miltary stuff) Hope you don't get those codes again.

whitebuffalo

hehehehe.....maybe it was more giving that look b/c noone in their right mind would drill 5x 7/8" holes in the roof of a brand new truck.

the only thing i can figure is that a shaving made for a funky ground which threw the overhead haywire which threw the other stuff crazy.

the install was easier on this truck than they were on my 99 (wiring was easier). still hasnt happened anymore...maybe ill be lucky and it was just a cosmic mis-alignment...

CRXsi

As far as the ABS/brake lights will remain on until the unit has passed it's self check (which usually involves driving over 10kph). Once the system detects that all wheel speed sensors, pumps, solenoids and other stuff are functioning normal the light is turned out. Many cars do not even have a 'clear' function with a scan tool to clear codes and often the only way to shut off the light is to drive it after the repair has been made.

In your case either you inadvertanlty found a connector that wasn't quite connected or maybe the shaving theory...either way you fixed the problem (even if it may be temporary) and the system ran it's self check, determined everything was again OK and turned off the lights.

Hope this description helps a little in explaining why the lights turned off.

whitebuffalo

very much so. thanks for all ur help