Battery light stays on but very dim.

minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
Saturday evening I was out with the kids and we were outside when they sky opened up ans was raining so hard after we got in the '04 envoy we could not drive for a half an hour since we could not see. we got home, dried off and relaxed. I drove her this morning and no probs. tonight when I got in it I noticed the battery light on very dim without the keys in it. I thought it was reflecting light but no it's on very dim. I turned the key to run without starting it yet an all safety lights came on bright inc. battery as they should, I started it and when the lights went away the batt. was bright went to dim very dim. did what iI had to do came home shut her down waited for everything to go off and the batt will not go off with key out and shut down. could somthing have gotten wet on the doors to cause this? it does not seem to be a problem but I am afraid it will soon. Any ideas. I was told to get ready to spend allot of money on a gauge cluster. if so do I have time or should i start looking for a used one? sucks as now the lift n tires will have to wait or I go back to old school minimal electronics and back to full size I do not have that many miles on the voy and it was well taken care for. or do i try to clean the circut board if they show where it is my dad said bathroom alcohal n q-tip can do the trick? can it?
 

kickass audio

Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
I wouldn't worry about it. Mine is the exact same way and I have upgraded batteries, alternator, wiring, etc for it all. I was thinking maybe if I put an LED in instead of the little incandescent bulb it has that maybe it would not let it show that dim light if the voltage on it is low enough but at the same time I like the warning lights being different colors than my backlight because it will get my attention faster.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Mine does this as well. I read some where that it is the key switch not perfectly aligned. Other places that it is just a weird thing with gm clusters, the sierras high beam indicator turns itself on too. My battery light is dim sometimes. Nothing to worry about I believe as others said. [emoji106]
 
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minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
yeah it cleared today which i was told to take the cluster apart and use rubbing alcohal and q-top and clean the the area where the led is at it will crystalize. so there is no problem at this point if it starts up i will send it to cluster dr and have red led installed and cluster repaired and get the other red led's for radio,climate steering etc for $300 but for now i will leave it and save my money. thanks.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
I think all reports I've seen of that kind of thing happening has been related to the ignition switch starting to flake out. Keep an eye on that.
 
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Gerbil21

Member
May 28, 2014
839
Just saying but if it is the ignition, there is a seller on eBay that can make you another ignition lock from a picture of your key, or sell you a new ignition and door lock with keys
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
The switch is separate from your cylinder. Changing the switch does not affect the lock cylinder.
 

kickass audio

Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
It isn't a short, ignition switch or anything. I have seen 4 different envoys and trailblazers with the same thing and all work perfect. Just ignore it and go on your way. As my dad always tells me when I tweak something on my truck or work on repairing it "shut up and drive the damn thing"
 

minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
well there might be something about the dim batt. light. my gas gauge went haywire yesterday as the dim batt. lite came on. going near empty 2 lines from, it took off way past full and was going back and forth. I put $30 in it I use 89 octane and it setteled to 1/4 of a tank and when I got home it was way past full. Is it time to have the cluster removed and rebuilt and habe blue led's put in for an extra $150. at circut board medics? I thought I was in the clear.
 

Denali n DOO

Member
May 22, 2012
5,596
My fuel gauge went all wacky like that. It was the fuel level sender messing up the gauge. Common issue.
 

minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
Yeah I figured that but with the BATT. light on dim many were saying the cluster goes bad. If I do the sending unit I will do the pump and lines as well to avoide in the future since they use calciume chloride w/chemicals on the roads here with an average of 250+" of snow a year may do brake lines under the tank too..
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
minisuv said:
Yeah I figured that but with the BATT. light on dim many were saying the cluster goes bad. If I do the sending unit I will do the pump and lines as well to avoide in the future since they use calciume chloride w/chemicals on the roads here with an average of 250+" of snow a year may do brake lines under the tank too..
I believe the sending unit is built into the pump. And I think the fuel lines are plastic, at least the ones at the filter are.
 

minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
I will look, i thought the early ones were steel but i could be wrong I know 2 brake lines are common to go 1 by the tank one by the resivour and you don't see them leaking u just keep adding brake fluid. so I need to drop the tank anyway. thank for the heads up.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
Where did you hear about brake lines? Since owning and following this platform for 6+ years...it is news to me.

Only 02 have a filter outside tank.

You have to pull pump for sending unit no matter what.
 

Mounce

Member
Mar 29, 2014
13,667
Tuscaloosa, AL
02-04 have external filters. 05+ is in the tank. IIRC. I know my 04 has an external filter.

Minisuv, you are all over the place, idk how anyone is keeping up with your issues. Hard for me to follow you in 20 different directions in one post. Sorry 'bout it.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I thought only OG model had external. Wish mine did.
 

djthumper

Administrator
Nov 20, 2011
14,950
North Las Vegas
Yeah it would be nice to not have to drop the tank for a filter change.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
FWIW, my rustbucket 2002 has had no rusty brake line issues anywhere. They're still pretty darn clean.

If mine hasn't rusted it, then it probably won't rust on any truck :rotfl:
 

minisuv

Original poster
Member
Apr 17, 2015
85
had a leak one 1 by the res. the u line guy at mavis said it was a common prob was a cheap fix said 1 by the tank does the same thing. I saw the leak. I was losen brake fluid over time. thats where I found out? i will do the other to be safe when I do the sending unit so the gase gauge works and I have an external gas filter. and what other issues like dim battery light seems to be a common problem as shown on here and other sites what are the 20 issues mounce?
 

Texan

Member
Jan 14, 2014
622
There are three brake hose's on a TB/Envoy, one at each front
caliper, and one at the rear between the fame and rear axle.
My guess about the dim battery light is, a problem with the
voltage regulator inside the alternator.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
Texan said:
My guess about the dim battery light is, a problem with the
voltage regulator inside the alternator.
In the old days, maybe, but the light (LED) in ours is turned on by a logic circuit in the cluster commanded on by the BCM when required. It's likely a minor defect in the logic circuit. If you were to plug in another cluster, it would probably go away. Because current draw in LEDs is already low and it's being lit dim, the power draw is negligible.
 

kickass audio

Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
Well I have an answer for the OP about the battery light being dim. After my lovely struggle with screwing around with the swap from a non-dic to a dic cluster, I instantly noticed that the dic cluster did not have that faint glow of the battery LED. So it can be confirmed on my truck that the issue was with the OEM cluster. Nothing to sweat about though since it all works just fine. I didn't bother to test the voltage on that old cluster since it's basically a dud now as I killed the EEPROM chip on it and reset the odometer back to 0 (though it still counts up and remembers it, who has seen a rusty 04 truck with 0 miles on it? lmao!). But there you go guys! The answer you have been waiting for.
 

Kalkhoven

Member
Jun 28, 2015
11
Ontario
I can second the answer above. The faint battery light on is a cluster problem. I get clusters every once in a while with the battery light on dim only being powered by a 12v source not being plugged into the truck
 

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