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Has anyone else had any experience with this issue?
Look at the plug itself that attaches to the light assembly. I found that one of the terminals were melted. Unless your really lucky you will have to replace the pigtail. The dealer wants around $50+, others want $40+. I went to the wrecking yard and cut one off of a van there and wired it up. Solved all tail light problems I was experiencing.
I have a few fixes for your dim headlights on the 2000 Venture, some really easy ,some a little more in depth. I have a 2000 Venture I bought from a friend a few months ago and noticed the headlights at night were as bright a frozen pee-holes in the snow!
The easiest "upgrade" is to change out the bulbs. The bulbs spec'd for the Venture are 9004's which have a 45 watt low beam and a 65 watt high beam. They can be replaced with 9007 type bulbs which have a 55 watt low beam and a 65 watt high beam. That's a 22% increase on low beam and makes quite a difference. You must make a minor change to the plug wiring at each light because the position of the ground/high/low wires is different with each bulb type, but it requires no specialized tools and I did mine in about 15 minutes. As well , you must remove two small pieces of plastic on the headlight housing at the 5 and 8 o'clock position at the opening of the housing. A pair of needle nose pliers work well.Removing these little "keys" allows you to use both bulb types . You must also re-aim your headlights when changing to 9007 bulbs because the filament location within the bulb is different - they must be aimed down!
Unfortunately, the design shape of the reflector is so poor that it spreads the light beam all over the place - and there's nothing you can do about that! Lastly, DO NOT
waste money on after-market specialty light bulbs unless you and your van want to look like all the cool 16 year olds and their Civics (and yes I do own a slightly modified Acura EL which has excellent headlights by design without fancy $100 bulbs). If you need any help with the modifications check out the links or email me
stevenhodder@gmail.com. The Daniel Stern site should be read in its entirety.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html
http://20v.org/light.htm#9007
This description of the mod is a bit over the top - DO NOT use a mallet and a screwdriver to remove the plastic pieces! The wire swap on the Venture is easier than described here.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=230510&highlight=bulb+upgrade
Steve
lights fluctuate (kind of spaz out, both interior and exterior)
when brake applied, both the turn signals light up (when we checked this, one of the lights was out in back)
Is this a wiring issue, or what? any guidance that you can offer would be great.
Thanks!
We have a 2000 Venture too...
Let me offer up something crazy - I think one of your bulbs in the back is installed backwards. They only work right when installed one way. Try removing the light that's out in the back and reinstalling it 180 degrees opposite. You might want to try flipping all of them, but start with the one that's out. Also, check the led stop light mounted above the rear hatch. They are known to short out from time to time and cause some crazy things. Maybe you want to try disconnecting it and hitting the brakes to see what the lights do then. May resolve the turn signal lighting up problem.
Fluctuating lights are fairly common, I bet they flicker when you sit at a traffic light and it gets better as the engine speed increases as you drive away. Mine did the same - replaced the alternator, problem gone...I believe the issue is with the voltage regulator in the alternator...The alternator is an expensive fix due to the labor involved...the part is about $ 140...
start here and let us know what happens, Good Luck
Are you sure both of the bulbs are OK??
The auto lights aren't turning on the low beams - have you tried using the rotary switch to turn them on?
Have you checked the fuse? It should be in the fuse block under the hood.
I'll look at the repair manual when I get home and repost - I need to see where they connect to the harness and whether or not I should have you look for and check a solenoid...
I'll post again later after I look at the repair manual...I'd be wild guessing until I look at it...
John
The auto lights aren't turning on the low beams - have you tried using the rotary switch to turn them on?---yes, rotary does nothing for them
Have you checked the fuse? It should be in the fuse block under the hood. no, but i will (as soon as i figure out which one it is)
I'll look at the repair manual when I get home and repost - I need to see where they connect to the harness and whether or not I should have you look for and check a solenoid... thanks much! appreciate it
I'll post again later after I look at the repair manual...I'd be wild guessing until I look at it...
I went over the wiring diagram for the headlight circuit - of course its pouring rain out so I'm not going under the hood tonight. Anyway - here's what I found -
The headlamps are protected by a 20 amp circuit breaker - no fuse listed in the diagram - its in line with the high beams so if the high beams work, the lows should work as well...
After the circuit breaker - wires lead to the multifunction switch - better known as the turn signal stalk on the steering column - the switch in there switches the lights back and forth between high beams and low beams
After that, through the firewall to the underhood wiring junction block and the next stop is the bulbs themselves.
Lets see - if the circuit breaker is bad - no high or low beams - NO
If there's a broken wire - no high or low beams, they share the same wires - NO
The dash switch won't turn on the low beams but the high beams come on, so - NO
So without being there I can only make 2 guesses...
1. There's a problem with the multifunction switch - perhaps contacts are bad on the low beam side (better known as the "high beams are off" side) - replacement requires removal of the steering wheel & column cover - to test, you'll need to remove the drivers side knee bolster and find the bulkhead connector. The wire going to the lights should be tan in color. To check it, you'll need to back probe it with a multimeter and attach the other end to a good ground and see if there's voltage there in high and low beam settings.
2. this is a stretch but...are the correct bulbs installed?
My thought is that the multifunction switch may be your problem - its kind of interesting that you're also having problems with your turn signals which also happen to be controlled by it...I'm starting to become very suspicious of it...
Best of luck with your problem...I hope I helped and you get the lights straightened out. There's nothing more frustrating than an electrical problem...Any questions - post away, I cruise around here pretty frequently...
Beautiful morning - had a chance to go look under the hood.....
There is a fuse for the headlights - just not shown in the wiring diagram...in the underhood fuse block - but if your high beams work, they run off the same fuse so its a non issue
Also - the back up lights appear to have their own fuse - its located in the same place. Open the fuse door (its located on top of the battery - left side when you open the hood) there's a diagram on the back of the cover detailing which fuse is which.
How did you ever make out??
thanks everyone for you help though..much appreciated.
1) Open the hood (duh )
2) Remove the right headlight (two wingnuts and three tabs hold it in place along with the turnsignal)
3) Take a close look at the wiring harness.
When the light is in place, the harness rests against the battery thanks to a hole in the bulkhead. Problem with mine, and likely others is that if the battery is replaced, the installer prolly never thought to look for a wire resting there, so when the battery is installed, the harness gets pinched against the bulkhead and eventually sawed through and shorted. In mine case, the headlights kept going on and off until they finally failed entirely. Solution is to cut out the damaged wire and crimp the remaining together.
Had the same problem on our 2000 Venture but our vents wouldn't switch at all - here's what to check:
There's a vacuum line that goes from the back of the dash vent selector knob, along the passenger side footwell, through the firewall, around the windshield washer tank and connects to a vacuum port on top of the engine just above the alternator...I'd bet that hose is getting plugged...there's also a check valve on it which keeps engine gases out if the pressure in the intake becomes positive (like during a backfire)
Check to make sure that...the hose is attached securely, that the check valve is working correctly (air only goes in 1 direction, towards the intake), and that the hose is not pinched or damaged. Also check to be sure that its securely attached at the dash behind the knob...the fix on mine was to run a new length of hose...
Good luck, post back with any questions....
just bought 2001 venture for the kids we got it at a fair price considering it was working smoothly when we test drived it. But after a day of using it suddenly the gauges went tripping namely the fuel and the temperature gauge and also to add to that just recently service engine warning also came up it seems that there were some electrical problems with the unit.
had anyone experience the same problem with the venture?
suggestions and advices is very much appreciated
thanks...
You have to start somewhere...1st thing I would get checked is the code or codes that made the Service Engine light come on...it may tell you the reason(s) why your dash has flipped out. Some auto parts stores will check the codes for free...
Many if not most of the operations of the dash are controlled by the PCM (powertrain control module). Codes might tell you that the PCM is bad...hard to say until you check
If they give you the code numbers, post them and I'll look them up in the book for you...the parts store might have suggestions for you as well. Good Luck
you can post here or email me ez2bbad64@yahoo.com
thanks! :sick:
Thanks for any help in advance.
I had to get a junkyard wire lume and plug and pigtail into the vans harness to correct.
Thanks! :confuse:
storm my 2000 venture had several things go haywire that were somewhat ok(I'll explain later) right before parking the car pre-storm.
The ABS light stays on, the airbag light goes on/off, the speedometer and odometer work on and off, the automatic locks won't work when the car is running, and the trans will buck when first accelerating but that seems to stop after several miles.
The airbag light previously would go out when jiggling wires under the passenger seat and the trans bucking would previously happen under totally different conditions. Something happened during that storm that has made part of the electrical system go additionally haywire.
Coincidence? Any ideas what to check? I thought moisture might have gotten somewhere but several warm days hasn't changed anything. Then I thought maybe an electrical storm could somehow disrupt the cars computer without actually being hit.
Fuel Gauge...chances are the level sender is kaput, have to drop the fuel tank to replace
Rear wiper...check the fuse, check to see if you've got juice at the motor when you turn it on, check the motor in that order
I have been through two alternators and just the other day my AC Delco battery burst (not good after a 8 hour drive) but the mechanic (not a Chevy dealer) stated that there is nothing wrong with the charging system. I have replaced the battery but I am still having these issues and was wondering if you have had any luck diagnosing the issue with your Venture. I am still leaning to some issue with the charging circuit (maybe voltage regulator / rectifier) or some Voodoo type issue that I have read elsewhere to do with rusted boards in the tail lights. Right now no mechanic seems to be able to find the problem.
Right now, my van is doing okay, but I am just waiting for the next thing to fall apart! Best of luck!
Now, getting fed up and wanting to just fix the vehicle sufficiently to sell it, I took it to the Chevy dealer. Now, after looking at it for a few hours, they said that the alternator is indeed broken and that it is not charging the battery after the car warms up (the computer had two codes with one stating a low voltage situation). Now, since I could no longer drive it home (the dealer said that I had been driving the vehicle on only a battery and mostly dead alternator for about a week and probably wouldn't make it home, let alone back again), I agreed to replace the alternator. Lo and behold, the battery light is now off and the dashboard light show has disappeared. Hopefully it won't re-appear any time soon! The only bright side to this is that it wasn't a computer failure.
Two weeks befoe this happend, random electrical issues had started - oil pressure waring light and bell would sound even though no problem with presssure; door locks woudl go on and off by themselves as car was driving; check engine light would go on and off.
Any suggestions ro is it time to junk it?