The dash has no power?

Tiny
CALI4610
  • MEMBER
  • 2018 CHEVROLET IMPALA
  • 3.6L
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 86,000 MILES
Driver headlight, driver taillight, and whole dash (gauges, radio, ac-heater, none of it) has power. I’ve checked fuses and relays; they are all good. I’ve used a multimeter and determined the driver headlight connection is not good. I’ve tried tracing the ground and can’t find it. Chevy wants to charge $400-some-odd dollars for a wiring diagram. If all these things share a ground, couldn’t I just run a new ground from a new headlight connector and that be it? What do I do? :(
Saturday, July 5th, 2025 AT 8:13 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,330 POSTS
GM is well-known for designing grossly over-complicated head light circuits for a long time. I try to avoid them, but here is the diagram that may help you.

Normally I never allowed my students to "just run a new wire", especially to replace a shorted one, because they don't know what caused the problem or if it will affect other wires in the harness, later. We want to know the cause and correct it. In your case, where there's a break, and if the location is rather hard to get to, adding a new wire might not be such a bad choice.

It looks like G101 is the ground you're after. The location is shown in the second drawing.
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Saturday, July 5th, 2025 AT 8:50 PM
Tiny
CALI4610
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That looks like it’s right to the right of the left headlight assembly, is that correct?
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Sunday, July 6th, 2025 AT 11:54 AM
Tiny
CALI4610
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I got it figured out thanks to you! Come to find out it was the connector! I bought one the other day but figured it was more complicated! Thank you for your help! Saved me and my family a lot of money the week before my daughter's birthday.
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Sunday, July 6th, 2025 AT 10:57 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,330 POSTS
Very happy to hear you solved it. Was a terminal corroded off?
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Monday, July 7th, 2025 AT 2:31 PM
Tiny
CALI4610
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Yes, and it was the g101 grounding just like you had predicted. Very good advice. I truly appreciate your help.
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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 AT 7:31 AM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 34,330 POSTS
Wonderful. Please come back to see us again.
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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 AT 11:22 AM

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