Exterior lighting, battery drain, etc.

Tiny
MICKEY2EYES
  • MEMBER
  • 2019 CHEVROLET TRAVERSE
  • 3.6L
  • 3 CYL
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 73,542 MILES
1st off you guys rock and I thank you for this site and y’all’s dedication to pass this knowledge onto us.
2019 Traverse LT was obtained from my wife’s dad. Before he passed away, he had a guy install a lift for his mobility scooter. When he passed, we obtained the car and the battery was dead because, we were told, that it had been sitting in his garage.
After getting it jumped and back home 6hrs away it drove fine for weeks until the turn signals went to rapid blink. I checked the rear lights with the car running and noticed the passenger side rear lights were not working so I figured it was the taillight. 5 days until the weekend when I went to start it the battery had completely drained. Jumped it running and pulled the cable from the battery for an alternator check and car shut down, ordered and OEM new alternator and passenger side rear light assembly, and removed the wiring for the scooter lift from the rear to the battery. Light came in 1st so I replaced that pain in the a** then installed the new alternator. Whole time the battery was being trickle charged.
After the alt. Install I started it up, ran for 15mins or so, took it round the corner and checked my taillight install, which wasn’t working. Also noticed my whole passenger side exterior lighting( lane assist, fog, front turn and running light) are not working. Killed the engine to start it for the alternator check and it was all good with 14.5v
After sitting a little over 24hrs the battery had drained yet again and had a no start with low voltage. Bad alternator Perhaps? Battery?
I, ve searched near and far for the fuse location of the turn signals/hazard to no avail and checked about every fuse in all 3 boxes for burnouts.
Bout to bring the car in and let someone else figure out but I refuse to quit but after rechecking my work I’m stumped and know somebody here will have a fix for us.
Monday, November 17th, 2025 AT 11:14 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 54,138 POSTS
First off, thank you for the kind words, we appreciate you and we’re glad to help.

Your description actually gives us everything needed to pinpoint the fault, and this is absolutely fixable at home.

the passenger-side body lighting circuit runs through:

The Rear Lamp Harness

A Body/Rear Splice Pack (SP208)

And then the Right Rear Body Control harness that feeds all right-side exterior lighting

When the mobility lift was installed, the installer tapped power AND signal grounds at the tail lamp area. When the wiring was later removed, one of the following happened:

The installer could have tapped into the turn/park feed wire and the splice was left OPEN

This causes:

1. Rapid blink
2. No turn/park on that side
3. BCM sees open circuit
4. BCM stays awake - battery drains overnight

Please check these out and get back to me, I would do a CAN scan as well to see if any codes are stored.

CAN SCAN - https://youtu.be/u-4syLc-ifQ

Please upload a short video in your response of the problem, so I can see what's going on :)
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Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 AT 12:33 PM

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