Electrical Short

[j0ee]

Hello Board,
I have an issue with my 1990 GMC Sierra, vehicle cut off three times on the way home, I did notice when I used my turn signal or emergency lamps the engine died. I was able to get it restarted and home but it's dead in the water currently, no voltage readout in the dash, no crank, battery is at 12.7 volts, Also to note when I tilted the wheel up, the vehicle cut off again. My guess is a short in the wire harness in the column. Anyone had the same experience?

[Second Series]

I would think it is an OPEN, and not a short. A short would blow a fuse.
You could probe for voltages at the fuse block. Check for 12v with key off, like at the Stop/Haz fuse. Check for 12v with key on, like at the ACC/IGN fuse. While checking for 12v key on, wiggle the key switch, and tilt the wheel to see if it changes. According to the manual: The Ignition Switch has six positions, five of which have detents. The positions with detents are ACCY, LOCK, OFF, RUN, and START. BULB TEST is between RUN and START and has no detent. Watch for the dash bulbs with the key between RUN and START.
I could guess it’s a faulty key switch, but it could be a broken wire after the switch. You could disconnect the battery and ohm out the connections.
I had a similar problem with my ’88 K2500. It would die, or wouldn’t start sometimes. All the fuses checked good. Finally it wouldn’t start, the fuse panel had been disconnected from the dash and was just hanging. I was moving it while trying to start, and it started. It turned out one of the fuse sockets had lost tension causing an intermittent connection on the ECM/IGN fuse. I had inadvertently touched that fuse while cranking. Good luck.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by j0ee

Hello Board,
I have an issue with my 1990 GMC Sierra, vehicle cut off three times on the way home, I did notice when I used my turn signal or emergency lamps the engine died. I was able to get it restarted and home but it's dead in the water currently, no voltage readout in the dash, no crank, battery is at 12.7 volts, Also to note when I tilted the wheel up, the vehicle cut off again. My guess is a short in the wire harness in the column. Anyone had the same experience?

Long time ago I had that problem in a Lincoln.
Found it exactly where you said - in the tilt wheel mechanism. My problem was difficult because you had to put it into Park at the same time as you lifted the wheel to make it happen.

My bet is, if you take the steering wheel off and start digging in you will find the problem. Take the wheel off, turn signal off, and even go so far as to take the key mechanism out. Just look carefully and closely; it's in there somewhere.
Some thing is turning the car off. Might even be a worn key cylinder.