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Has anybody tried glass lensed headlights for 94 to 99 GMT400's ?

Yeah, and definitely NOT water proof/resistant! Therein could lay your lamp/ballast issues. I would personally go with 10-12ga Marine Grade insulated crimp butt connectors. Heated the shrink down and the adhesive melts in and makes them waterproof. You can get them pretty cheap at Harbor Freight. The Marine Grade insulation is translucent in color, regular crimps are solid color.
 
Husker6.5 said:
Yeah, and definitely NOT water proof/resistant! Therein could lay your lamp/ballast issues. I would personally go with 10-12ga Marine Grade insulated crimp butt connectors. Heated the shrink down and the adhesive melts in and makes them waterproof. You can get them pretty cheap at Harbor Freight. The Marine Grade insulation is translucent in color, regular crimps are solid color.
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The wires are 16ga.
 
@Big T A 10-12ga (yellow) WILL crimp down plenty tight on a single 16ga wire as is, if you have a good crimper and good hand strength. Also, you can strip it twice as long, twist it and fold it back onto itself and it will be nearly 10ga in diameter. But the REAL reason why you use the 10-12ga crimp connector is for the TWO 16ga wires you twist together and stick in the other end, the "tap", that eliminates those non-weatherized, oxidized connection, T-taps! Once you crimp and shrink them, they're weather tight - even on the double wire side as the inner adhesive melts down in between the two wires. If you're in doubt, a drop of silicone sealer after the shrink cools between the two wires will calm any doubts. I've used this method for years to splice in trailer plugs long before the "plug and play" kits where the trailer harness plugs into body connectors in-line.

Trust me, using the yellow 10-12ga crimp connectors was NOT a misprint on my part, just like using a yellow wire nut when joining four 14ga wires when doing house wiring is correct. You have to account for the increased diameter of the multiple conductors.

You would never get two 16ga wires into the end of a blue crimp connector, and trimming a few strands off each to make them small enough to fit in together is NOT the correct nor safe way to do it!
 
ak diesel driver said:
Biggest issue I've had when using the solder type is getting the solder to melt without overheating the heat shrink, a slow steady not too hot heat source works best IME.
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What heat gun tip are you using on your heat gun when using solder splices? They use them at work when making our lights and when they do they use the hooked tip so it envelops the splice, which would make it more of an oven situation at that point I suppose and you could probably get away with a lower temperature setting on the gun.

In the picture below, it would be the tip on the left.
heat gun tips.jpeg
 
If I solder, I don't screw around with those "all-in-one" solder/shrink crimp-type connectors. I do a standard solder connection, having slid a piece of shrink tubing 2-3 times the length of the splice over one of the wires ahead of making the splice and soldering it, then I slide the shrink tubing over it so the tubing is centered, then I shrink it. If in an automotive/outdoor application, I use Marine Grade shrink tubing with the adhesive liner.
 
I sometimes use these. On one side run jumpers from one terminal to the next, then on the other side wires can be connected to go to different appliances from the same circuit.
2A2F54DF-C5F7-4AFF-AE52-0E7115E665DA.png
 
n8in8or said:
What heat gun tip are you using on your heat gun when using solder splices? They use them at work when making our lights and when they do they use the hooked tip so it envelops the splice, which would make it more of an oven situation at that point I suppose and you could probably get away with a lower temperature setting on the gun.

In the picture below, it would be the tip on the left.
View attachment 66797
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I don't have that tip.
 
jrsavoie said:
I don't have that tip.
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I use whatever torch I have handy at the moment. I used to have one of those mini butane torch units. That was mighty handy for heat shrink. Heck, that thing’d get hot enough to loose rusted on nuts and some rusted in bolts too.
That unit broke down after about 25 years so now I use the big bernzOmatic torch, just hold it back a long ways and move fast.
If wiring is in a heat sensitive area, as in a byproduct could be a fire, I’ll use a cigaretter lighter. One of them butane torches thats real long, like for igniting a pilot light, they work good too.
 
MrMarty51 said:
I use whatever torch I have handy at the moment. I used to have one of those mini butane torch units. That was mighty handy for heat shrink. Heck, that thing’d get hot enough to loose rusted on nuts and some rusted in bolts too.
That unit broke down after about 25 years so now I use the big bernzOmatic torch, just hold it back a long ways and move fast.
If wiring is in a heat sensitive area, as in a byproduct could be a fire, I’ll use a cigaretter lighter. One of them butane torches thats real long, like for igniting a pilot light, they work good too.
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I probably had the same mini butane torch for the same amount of time. I have bought and returned several since that one puked. None of them worked right.

I'm sad that they quit making the fat Mapp gas bottles. The torch didn't want to fall over so much with the fat bottles. Now I use the plastic rings on the skinny bottles.

I have the electric heat gun and all the other tips, just not the tip referred to.
 
jrsavoie said:
I probably had the same mini butane torch for the same amount of time. I have bought and returned several since that one puked. None of them worked right.

I'm sad that they quit making the fat Mapp gas bottles. The torch didn't want to fall over so much with the fat bottles. Now I use the plastic rings on the skinny bottles.

I have the electric heat gun and all the other tips, just not the tip referred to.
Click to expand...
Squarish paint thinner can and tin snips, here we come. 😹😹😹
 
OK so I eliminated the suspect 3-way splices and used heat shrink crimp splices. Did one at a time so as to not mix anything up. Also change the crimped ground ring terminal from the relay on the driver’s side (passenger side ring terminal were changed previously). No Change in the color of the passenger side low and the lights went crazy on me. For a bit, the High beam setting would just have the Lows on and the Low setting would have all 4 on. Then the lows would not shut off when the light switch is off. I backed off the negative battery post bolts on the driver’s side and the All 4 on High at Low beam setting went off. Now I no longer have All 4 on High, just Lows or Highs. I should have left well enough alone. WTF is going on?

Sounds very similar to this guy’s problems:

4 hi mod problem

99 escalade, did the heavy duty harness today along with the 4 hi mod. Working in the garage everything worked great. Tonight I went for a ride and now when I turn the high beams on they all 4 come on, but when i turn the high beams off they all 4 still stay on.. Anyone else have this happen...
www.gmt400.com www.gmt400.com

Do I need new relays?
 
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