Hi Guys, been a while; been nursing by 02 Silhouette along with the normal issues until now, just about ready to give up on it. The major problem right now is electrical, which may be a simple problem but unfortunately has a complicated story behind it, sorry about that.

Issue began in the spring, so perhaps if we start there, it might provide some insight. Had the brakes done at a local mechanic (sorry, can't afford the $139 per hour at the dealer). Replaced the pads, rotors and hubs, ensuring that I got the correct hubs for ABS and TCS. When I picked up the van, the ABS and TCS warning lights were on and I asked the mechanic if he had hooked up the connections from the hubs. He said that he had and that I would have to have the dealer re-set those indicator lamps, which is the standard $100 charge for hooking it up to the computer. Well, I am pretty sure that he did not do this, as I do not have either traction control or abs. I should be able to correct that, however, since then the following has happened. First I started to burn out brake lights, kept changing bulbs but same thing would occur again in short (forgive the pun) order. The terminals on the bulbs are always melted. After that the power door on the passenger side failed to open electrically, then failed to open mechanically. Then the blower fan stopped running, despite the fact that I had just replaced the entire assembly the previous fall. Then the power sliding door on the drivers' side did not open electrically, however, functions properly mechanically. The daytime running lights are functioning correctly (well somewhat correctly) as are the signal lamps. The battery warning light comes on for a few seconds and then goes off and with the cold weather recently, the battery died overnight a few times. This week, the running lights stayed on after I had shut the van off and I could not get them to shut off without pulling the fuse. Everytime that I would put the fuse back in, the lights would come back on, so I left the fuse out overnight so as not to drain the battery. When I came out in the morning, the battery was still dead as a door nail, despite no systems being left on. Have checked the battery and re-charged it. Then when driving the van, I can hear a solenoid clicking somewhere. Could not see anything being activated, but when I would use the door unlocked over-ride, the system would re-lock the doors despite being over ridden. Thought this was because the van was moving, so I stopped and checked it again with a stationary van. The system would lock the doors right after I unlocked them, even sitting still and would keep trying to lock them, even after they were locked.
So here is the issue guys, yes I can take it it and pay for 10-12 hours of labour @ $139.00 per hour to find the short, if I were completely nuts; or I can ask you guys for some short cut clues. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Van is good for about another year or so before the rocker panel rusting eats through the roof panels, so I don't want to throw too much into it. Any ideas?????

Also, anyone have any idea of costs in getting my infamously bead leaking plated rims refinished at a cost that is less than buying a new set?

Thanks

sounds to me you have several issues.

1. the abs, there is no reset necessary on abs and if the tech was any good he would know that. whatever hub you got are either not compatible, not plugged in, or he messed up one of the wires and didnt want to deal with it.

2. the running lights blowing, this happens because the socket is bad and overheats. you can get sockets with pigtails pretty cheap on amazon or rock auto, just be sure to solder and heat shrink all auto connections.

3. the doors, i think this is a pretty common thing on the vans, not sure what to do about it though because i have never had one.

4 the short/battery. shorts kill batteries, once dead they dont normally come back.
https://www.gmforum.com/trouble-shoo...w-test-293647/

as far as the rims get some steel ones from the junk yard

Thanks for the advice:

Running lights are fine both front and back. It is the rear brake lights that are shorting. Battery has been pulled and tested, it is fine, the short somewhere is draining it. If the mechanic did not hook up the electricals on the hubs, could this be causing the short, cannot see how he would hook them up wrong as there was only a single one way terminus on each hub. Will check for hookup and damage to wires. The doors may be related to the short or not, or just be failing (have heard this was a problem on the Silohuette).

Already have steel rims, thanks, was trying to save my summer rims.

like i said a bunch of different separate issues. the tech could not have done anything to short your battery. the abs sensors generate a voltage that is sent to the abs control. the bulbs could cause a short but a short would not cause your bulbs to blow. something in the doors could be causing your drain, hard to tell you should go through the procedure i posted to narrow it down. dont know anything about restoring rims