2002 Chevrolet Tahoe, Fog Lights Do Not Work

This 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe had several complaints and this one is no fog lights. I connected my Tech 2 scan tool and checked some basic functions and found that the scan tool could turn on the fog lights. There was a codes stored for a park light malfunction. I checked wiring diagrams and found that there is a control circuit for the fog lights that is powered by an interior park light fuse. I located the fuse in the driver’s side interior fuse box. I am pointing to it in the picture below. It was blown. I tried another fuse and it blew as soon as the park lights were turned on.

To make my life easier I installed a fused jumper wire into the fuse box. This allows me to use cheaper fuses or a circuit breaker while testing.

My fused jumper wire with a resettable 10 amp circuit breaker installed.

In reviewing the wiring diagrams I found that there were quite a few interior park lights powered by this one fuse. I went to several locations and disconnected harnesses to isolate the short. This vehicle had been stolen and the interior gutted. At least two body shops have been involved in putting this Tahoe back together, so who knows what I will find.

There is a junction block under the driver’s side of the dash. There is a plastic nut that holds the cover in place.

I looked for and disconnected any harness connector that had brown wires in it. GM has used brown as the wire color for park lights for as long as I can remember. No change in the short when I disconnected the lower harness.

There were a lot of  connection points in the passenger side junction box, located behind the dash end cover.

I disconnected one at a time and  still no change.

I went back to the driver’s fuse box and found one harness with brown wires in it and sure enough the short went away.

I disconnected the driver’s side power window switch and reconnected the harness in the fuse box. The short was gone. Connected the driver’s power window switch and the short returned. The diagnosis should have been a shorted driver’s power window switch but in the end it was not. It was marked in a written label that it was for a 2002 Escalade. I saw where there were several small brown wires in the power window switch wiring. On a hunch I looked at the rear switches and realized they were a different design from the front switch. I unplugged both rear power window switches and reconnected the driver’s switch. The short was gone. Connecting either rear switch would blow the fuse.

I got with the body shop that sent this Tahoe to me and informed them that we had mismatched parts. We decided to order all new power window switches by the VIN. It turns out the front switch was correct for the truck and the rear switches were for a 2003 or newer truck.

With the correct switches installed and a new fuse the fog lights worked as designed. As a little added information. The switches with the flat rocker design are just that. The switches with the lever type switches are driver’s and passenger side door modules, DDM & PDM. The key difference is that a new DDM or PDM will not work out of the box. It has to be programmed to the vehicle using GM’s TIS2Web programming software.

3 discussions on “2002 Chevrolet Tahoe, Fog Lights Do Not Work”

  1. I would assume you have an aftermarket radio and amplifier. If so there should be a dark blue remote activation wire on the aftermarket radio wiring. It should be labeled. You will need to run a new wire from there to your amp.

  2. Fog lights on 2001 chevy tahoe would not turn on. Fog light fuses good. Searched google, found your page and found that the fuse was blown as the one you mentioned. I had recently replaced the radio with an aftermarket JVC stereo. Only the factory wiring was used, so I went ahead and installed a larger fuse…went from 10 amp to 15 amp. My thought is that the new unit may be drawing slightly more amperes over the stock unit, but I didnt want to go too big as this is how fires are started.

    Thank you for your article!

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