03 Tahoe dies & battery light comes on

[biggytalls10]

Hey Folks,


First post!

I have experienced two (potentially related) issues with my Tahoe in the last two months.

1. Has happened twice (second time today), come to a stop car feels like the engine cuts off, cant move. Battery light comes on. Shut it off re-start drove home fine. Voltage gauge once restarted reads just above 14 (back to normal).

I used a voltmeter to test the Battery (car off) - 12.7x volts. Tested alternator (car running) 14.2x volts.

Checked fuses under hood - don't see any blown fuses.

The first time this happened girlfriend was stopped puling into a parking spot and same thing happened as described above.

The battery light doesn't stay on after restart and this happens infrequently as of now. Thank goodness we are stopped, trying to get ahead of this before it happens while driving.

Any thoughts on the first problem?


2. Has happened once - stopped at light, tahoe shuts down, reduced power mode comes on, check engine light on. Was in limp home mode, got it towed due to highway driving.

When to get the codes checked, several codes, mainly related to TPS, APP, readings not matching or something.

Unplugged battery and message and engine light went away, hasn't happened since then (1 month gone by).

I am stumped by both, 2003 Tahoe LT 119,*** 5.3 Vortec. 3,000 miles ago did plugs, wires, water pump, pulley, belts and changed axle fluid.

Would appreciate the help / thoughts.

Thanks - Matt

 

[Tonyrodz]

How's your grounds? Lots of them. Bad ground might be your issue.

 

[biggytalls10]

ground at battery is tight.
Ground on firewall is tight.
I know there is a ground behind engine block, tough to get to.

 

[biggytalls10]

How's your grounds? Lots of them. Bad ground might be your issue.

So an update

I checked the three grounds (volt meter and tightness):

For the volt meter check I put it to 20v and plugged positive end of meter to battery (+) and touched the three ground points and there was a reading of 12.6x with car off. Let me know if I am not testing my grounds correctly.

Ground 1: At battery
Ground2: Firewall
Ground 3: behind block

Any other grounds I should be aware of or test in a different way?

Thanks

 

[Danny3737]

You may have an alternator ready to go.

 

[biggytalls10]

You may have an alternator ready to go.

Is there a way to test this? I used to voltmeter as described in the original post and it read 14.2x volts at the alternator box.

Also took it to O'Reily when it first happened and they testing battery and alt. and said it was good.

 

[PG01]

Grounds maybe 'tight' and 'touching' it with you meter will give you your reading but you need to make sure there is no corrosion 'under' the connection points....and that they are solid grounds... go over them again and pull them off, i can bet you thats it..

 

[sefiro]

Just had the same symptoms with 01 Burb. Ran all the battery/alternator tests and watched the burb stop while testing. Turned out to be the fuel pump.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

 

[Danny3737]

Is there a way to test this? I used to voltmeter as described in the original post and it read 14.2x volts at the alternator box.

Also took it to O'Reily when it first happened and they testing battery and alt. and said it was good.

If it's an intermittent issue then it will be hard to test.

 

[biggytalls10]

Update. Problem is much worse.

Was driving today left the car running for 3 mins top (secretly to see if anything would happen)....

Sure enough came out, ac and radio were on.

Engine was off key was in the on position.

Started it reduced power mode and check brake system (that's new), starting to despise GM at this point.... have a 2015 impala Ltz.


Barely got it home doing 15 with no power brakes (brake peddle to the floor).

Decided to re-route the ground behind engine block (pass side) to the firewall.

Started the car ran a little better (no reduced power mode) but had service brake system light on and brake peddle to the floor......... what next ?