2008 Tahoe Electrical Problem

[silber]

Seeking some advice here because one of the local dealers was unable to help me. Hopefully someone here may have some insight.

Last weekend, I was out on a country road driving with my brights on. When I pulled into the neighborhood, turned the brights off and started driving up a hill. All of a sudden, the dash lights went out, instantly cycled but came back like a Christmas tree. Also, the navigation screen restarted itself several times (showed the same screen which appears when first starting the car).

Now, if that wasn't weird enough, I pulled back out onto the main road and kept turning my brights on and off due to oncoming traffic. I was able to get the navigation screen to continue to cycle, albeit not with 100% consistency, whenever the brights were cycled on/off.

Decided to bring it into a local dealer this morning to see if there were any codes that could be pulled. None. Nothing. Where can I start to look? The car is under warranty so was hoping they would have a better answer than "we can't replicate it".

On a possibly separate issue, when I first bought the car I noticed that when driving on highway wraparound offramps, I could get the stereo to cut out. This happened on several occasions. The only way to get the sound back was to cycle the engine.

Thanks a lot in advance -- any insight or help is appreciated.

 

[Conor]

Thats a tough one Will. Unfortunatly the dealer cant help much without being able to duplicate the issue.

 

[Modded]

Thats a new issue, but yeah the dealer cannot help w/o unless the issue is constant.
I have had some issue with the dealer that they could not replicate, best thing you can do is hope it becomes a constant issue so they can replicate/fix it before warranty is over.

 

[1dopeHoe]

Sounds like you have a short to ground some where in the circuit involving your brights.

 

[m332is]

I had a pinched wire in a door that my dealer was able to track down aftr a few visits. After the truck was flat bedded in, I took the time to meet with them and tell the service writer that I would leave it there for a few days. This job can take forever and I found spending time talking to my service writer helped to get him to get the techs to stay on the job.

It's not a job they want to do.

Vince

 

[Mgyver1]

Yeah my truck's having an issue too. It first started with the remote start back when I got it a year ago, where it only starts the truck about 60-70% of the time. The other 30-40% it just stalls out and has to be started with the key before it will function again.

About a month ago I started noticing when I got in the truck the clock was reset to midnight, the climate control was set to 74 on driver and passenger side and the radio was changed to an fm station (had been previously listening to XM).

Now about 2 weeks ago when I was coming out of the store I remote started the truck and it started. Hit the unlock and the truck died and no lights came on (this it at night). I got nothing with the remote. Go to start it with the key and notice there's no chime (door's open with key in ignition), no dome lights no nothing. Go to manually turn the dome light on and nothing. Go to start the truck, nothing. This goes on for about 5 minutes, then all of a sudden the headlights come on and the horn starts honking. I start the truck and drive home fine. Then couple of nights ago the same thing happened again. Park the truck and shut the truck off and everything goes dead. No dome lights, no headlights (at night), no door chime no nothing. Truck won't re-start. Give it 5 minutes and magically everything comes back to life. Happened again when I got home.

The yesterday while I was out I remote started the truck and the truck just made a quick grinding sound, like when the vehicle is running and you still try to start it. Then the truck died. Started fine with the key though.

I have a feeling this is going to turn in to the remote start issue where I take it to the dealership 4 times and they can't seem to re-create the problem so nothing is done. I feel really helpless on this issue.....

Also I feel kinda stuck because there's a lot I want to do to the truck like hard wire a GPS in, etc. But I'm afraid if I do that while all these electrical gremilins are reaking havoc, they'll just deny my warranty (Toyota did the same thing about 5 years ago with my truck. Said my aftermarket alarm put too much stress on the factory wiring which cause my alternator to fail).

 

[stevek]

Yeah my truck's having an issue too. It first started with the remote start back when I got it a year ago, where it only starts the truck about 60-70% of the time. The other 30-40% it just stalls out and has to be started with the key before it will function again.

About a month ago I started noticing when I got in the truck the clock was reset to midnight, the climate control was set to 74 on driver and passenger side and the radio was changed to an fm station (had been previously listening to XM).

Now about 2 weeks ago when I was coming out of the store I remote started the truck and it started. Hit the unlock and the truck died and no lights came on (this it at night). I got nothing with the remote. Go to start it with the key and notice there's no chime (door's open with key in ignition), no dome lights no nothing. Go to manually turn the dome light on and nothing. Go to start the truck, nothing. This goes on for about 5 minutes, then all of a sudden the headlights come on and the horn starts honking. I start the truck and drive home fine. Then couple of nights ago the same thing happened again. Park the truck and shut the truck off and everything goes dead. No dome lights, no headlights (at night), no door chime no nothing. Truck won't re-start. Give it 5 minutes and magically everything comes back to life. Happened again when I got home.

The yesterday while I was out I remote started the truck and the truck just made a quick grinding sound, like when the vehicle is running and you still try to start it. Then the truck died. Started fine with the key though.

I have a feeling this is going to turn in to the remote start issue where I take it to the dealership 4 times and they can't seem to re-create the problem so nothing is done. I feel really helpless on this issue.....

Also I feel kinda stuck because there's a lot I want to do to the truck like hard wire a GPS in, etc. But I'm afraid if I do that while all these electrical gremilins are reaking havoc, they'll just deny my warranty (Toyota did the same thing about 5 years ago with my truck. Said my aftermarket alarm put too much stress on the factory wiring which cause my alternator to fail).

If it's so frequent, carry a video camera with you... they can't deny video if you have a few instances of it happening.

For what it's worth, it sounds like something has a short causing a major malfunction

 

[Mgyver1]

If it's so frequent, carry a video camera with you... they can't deny video if you have a few instances of it happening.

For what it's worth, it sounds like something has a short causing a major malfunction

Well it hasn't done it recently. I did take video of the remote start problems, but they didn't seem interested in it. Unless they could duplicate the problem then thye weren't going to do anything.

 

[m332is]

Basically that's what mine did. You need to find a dealer that is wiling to actually try and fix it. If they have no interest, ask to speak with the zone rep. Be polite and kill them with kindness. But don't be a pushover.

I let me dealer keep the truck for two weeks while i was traveling and they took their time. They imitially thought a module was freaking out, but fingured out I had a pinched wire in the RR door which was shoritng out the truck.

Hang in there... I know it sucks.

Vince

 

[Kapone2010]

Yeah my truck's having an issue too. It first started with the remote start back when I got it a year ago, where it only starts the truck about 60-70% of the time. The other 30-40% it just stalls out and has to be started with the key before it will function again.

About a month ago I started noticing when I got in the truck the clock was reset to midnight, the climate control was set to 74 on driver and passenger side and the radio was changed to an fm station (had been previously listening to XM).

Now about 2 weeks ago when I was coming out of the store I remote started the truck and it started. Hit the unlock and the truck died and no lights came on (this it at night). I got nothing with the remote. Go to start it with the key and notice there's no chime (door's open with key in ignition), no dome lights no nothing. Go to manually turn the dome light on and nothing. Go to start the truck, nothing. This goes on for about 5 minutes, then all of a sudden the headlights come on and the horn starts honking. I start the truck and drive home fine. Then couple of nights ago the same thing happened again. Park the truck and shut the truck off and everything goes dead. No dome lights, no headlights (at night), no door chime no nothing. Truck won't re-start. Give it 5 minutes and magically everything comes back to life. Happened again when I got home.

The yesterday while I was out I remote started the truck and the truck just made a quick grinding sound, like when the vehicle is running and you still try to start it. Then the truck died. Started fine with the key though.

I have a feeling this is going to turn in to the remote start issue where I take it to the dealership 4 times and they can't seem to re-create the problem so nothing is done. I feel really helpless on this issue.....

Also I feel kinda stuck because there's a lot I want to do to the truck like hard wire a GPS in, etc. But I'm afraid if I do that while all these electrical gremilins are reaking havoc, they'll just deny my warranty (Toyota did the same thing about 5 years ago with my truck. Said my aftermarket alarm put too much stress on the factory wiring which cause my alternator to fail).

Did you ever find the fix for this problem. Cause the exact same thing has happend to me after I got the automatic start. Now before I got it if my car didnt run for a day or two then the truck would be dead. So Im thinking of having the automatic start pulled off and then taken it to the dealer. DO you know when that warranty for the vehicle is up?