No power / acceleration in sand

[Andy L.]

Hello everyone, first post - hope I'm in the correct section.

I have a customer with a 2009 Special Service Package Tahoe. The truck is used as a patrol vehicle in sand dunes and has a 4" lift installed and slightly larger tires. It also has a basic tuner that doesn't offer many options.

The problem they are having is that the truck has no power essentially. When they are driving around at speeds between 5-15 mph and need to accelerate to climb a sand dune the truck just bogs down and looses all power. It won't even spin the tires (in 4hi). All the traction control / stabilitrack junk seems to be keeping the truck from performing. I've tried holding down the ST button for the 5-10 seconds to disable but there is no notable change in performance.

They have had previous Tahoes, 2002 and 2005, with the same aftermarket equipment and they were unstoppable in the sand dunes. This 2009 just plain sucks.

Looking for suggestions on how to help the performance. We are lost and don't know what to do with this thing. Please help!


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[InTruckDesign]

A custom tune is what you are after. I'd contact BlackBear Performance and explain what is happening and what you are looking for as far as performance.

 

[yates ™]

Have you tried removing the tune and seeing if it performs the same?

 

[Andy L.]

Have you tried removing the tune and seeing if it performs the same?

I tried that as well with little difference in performance. The truck does really good if its rolling around with speed and RPM's up...has lots of power, but it isn't realistic for them to drive like that all the time. It is the low speed that is killing it. To me it feels like there is a brief burst of power and when it senses the tires slipping on the sand the engine powers down in what I can only assume is its attempt to "regain control" before allowing more power to go to the tires. Does that make sense?

The truck is programmed with a Hypertech Max Energy Power Programmer FWIW.

 

[yates ™]

And it is only in the sand and losing traction or does it do it all the time when accelerating?

 

[InTruckDesign]

It's definetly Traction Control stepping in and limiting power and applying the brake to the spinning tire in an attempt to regain traction. This can be minimized thru EFILive, and the Traction Control override button below the radio can be made to remove "all" brake torque management(BTM) when it is pressed.
I turn mine off all the time, since adding boost it kicks in even on dry pavement, I'd much rather control my loss of traction with the skinny pedal than having Traction Control kick in and take over...it really limits the motor.