Power assist steps question

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jjaaam

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Hi,

My daughter is considering buying a 2015 Tahoe LTZ. Mileage, condition, and price are decent-to-good.

The power assist steps don’t work at all though. The button to the left of the steering wheel says they are extended when they aren’t (they don’t move at all).

Understood this may be a pretty broad question, but she’s going to get the dealer to extend them (right now they are stowed). Could it really be as simple as lubricating the pivot point to death? Any ideas as to what else I could check ?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!
 

CMoore711

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When you open/close any door do they even attempt to try and move?
If so do they start to come down and then hesitate and go back up?

If the steps don’t even attempt to move I would say that the motors are bad.

Sure lubricating the hinges and keeping up on that is a must to prolong the life.

What happens is the hinges get corroded, rust, or gunk interfering with activating the steps. This corrosion puts more load and stress on the motor and in time the more then fails.

But if the motors are good and operable the the steps would still move and attempt to activate.
 
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jjaaam

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When you open/close any door do they even attempt to try and move?
If so do they start to come down and then hesitate and go back up?

If the steps don’t even attempt to move I would say that the motors are bad.

Sure lubricating the hinges and keeping up on that is a must to prolong the life.

What happens is the hinges get corroded, rust, or gunk interfering with activating the steps. This corrosion puts more load and stress on the motor and in time the more then fails.

But if the motors are good and operable the the steps would still move and attempt to activate.
From what I can see they don’t even try to move; I’m literally at the dealer as we speak and I haven’t dug into it all that deep to see if I can feel or hear them trying to move.

But the dealer said he’ll put them in the extended position (he said that’s the way it came in), so that means they can be manually moved.

Are the motors hard to change out?
 

markni12301

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There are YouTube videos that show steps that are immobile can be revived with steel brushes and air pressure and PB Blaster. Takes patience and work. And even if it appears the motor is dead. I'll try to find the one I viewed to revive/lube mine when I bought my 2015 Yukon. Now I clean and lube every time I do an oil change.
 

v8doctor

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Interested here, I have a 2018 Premier , when the weather is cold, the steps work as designed, but when it is warm, the drivers side does'nt work. Took it to Chevrolet and they said the control module was bad and charged me $350.00 to replace it. Didn't change anything, still not working on warmer days. Sometimes it starts to extend but stops and goes back to park. Hope to find the issue and repair it so they will refund the cost for the repair that didn't do any good.
 

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