WARNING Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban

[Sheriff]

Be warned, throttle stuck wide open. This may never happen to you. It probably won't happen to you. But be prepared if it does. It happened on my Tahoe 3 times until I replaced the entire throttle body assembly. GM would not cover it under warranty because they say it is NOT a known problem. In the image below it clearly shows that I verified the problem does exist for them by doing a quick Internet search, this search lasting all of 3 seconds.

This is my recommendation... do not throw your vehicle into neutral, you might do damge to your engine even with the revolution limiter active. Turn the key off and bring the truck to a complete stop as quickly and safely as you can.

Knowing what to do in an emergency like this might save your life or the lives of your family members. Make sure all family members who drive your Tahoe, Yukon or Suburban know about the possibility of this happening.

If anybody else has any better suggestions, please post them up here.

 

[domin8]

Clean the damn thing. I've told you this before. It's $5-10 and 30-45 minutes of your time. It has moving parts and must be maintained. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way.

 

[Gzes]

Yep dirt n grime or even bits of twigs n stuff can cause stuff to get stuck...

 

[Sheriff]

Clean the damn thing. I've told you this before. It's $5-10 and 30-45 minutes of your time. It has moving parts and must be maintained. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way.

I can't imagine owners cleaning their throttle bodies every 4,000 mles.

I would almost be willing to bet that 99.5% of Tahoe, Yukon and Suburban owners never clean their throttle body. It's certainly not listed in the Owner's Manual as needing to be done every so many thousand miles like other stuff is. I will admit though, my throttle body (the old part) was covered over in a residue that appears to be burned oil. I don't think this is "normal" and is probably what's causing them to stick open. It doesn't hurt to warn people. And many people may take your advice. Thanks!

(The dealership, for whatever reason, did not return the old part to me as requested. I had to go back inside and ask for it when I discovered they had not left it in the Tahoe.)

 

[domin8]

I don't see the owner's manual talking about ball joints, cv axles, and tie rod ends either. That doesn't mean you shouldn't inspect them, and properly maintain them. What about the seal on the 4wd actuator that has been shown to leak? Nope. Nothing in the owners manual about that either.

As for the residue on the back of your throttle body, have you had an oil consumption test performed yet? With the current oil consumption problem, and TSB stating this, there is oil pooling in the intake manifold. It wouldn't take much to put it on the back of the throttle body plate too. It's worth keeping an eye on the throttle body's cleanliness.

As for why GM wouldn't cover it under warranty, beats the hell out of me. More info would be needed. Regardless, I bet the old throttle body is still functional and just needs a good cleaning. I'm even willing to back that up by doing that if you send me your old one as is. Since you say the problem is occurring every 4k miles I'd test it for 12k miles. That would be enough for the problem to occur 3 times.

Regardless, nobody makes a perfect car. Nobody. They are built to be satisficing. If there was a company that built the perfect vehicle we'd all be driving one and they'd have a monopoly on the market because competition would be futile. In the game of profits, sacrifices are made.

 

[ScottyBoy]

Shit mine was sticking on my 2001 shortly after I bought it. I cleaned it with some carb cleaner and no problems ever since. Hell I have even put 50,000 miles on it since cleaning it and still have not had it try to stick on my again.

 

[Sheriff]

Shit mine was sticking on my 2001 shortly after I bought it. I cleaned it with some carb cleaner and no problems ever since.

That's the point.... somewhat.

Needs cleaning when practically brand new? Why?

What am I not understanding here?

 

[domin8]

Mind if I speculate?

As for the residue on the back of your throttle body, have you had an oil consumption test performed yet? With the current oil consumption problem, and TSB stating this, there is oil pooling in the intake manifold. It wouldn't take much to put it on the back of the throttle body plate too. It's worth keeping an eye on the throttle body's cleanliness.

 

[Sheriff]

I have nothing that even comes close to resembling an oil consumption problem though. It's still sitting on full at oil change time. I would be surprised if it's burning an ounce between changes.

 

[sumo]

theres the problem. It was a woman driving. It probalbly got stuck because she was trying to apply makeup, talk on the cell phone, while trying to negotiate a deal with the sales guy.
Inst our trucks driver by wire? It could be a electrical issue