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My '03 Suburban is trying to kill me - electrical issue *fixed*

resurrected_jimmy

resurrected_jimmy

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It keeps randomly going electricly crazy, some sort of short somewhere I'm guessing. Start getting warnings for "service brake system" "reduced engine power" ABS light comes on, check engine light comes on, engine cuts out if you try to give it enough throttle to get past 2000 rpm (this one is kind of interesting) it goes into its mode of telling me all these things are wrong and if you try to give it enough gas to hit 2000 rpm the engine cuts out like you killed the ignition, and the door locks start acting like they are posesed.


Any suggestions?
 
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Your alternator might taking a dump my 2000 s-10 had similar problems then it wouldnt start at all installed new alt. everything ok.
 
Thanks! I thought I was going crazy with my truck problems. That realy gave me a good laugh:laugh: I know, not so funny, but reading it from somebody else....:D
 
I have checked the alt, batt, and main + & - wires fromthe batt. None are the culprit. This thing is about to get fixed with 5 gal of gas and a poorly placed cigarette. One other thing, it acts up every morning when the motor is cold......drive for 5 minutes and then the gremlin appears..... go throught my voodoo ritual of beating on the underhood fuse box, shake wires going to engine, cuss some more, restart..... then drive 50 miles across houston with no problem.

One thing I found today, there are three relays in the underhood fuse box that are so hot I can hardly touch them. I will figure out what they go to or take a pic and post. I really need to get this fixed before this curse of vehicle gets me killed on the freeway
 
There is a ground wire that runs along the back of the intake manifold around the back of the block that rubs through the insulation on these trucks giving you this problem.
Usually need a flexible mirror to see the wires.
GM's fix was rerouting and grounding to the intake manifold.Your dealer should have a TSB # for this problem.
 
Purplehavoc & Leper, thanks for the replies, I will look into the ground wire. The only ground I saw/checked initially was the ground strap from the motor that goes to a stud on the fire wall just below the hood. I will look for the one that goes behind the motor.
 
x3 on the ground problem. I had a similar bug in mine, but the starter took a dump instead. What happened is the shaft that the starter gear slides on became dry (no grease) and ground itself to powder. It eventually got stuck out and became an unregulated generator, and made everything act goofy, like yours is. Replaced starter, and no problems.
 
resurrected_jimmy said:
drive for 5 minutes and then the gremlin appears..... go throught my voodoo ritual of beating on the underhood fuse box, shake wires going to engine, cuss some more, restart..... then drive 50 miles across houston with no problem.
Click to expand...
Mental image...:haha::haha::haha::haha: Imagine Zoolander with the computers.
 
Hot relays usually mean burnt internal contacts. Buy three new relays and just replace them. Probably the relays go to your fuel pump, ECM,and ABS.
As someone discussed above check out your alternator and battery, they could be going bad. If you have over 70000miles replace the spark plugs, wires and dist cap (if it has one). Also check out the positive (+) post. there may be a heavy wire piggybacking the connector. They tend to corrode and add resistance to many circuits. Sometimes the factory (in its infinate wisdom) connects the alternator to this piggyback wire.
 
Mike D said:
Hot relays usually mean burnt internal contacts. Buy three new relays and just replace them. Probably the relays go to your fuel pump, ECM,and ABS.
As someone discussed above check out your alternator and battery, they could be going bad. If you have over 70000miles replace the spark plugs, wires and dist cap (if it has one). Also check out the positive (+) post. there may be a heavy wire piggybacking the connector. They tend to corrode and add resistance to many circuits. Sometimes the factory (in its infinate wisdom) connects the alternator to this piggyback wire.
Click to expand...

Most of what you have said has been checked. I may end up replacing the aformetioned piggybacked (+) cable just for the sake of rulling it out but I have checked it and the batt ground as well. One of the relays does go to the fuel pump as it will run without the other two in place and pulling this relay you can hear the fuel pump cut out. I just haven't had time to get the book out and figure out what the other two go to. This weekend I am going to try and sort this problem out so i am trying to get as much information as possible on what to look for.
 
Thanks to all who responded. I had a two part problem. First, the ground batt cable was coroded internally, I replaced it just to be sure and cut the old one open to find green and whitepowder and about 5 strands of wire left.

Next I found the ground wire that runs down the back side of the engine to had chafed through the insulation. There are actually two wires,one runs down either side of the frame. The one on the passenger side was the culprit.

Once again a big thank you to the knowledge base that CK5 brings together
 
I thought I was the only one with a possessed Tahoe. My '03 likes to misbehave just like that. I bet I have you beat though. The controls on the driver side power seat are all backwards. If I want to move the seat up, I have to push the button back. Sometimes it won't start, and all I have to do is disconnect and reconnect the battery cable. I hate all this electrical crap.
 
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