My dad has a 99 suburban with a vortec 350. He told me today that he has a problem with the service engine light. Apparrently it keeps comming on an throwing the same code. He said he has taken it to autozone to get the code read and it is a "left bank nonspecific" code. Those were his direct words. Anyways what is this code? An 02 sensor maybe? He said that on his 99 buick he can unhook the battery for a while and reset the codes but on the suburban it wont go away by doing this. A friend of his at autozone has cleared the code before but my dad said it comes back in a month or so. So does anyone know what this code means? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
-Harrison
Have him get the specific number, like P0440 or whatever. (That one, IIRC, is the "tighten your gas cap" number =))
I'm thinking it's ignition-related, like plug wires, or if that engine is coil-on-plug maybe one of the coils is flaky... but post up the specifics.
Jeesh, I s'pose you could clear the code, then switch the #1 and #2 coils and plugs, and drive it until the light comes on again ... and read the code, see if it says "right bank" this time, and if it still says left, switch the #3 and #4 coils and plugs... ugly.
I think that truck is new enough -- that's ODB-II, right? -- that you can get one of the cheap code readers like this
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94168
I mean, $40 ain't free, but if you're gonna be doing a LOT of it, it beats the $150-200 we pay for the OBD-I units for the TBI trucks =))
-- A
