4x4x Encoder Motor problems '04 Suburban

jwlynch1

Looking for any feedback or suggestions regarding issues with encoder motor on '04 Suburban. Light on 4x4 switch will not turn off and traction control randomly engages on it's own.

jwlynch1

Looking for advice from anyone who has exerienced "Traction Control" periodically activating upon acceleration, when it shouldn't. Recently had bearings replaced at 82,000 miles and problem still persists.

mikeanddrea

Here is a list of numbers and documents that may help you out. Just do a Google search. If you want to know more about my experience with our 2005 Suburban that had a mere 60K on it when I had to replace the entire transfer case, my email address is ebpsi2000@yahoo.com

Reader's Digest version: Heard a rattle up front, and could not figure out what it was. This happened for about a month, and then my transfer case started to neutralize on it's own. Took it to a local transmission shop here in Tucson, and they could not figure out what was wrong. Everything was MECHANICALLY perfect with the transfer case. Took it to O'Rielly Chevrolet here in Tucson, they tore my transfer case apart, and told me that I had the WRONG PARTS in my transfer case. Excuse me? How the hell could I have the wrong parts in my transfer case? I even have this DOCUMENTED!!! Needless to say, I ended up paying $2500+ for a brand new transfer case.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, and I came across the documents below. Turns out the rattle that I heard was from the transfer case main shaft and the inner clutch hub assembly. The early designs of our transfer case came with a "slip fit" design for these two parts. The parts were rattling, CAUSING ENCODER MOTOR FAILURE! The encoder motor failed, causing my transfer case to neutralize itself when simply driving down the road in 2wd.

The following documents go on to explain how the Chevrolet techs are to replace the two parts with "the inner clutch hub and shaft, which will have a PRESS FIT design and eliminate the rattle condition."

Common sense tells me that the tech that tore apart my transfer case at O'Rielly's looked at my ORIGINAL SLIP FIT clutch hub and shaft, compared it to pictures/documents of the newer PRESS FIT clutch hub and shaft, and deduced that I had the wrong parts in my transfer case, and thus that must be the problem. All along, turns out that it was because of a DESIGN FLAW in the original transfer case that caused the encoder motor to fail, causing neutralization of the transfer case, costing me over $2500.

I got nowhere with the dealership, nowhere with GM Customer Care (yes, I do have my GM Incident Number - let's see if anyone from GM Customer Care "cares"), and I promise to God that this will be the last GM product I EVER BUY.

Documents:

Also search on Google for: "DTC C0327 #PIP3480K"

NHTSA Item Number : 10017299
NHTSA Item Number: 10018926
NHTSA Item Number: 10018607
Service Bulletin Number : 3665
Service Bulletin Number: 3480A
Document ID: 1884845