Calling Los Angeles-based car shoppers: Have you recently traded in (or plan to trade in) a car with negative equity (i.e. the amount you owe on your auto loan is greater than the car's value)? A reporter would like to speak with you; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 11/6 for details.
Chevrolet Tahoe Electrical Problems
Hello-
I've been having a problem lately with my 4DR 4WD Chevy Tahoe. Lately it has been completely losing electrical power while driving or sitting at a light. Everything is running fine, then it just shuts off. All lights, everything. When this first started happening, the truck would start right back up. Now, however, it stays dead until I remove the positive battery cable (negative doesnt help). When I put the pos. cable back on, there is enough juice to crank it back up. There is no corrosion on the cables, but I noticed the last time this happened that the positive cable terminal was extremely hot and the stock red rubber around the cable end was starting to melt/burn. Ive had the battery and alternator checked out and they tested fine. Had a general mechanics shop look at it all day today and they couldnt reproduce the problem, so they didn't figure it out either. I've got a nice Optima Yellow-top so I don't think the battery is the problem.
Last summer, the car was doing almost the same thing. The only difference was the terminals were corroding badly. I had the battery check and they said it was bad (another Optima yellow top, only a year old), so I got it replaced. It ran fine until this current problem arose last month.
Lastly, when I bought car 3 years ago, the alternator died and I had it rebuilt to a slightly higher output (to power my sound system, which is now unplugged to eliminate that as the problem). Could this be damaging my electrical system?
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully someone has an idea of what's going on, but I realize electrical problems are difficult to diagnose, especially over the net.
I've been having a problem lately with my 4DR 4WD Chevy Tahoe. Lately it has been completely losing electrical power while driving or sitting at a light. Everything is running fine, then it just shuts off. All lights, everything. When this first started happening, the truck would start right back up. Now, however, it stays dead until I remove the positive battery cable (negative doesnt help). When I put the pos. cable back on, there is enough juice to crank it back up. There is no corrosion on the cables, but I noticed the last time this happened that the positive cable terminal was extremely hot and the stock red rubber around the cable end was starting to melt/burn. Ive had the battery and alternator checked out and they tested fine. Had a general mechanics shop look at it all day today and they couldnt reproduce the problem, so they didn't figure it out either. I've got a nice Optima Yellow-top so I don't think the battery is the problem.
Last summer, the car was doing almost the same thing. The only difference was the terminals were corroding badly. I had the battery check and they said it was bad (another Optima yellow top, only a year old), so I got it replaced. It ran fine until this current problem arose last month.
Lastly, when I bought car 3 years ago, the alternator died and I had it rebuilt to a slightly higher output (to power my sound system, which is now unplugged to eliminate that as the problem). Could this be damaging my electrical system?
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hopefully someone has an idea of what's going on, but I realize electrical problems are difficult to diagnose, especially over the net.
0
Comments
____________________________________________________________
Anytime you get cables starting to melt and/or burn you have a major problem. Obviously some type of short circuit. You should take your vehicle to a high quality auto electrical shop immediately. You have a strong probability of a fire starting under the hood.
____________________________________________________________
I know you don't want to hear this...but any dealer who can't find out why something is causing your cables to overheat as hot as they are is not doing their job. Obviously something is causing a huge electrical draw on the entire system. This is not just a tail light or fan problem...this is something much bigger. I still think you should find a top quality electrical shop and get their opinion. They deal with this stuff every day....it might cost you a diagnosis fee but at least you will know the problem. You can then take the vehicle back to the dealer for repair if it is still under warranty. And you better buy a fire extinguisher...make sure you get the kind for electrical fires. Seriously, you may be needing it.
Symptoms often are that without warning it just dies and then on the next moment everything seems to be ok.
Then you say the battery terminal was hot enough to melt red plastic around it. If you draw that much power from the battery then it makes a huge spark when you re-connect the cable. Did this happen?
If the short is inside the battery it can get very hot but does not spark when re-connecting terminals.
Then you said that another yellow top went bad after just a year. I think it is time for you to find something else than a yellow top battery. It all sounds like a $70 Die Hard would fix your problems.
And then, your problems a year ago appeared also in summer time, right? Well, hot weather is bad for batteries and that is what we have had this summer also.
--Arrie--
The first Optima yellow-top replaced a Die-hard that died. I took the current batter to the same place that diagnosed the previous bad yellow top and they said this one is fine.
I hate to say but I'm pretty sure the new cables aren't gonna fix the problem. We'll see.
Thanks for your help
You say that there is hardly no spark if any so at the time you connect the terminals the problem is not present if the problem is not internally in the battery.
If the problem is not the battery itself I think you need to look at the alternator or starter motor. These two things are the only electrical parts in your car that could cause high enough amps at battery terminals to make temperature raise to a level that starts melting plastic. And from these two I would focus on the starter motor since I really don't think that the alternator wiring is big enough for current to cause that kind of heat, but it could be.
You could have an intermittent short at the starter motor solenoid, which would ground the positive starter motor wire and heat the battery terminal as the battery drains very fast. Starter motor wire is very heavy duty and does not burn if grounded. Something else will burn instead, like battery itself.
--Arrie--
A kind soul provided a jump but the engine would die the moment the cables were removed. I took the battery to be checked and it wouldn't hold any charge at all. New battery installed the engine jumped back to life but the voltage slowly dropped again to ~10V when a sudden high-pitched noise I'd never before heard kicked in and the voltage climbed back up. Since that time the battery does not charge in the vehicle though it charges fine on a charger.
Was the sound I heard the last cry of the alternator? Could just the voltage regulator be bad? Any/all thoughts are welcomed.
Thanks!
____________________________________________________________
You need to take your Tahoe to a qualified auto electrical shop for a complete evaluation of your electrical system.
I have a 1999 Tahoe with 134K. I went on a 500mi round trip and returned home. The next day I tried to start the car, motor turned over very well, strong battery and voltage, but it would not fire and has not since.
First- I had already replaced the fuel pump (and filter) with an AC Delco 3 months prior. The pump still sounded very strong, I checked the shraeder valve at the fuel rail and there appears to be plenty of fuel (50psi+).
Next step- I checked the spark figuring something wore out. Turns out I have enough spark to arc weld with.
Next- Poured gas in the throat (a fairly large amount) and the car sputtered to life for approx 2-3 seconds.
Diagnosis- We figured only when we absolutely flood the injectors with fuel will the car even attempt to fire, could this mean my injectors arent openning at the correct time? If so, we thought possibly replacing the ignition control module might fix this, does that control the firing of the injectors? I know there is a test with a voltage meter to check this, but I do not know the specific test.
Please help, any and all information would be greatly appreciated- I hate to just throw parts at a problem if someone else has a better idea!
when the electrics die, what does the amp gauge do? and, does the clock reset itself?
In newer cars this all is done with the same PCM but I don't know how your car has it. Perhaps you have a separate fuel injector control module. That said, it also could be a simple fuse or relay problem as usually all separate 'modules' either have a fuse or a relay at power supply.
Arrie
electrical problem. When I turn left, the automatic door locks actuate. I have checked the voltage on the battery (12.4V ignition off and 14.5 engine running).I have checked the grounding from the negetive to the block and everytrhing seems to be in order. I also disconnected the battery to reset the ECM/OCM. I have checkec the fuses and the fuse box. Any thoughts on the possible problem. The battery does not drain and the car seems to run fine. Thanks Mike
1) Red left side and right side brake lights are ON.
2) Red light on top of rear hatch door NOT on.
3) When I brake the passenger side red light gets brighter.
4) When I brake the driver side red light does NOT get brighter.
5) There is only one fuse for the turn lights and I figured since the lights are ON then it must be the wiring?
Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
What you will probably find, is a filament burnt out and/or laying across the other filament, connecting inappropriately the two circuits together with a resistance.
No confidence in this not occuring again.
rm@wyerivermarine.com
Now...onto other new issues...the truck idles with a slight surge, sometimes elevating to a rise in RPMs, countered by a reduction that almost mimicks dieseling. In addition, my wipers only work randomly and start and stop on their own. My AC blower is also not working all the time. Sometimes all the settings work and sometimes only some of the settings work, and sometimes none at all. Also...my previous engine lost oil pressure and the gauge moved a bit back and forth for a few minutes. When the truck was returned to me after the swap , the oil pressure gauge was stuck on a wide open (far beyond the highest pressure reading) position. It does not fluctuate or bounce at all regardless of engine speed.
So...that's about it... I love my truck. I was eagerly anticipating the performance beast I put under the hood. It seems I didn't get much of a bang for my buck and I now have "gremlins or ghosts in the electrical system". Any ideas?
I think your 03 is more like the 07, but I believe it's written up in the owners manual one way or the other.
Received warnings of drivetrain failure. Had to have vehicle towed to dealership with them unable to duplicate problem. They replaced my battery and said that was most likely the problem. Never had a dead battery experience while driving @ 70 MPH. Would seem if battery was dead how did it just die while on the highway for over 4.5 hrs and no warning of alternator or electrical issues other than just drivetrain shutdown.
That was Dec of 2007 never got good reason.
The fix seems too simple to be valid but it has solved the issues on my truck so far.
There is a black/yellow wire that is grounded to the top rear of the engine block on the passenger side of the engine. This ground connection evidently gets compromised by corrosion or oils over time, or it becomes loose. I cleaned the surfaces on my truck and reinstalled the ground. I have not had any electrical issues since doing this.
Regardless of whether you believe this could fix the problems you may experiencing it is certainly worth a try.
It is definitely worth a try as it is dead-in-the-water. If I cannot do the work myself I will take this suggestion to my mechanic.
Thanks for posting a possible remedy.