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1) When the tahoe wouldn't start the first time, I left it at home for the day and when I came home I was able to jump start it. Took the tahoe to Autozone and they tested the battery and said it was fine. We left it alone and it started up just fine no problems for a couple of weeks.
2) Drove out of town on a five hour trip. Parked the vehicle for 2-3 hours in the parking lot. Got in and it wouldn't start. Called roadside service and they tried to jump it off a jump box and off another battery and couldn't get it to start. Starter doesn't engage. He told me I needed a new starter. I waited another 30 minutes (after paying the roadside service $100). I asked another person in the parking lot for a jump and the tahoe started right up. Went to Autozone and they tested the battery - it was OK. I bought a new battery anyway for safe measure since I was out of town. No more problems for a couple of weeks.
3)Went to the store and parked for about 2 hours. Came back and it wouldn't start. Tried to jump start and wouldn't do anything. Grounded out the starter - starter working just fine, but engine wouldn't fire. Spent an hour or so wiggling wires, tightened the battery cables, checked fuses, moved the shift lever up and down, still wouldn't start. We saw a posting on another forum to move the electeic pedals back and forth and it worked. Vehicle started.
I often experience other problems
- The CD Player motor runs constantly without a CD even when they key is off.
-Sometimes the display of the stereo/nav will go blank and then after a few minutes come back
-Check engine light will come on sometimes when I hit a bump and display will roll thru several warning codes, but goes away after a few minutes.
-Random service codes will flash and then go away without me getting them serviced.
I took the Tahoe to the dealer and they are suggesting I replace the Negative Battery Cable as a start and then go from there. My Tahoe has 100,000 miles. I am expecting to start having problems, but I don't want to pay the dealer to experiment with solutions.
Any suggestions??? :confuse:
Yesterday I decide to wash my truck engine so I turn on the truck and it worked fine but my wifr decide to use and later on she was having problems turning it on but she was able to make it home this morning I turn it on but it died as soon as i turn it on now after i came from work the truck is not even starting up.
I blamed the aftermarket alarm but after removing it still have the same proble so i dont know what to do I am waiting 30 minutes to connect the battery back
Let me know
Had the same exact problem with my Tahoe just two weeks after I got it. Got it used with 50k miles. I took it to a few different dealerships before finding one dedicated enough to keep looking for the problem. The fix for mine was to replace the negative battery wire, terminal and the connector that is grounded to inside of engine compartment. At first the dealership replaced these parts and called me to pick it up. But they hadn't reset/cleared the error codes on the vehicles computer so it still acted up. Once they did both of these things I have not had this problem come up again. It's been 10k miles now without acting possessed! I wish GM would have the cojones to do a recall for this problem bc there seem to be hundreds of people with the same problem after looming through different online forums. Good luck
-Replaced 175watt megafuse on the firewall behind the battery.
-Replaced Positive and Negative Battery Cables.
-Replaced Alternator Cable and Starter Cable.
-Cleared any/all codes and reset computers.
Apparently there is a Technical Service Bulletin on the issue, and it's basically caused by corrosion (microscopic) on the screws holding that fuse onto the firewall, causing electrical resistance in the main power cables. I don't live near the coast, this truck has been in arid Texas for it's entire life, to me this says metal composition was shoddy to begin with for two screws, which cost me $800 to ultimately repair due to a mistake GM made.
$800 and a week later and I haven't had the same problem again. This frustrates me so much, because I too was stranded on random roads and highways, often hundreds of miles from home, while I tried to figure out what was going on. Once it was on a rural two lane road with no street lights, keep in mind the tahoe is black, and I had to stop on the road (nowhere to pull off) and turn it off to try to restart it. Because I had no power to anything, I couldn't even turn on my emergency flashers. I could have been killed by an unsuspecting person topping the hill and rear-ending me at 60 mph.
On top of this, I sold a perfectly reliable older Ford Mustang with 130K miles on it that I had for years, that all I EVER had to do was normal maintenance (brakes, oil changes, tune ups). I bought this Tahoe to upgrade, not pay for some expensive shiny tin can that's going to fall apart any second due to faulty engineering/low quality parts.
My family and I have always purchased Ford vehicles, and often owned them 10+ years without things like this going wrong. This was my first Chevrolet/GM vehicle, and will most likely be my last. I'm fairly upset that a company experiencing financial issues (WE ALL ARE!!) would put the lives of its customers at risk without thinking twice, or at least upon reading the THOUSANDS of reports of this issue, own up to the mistake and make it right.
I'm glad that you and the mechanic seem to have gotten to the bottom of the electrical concerns on your Tahoe. If you end up wanting for us to follow up on your visit to our dealership, please let us know. We can be contacted at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name, contact information, the last 8 of your VIN, and the name of your dealership).
Sarah, GM Customer Service
We're sorry to hear about the situation with your Tahoe. Do you have a Service Request open with Customer Assistance at this time (71-**********)? If you wanted for us to check for any updates, please send that number (or the last 8 of the vehicle's VIN) to us at socialmedia@gm.com with your inquiry.
Sarah, GM Customer Service
I have been reading this forum for months...I've read of numerous people with the same problem, and have never seen one person with a solution. The GM Customer Service people just say "Oh, do you want us to help follow your issue?" when do they solve the issue? Even when people say they pay to take it elsewhere, the response is the same, "Glad to hear we could help" really...I haven't seen anyone get help yet!!!!!
Have you gotten a Service Request started through Customer Assistance on the difficulties you've been having with your Tahoe? I understand that you're frustrated, and if you would like for us to look into this further we'd be happy to do so. Please email us at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your involved dealership).
Sarah, GM Customer Service
If you were to send us the requested information, we would get a Service Request set up and would contact your service department at your dealership to learn more from them about the diagnostics that have been done. We would potentially send your case to a different department for continued assistance so we could hopefully move this towards a satisfactory resolution.
Kindest regards,
Sarah
GM Customer Service
Has your issue been resolved yet?
If you would like for us to check in with your dealership on recent appointments to get these issues diagnosed, we'd be happy to do so for you. Please send us more details at socialmedia@gm.com including: your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your involved dealership.
Sarah, GM Customer Service
We're sorry that you've had these difficulties with your Tahoe, but it sounds like your dealership has found a resolution for the electrical concerns you had been having. If you would like for us to check into anything further, please email us at socialmedia@gm.com with more details, including: your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your involved dealership.
Sarah, GM Customer Service
We're very sorry that you've had these difficulties with your new Tahoe! It sounds like you've contacted Customer Assistance already - did they set up a Service Request for you? If not, and if you would like for us to do so, please email us more details at socialmedia@gm.com (including your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and approximate mileage, and the name of your dealership).
Sarah, GM Customer Service
Oh, and also when the car no longer had starting problems, it was also replaced by a front speaker not working, as well as the back-up indicator and "open door chime" volume going all the way to almost inaudible. Except for when my husband drives my car. For some reason, 9 times out of 10 when he drives, the volume goes back to loud, which by the way is what it is set at. Yes, I have read the manual cover to cover and I know how, and have set the volume to loud. Doesn't matter when you're dealing with a haunted car!!!! You must have some incredibly talented programmers, or some incredibly inept technicians. Oh, and there is also the matter of now my dome light doesn't work when I open my car door. Yes, that was great fun a few weeks ago when my father was dying, and I had to make several trips to airports to pick up family members and back and forth to his residence at night to be with him as he passed. Is it too much to ask for the dome light to come on when it's dark outside and I open my car door???? It comes on if I turn the button, so it's not out, right? Oh, and the timer doesn't work on my display indicator control panel, or the DIC as it's called in the manual. So yeah, I'm glad I'm no longer getting stuck with my engine not starting, but I really expected more from the most expensive car I ever bought.
The "badness" or "crap manufacturing and parts" of the 2008 Tahoe is all over the Web, and yet GM/Chevrolet does not and will not own up to it. I'm sure you must realize how incredibly patronizing you sound on these forums as you state over and over and over, ad nauseum, "have you contacted customer service?", "I'm sorry to hear of your problems with your xxxxx car; we strive to provide the best customer service ever...blahblahblahblah" - do you seriously think that people don't read all that when they are trying to figure out how to avoid paying $800 to have two stupid door locks fixed at a dealer? Electric door locks have been in cars since the 60s, for gosh sakes - it is not rocket science - and 99.9 percent of us never had a problem with them previously, and certainly didn't have a problem with them when the car was only three or four years old.
So, once and for all, can the GM rep who monitors this forum please tell me how you are going to fix the obviously global problem with these cars, or are you just going to leave ALL these people, who obviously represent only a fraction of those experiencing these problems, with no recourse other than to NEVER buy a GM product again in their lifetime? I can tell you I was turned against Ford when I was eight years old (hole in floorboard that I feared I would fall into the road when small) and Dodge (bad first year Durango) and I will never purchase another one as long as I live. People develop strong feelings for the vehicles they trust their lives to every day, and you and your company would be well-advised to remember that as you try to earn your living from those vehicles. I am anxiously waiting for your reply.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post your concerns and frustrations with your vehicle. I understand your position. We are not mechanics and cannot diagnose the vehicle and its concerns. I understand your confusion and I would like to take the time to explain our position on the forum and what it is that we can do; as well as what we are trying to do, but it has never been and will never be to patronize you guys.
General Motors realizes that their customers are using outlets such as Edmunds and Facebook to share information from vehicle concerns, dealer concerns, as well as questions; therefore we have been sent out here to connect with you.
When it comes to problems you are experiencing with your vehicle, prior to our involvement on these social sites, the only way these concerns were documented was if the customer contact GM Customer Assistance directly via the 800 number. In participating on these social sites and gathering information, we have been able to document the different concerns and experiences from customers who were not calling the 800 number. Our purpose out here is to connect with customers, gather information, and assist to the best of our abilities with the resources we have. Granted this does limit what exactly we can do. As you have stated there are many posts, and in engaging with them they have been documented; and cases for those who contact me directly via the email address. The number of the same complaints is monitored and kept track of. We count on you to keep us informed of the situations and concerns you are having so we can continue to track and monitor these as well as step in where we are able.
I understand our responses seem very generic, and I do apologize; but there are only so many ways we can ask you to send us the information we need to set up a case and start the ball rolling, and this goes for apologizing as well. Sarah and I are real people here and we do understand the economy, your frustrations, and sympathize with you. We have very specific conversations with management and dealers on your behalf. We would like you to know that these concerns are heard and every word gets documented for General Motors. Each case is individually handled based on a number of factors and we do our best to work with the dealers and provide you the best customer service we can and a fair resolution.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Thanks for your post. I would like to clear up your confusion. Dealers are independently owned and operated; they are the ones that charge the diagnosis fees. GM dealers are contracted with General Motors, they are our eyes and ears in the field; this is why we need you to have the vehicle diagnosed and why we cannot wave the diagnosis fee. I apologize for any frustrations. Have a great day!
Christina
GM Customer Service
Have you had your Tahoe looked at for these electrical issues you've had? If you would like for us to follow up on any diagnostics performed at a dealership, or work with you along side the dealership to have diagnostics performed, please contact us at socialmedia@gm.com (include your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your preferred dealer).
Sarah, GM Customer Service
I have called the 800 number and got a reference number. I have also called back 3 times to GM since my vehicle is now back at the dealership for the third time and no one will return my call. I have spoke to a Sam and a Paul and now being told Leo is handling this but yet no one will tell me what they are handling because they won't call me back. This is poor CUSTOMER SERVICE. I assume sending you my information would also do me no good. I will be contacting the Attorney General tomorrow and also an attorney because I can not get an answer from GM. I do not want this truck, I do not feel safe in this truck and the dealership under the direction of a tech from GM is grasping at straws at this point, asking me if I installed any accessories in the truck. Also asked if I had installed a remote start? Doesn't GM know that they come standard in a 2012 Tahoe LTZ. So let me get this straight, I don't even work for GM and I know more about the standard equipment then the tech's? I assume GM is trying to put the issue on me some how. Again, just seems like a lot of games to me and they can answer to the Attorney General because they sure won't call me back. How hard is it to pick up the phone and say I'm sorry we can't figure out what is wrong with the vehicle so let me get you a new one. No, they would rather avoid talking to me and hope the dealer can fix it and send me on my way. Well I am not backing down and I will not drive a $60,000.00 vehicle not knowing if it will open or start or shut systems down. VERY FRUSTRATED!!!!
Basically, if you keep bringing the car to the dealership for the same problem or similar problems.. ie: electrical, mechanical, safety matters, etc. .... The dealership is required by law to buy the car back and give you a full refund. It's time you begin reading about these lemon laws to fully understand your rights. The question is: How long are you going to wait for them to fix a car that should have been working fine in the first place?
The kicker is while coming home from work today, my dash lights went into test mode twice within 3 minutes of each other. This test is the same test you would see when you turn your key to accessory before starting vehicle and all of the dashboard light eluminate to ensure they work. The second random test left my battery light on the dash, which went out when I turned off vehicle and re-started. I have no codes or other abnormal lights on dash. Battery is fully charged. Altenator is good.
Three hours later, I went to troubleshoot my electrical issue only to find I had no power to anything; lights, locks, ignition. I managed to gain access to the engine compartment to see if anything obvious was at fault, no luck. Everything seemed fine and in working order. I went to give my wife the concerning news and while I was explaining that I couldn't start Suburban cause I had no power, I pressed the door unlock button only to hear a familiar chirp. My power seemed to have come back on all by itself. That is where I'm currently at with this issue. A lot of questions and no answers. Hopefully there is someone with an answer or a direction. I am currently hunting down a schematic of the wiring for my vehicle. Figured, I might be able to troubleshoot better if I know the names of the electrical parts.