Engine Died and Alive to Tell

My engine died and I'm still alive to tell what happened. On my trip from the midwest this past w/e the Tahoe suffered a major electronic malfunction. While traveling on the interstate, adaptive cruise engaged, in the hammer lane, the engine lost power (check engine light came on). A message displayed stating reduced power (a serious understatement)!

Behind me was a Ram pickup, already on my bumper (apparently he had already done some serious braking). In the right lane was another vehicle still coming). After this car passed I moved right and on to the shoulder rolling to a stop.

Imagine a sudden loss of acceleration on an interstate heavily used by semi's and you'll know why I say I'm still alive!

In any event, I will be sharing this experience with NHTSA. Not so much to complain, but to check into whether electronic engine failure is a known problem. BTW, my Tahoe is a 2015 LTZ with roughly 3800 miles, bought new in Oct-Nov timeframe. MSRP was over 73K, so that gives you an idea of the bells and whistles this truck has.

Red

I assume is at the dealer and you are awaiting the test results. Pay close attention to what codes they retrieve and what the test results are for them and get full detailed documentation.




:welcome: to the forum by the way.

Yes, please keep us posted as to what they find. This is the first I have heard of a failure like this. I have heard of some new engines grenading, but not this... and not in the Tahoes...

well this is interesting. I come here to find out if anyone has had this happen and look what I find in the very first thread at the top of the page. I don't own a Tahoe but I'm currently driving one as a rental. I had a very similar thing happen to me tonight. I was driving about 25 miles per hour when the engine suddenly cut off and I partially lost electrical power. The interior lights went off (although interestingly the radio kept playing). The headlights and taillights also went off. thankfully I was on a road that had street lights so I wasn't totally in the dark. And there was a shoulder so I pulled over onto the shoulder. I then cut the ignition off and restarted the engine. It started up fine and I drove home without any problems. it was a frightening experience however and could have been dangerous if there were no shoulder and no street lights or if there were any one behind me.I was not considering buying a tahoe, but I had been looking seriously at the colorado and canyon. however I see numerous problems that I would consider major reported in their forums. I think this experience has successfully frightened me away from considering any GM product. Dang i really liked that GMC canyon.

This is the diagnosis from the local dealer who got me back on the road:

Tech: Scanned and found p018c, p0192, p0452, p0532, p0641, p127c, p227, p228 and c0242. Check all pcm connectors, checked all fuses, checked all grounds, checked power wires at pcm and fuse box, found 5 volt ref shorted to ground, unplugged all under hood sensors and then got to a/c pressure sensor 5 volt ref returned, found a/c pressure switch shorted. Tech Comments: Replaced a/c pressure switch.

# 14450 Inspect A/C Refrigerant Warning Label. Tech Comments: Inspected and replaced a/c refrigerant label and recovery/recharge.

# 14616 Service 4WD Message – Transfer Case Stuck in 4WD HI. Tech Comments: Transfer case shift control module reprogramming with SPS - Warranty

As I understand it, the A/C component was the root cause. Hopefully, this doesn't reflect on the quality of the vehicle. It was a nice drive up to this point!

Red

raiderron said:

:welcome: to the forum by the way.

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Raiderron thanks for the welcome . . . Glad to be here :happy160:

Red

chevy no va said:

well this is interesting. I come here to find out if anyone has had this happen and look what I find in the very first thread at the top of the page. I don't own a Tahoe but I'm currently driving one as a rental. I had a very similar thing happen to me tonight. I was driving about 25 miles per hour when the engine suddenly cut off and I partially lost electrical power. The interior lights went off (although interestingly the radio kept playing). The headlights and taillights also went off. thankfully I was on a road that had street lights so I wasn't totally in the dark. And there was a shoulder so I pulled over onto the shoulder. I then cut the ignition off and restarted the engine. It started up fine and I drove home without any problems. it was a frightening experience however and could have been dangerous if there were no shoulder and no street lights or if there were any one behind me.I was not considering buying a tahoe, but I had been looking seriously at the colorado and canyon. however I see numerous problems that I would consider major reported in their forums. I think this experience has successfully frightened me away from considering any GM product. Dang i really liked that GMC canyon.

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Chevy no va

Don't let this incident be the deciding factor in your choice . . . It's best to get what you want or you'll be living with regrets. I've owned several GM products over the years. The Burb 2500 lasted 10+ and I traded it in for the Tahoe. It was a highway cruiser with the 8.1 liter block and 410 rear-end.

The roadside assistance worked like a charm to get me back on the road. BTW, the servicing dealer in Corydon, IN provided excellent customer service! I plan on hitting the road again this weekend. The Tahoe is easier to drive than the Burb ever was.

Red

Thanks for the update. Glad they got it figured out pretty quickly for you.

JWRed said:

Chevy no va

Don't let this incident be the deciding factor in your choice . . .

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I agree wholeheartedly. I have had excellent longevity and performance out of GM vehicles. Other brands, not so much. I've gotten literally hundreds of thousands of miles out of all of my GM vehicles and have no reason to not expect the same out of our new Tahoe. I've got a Chevy truck closing in on 200k that still gets the same mpg as when new, has never left me stranded anywhere, and still looks great. All I've had to do to it is replace the clutch once and normal maintenance items. This truck works for a living - HD 3/4 ton and has hauled/towed heavy loads 1,500 mile trips on multiple occasions. I honestly can't believe it has held up as well as it has. I'd expect it to be down on power some and starting to use some oil by now, knowing how hard it has been used. It still has the factory plug wires on it - no reason to change them. I could say the same thing about my Fiero, but sadly a forest fire burned it to the ground a couple years ago.

I'll also add that forums can often skew "failure" rates. What I mean is, that reading forums often gives an impression that a "failure" in a particular car (not just GM, but any make or model) happens very frequently, when in fact the actual "failure" rate is a small percentage of total production. An amount one would normally expect in any mass produced item. Forums are a good source for information and a way to learn about possible failures, but one does need to put things in perspective...

Thanks, all for the replies. JWRed, thanks for keeping us posted. Sounds like it was a fairly simple fix. Hope it takes care of the problem for good.

JWRed said:

My engine died and I'm still alive to tell what happened. On my trip from the midwest this past w/e the Tahoe suffered a major electronic malfunction. While traveling on the interstate, adaptive cruise engaged, in the hammer lane, the engine lost power (check engine light came on). A message displayed stating reduced power (a serious understatement)!

Behind me was a Ram pickup, already on my bumper (apparently he had already done some serious braking). In the right lane was another vehicle still coming). After this car passed I moved right and on to the shoulder rolling to a stop.

Imagine a sudden loss of acceleration on an interstate heavily used by semi's and you'll know why I say I'm still alive!

In any event, I will be sharing this experience with NHTSA. Not so much to complain, but to check into whether electronic engine failure is a known problem. BTW, my Tahoe is a 2015 LTZ with roughly 3800 miles, bought new in Oct-Nov timeframe. MSRP was over 73K, so that gives you an idea of the bells and whistles this truck has.

Red

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I had that happen in my 08 Tahoe, called the dealer and they took it right away and fixed the problem