dustineverett

Wife's 2012 Chevy Captiva was great for the first few months we bought it. One day she called me and said it went into low power mode and then it popped up Service Stabilitrak, Service Traction Control, and ABS. After this one incident it never went back into low power mode. The messages would show up from time to time but it would still drive fine. The radio does seem to go off by itself sometimes though. A few weeks ago she went to pick up pizza and it did the same thing going into low power mode and then she could not get it to crank for a few minutes. She limped it back home and I drove it around with no problem. Took it to a local mechanic and told him everything it was doing. Only light that was on when we dropped it off was check engine light. He told us it had a bulletin for actuators and proceeded to change them and give it back totaling $500. Two days later the warning lights came back on but it has not gone into low power mode. I have been researching online and someone suggested disabling OnStar so I did that....no help. I see alot of people talking about throttle body replacement and maybe wheel sensors. The car is not under warranty anymore....we bought it used with about 75,000 miles on it and it had 90,000 something on it now. I am worried about taking it to a dealer and them trying different stuff and paying for "fixes" that do not fix anything. She has to have the car everyday. I could change the throttle body but I was hoping someone had this same problem with this same year make and model and could offer some good advice. I keep thinking it has to be something electrical.....the local mechanic said he checked all of the ground wires to make sure all of that was ok....but he said something about a low voltage he was getting so I am not sure what to think. Thanks alot everyone.

Thomas. Kovach

I.too.have.a 2012 captiva lemon!!! All the complaints you have listed.......I. have.experienced
my captiva will run.for about 2 wks..

and.then for.no reason.....nothing no crank,just.a dull thump when you.turn the.key

Good.luck on keeping.yours

chilliewillie57

Replace the positive and negative battery cable, I did and it fixed a world of problems with by 2012 and 2014 Captiva. I had it all, wouldn't start, shutdown , reduced power mode, service traction control & stabilitrak warnings, parking brake, radio, weird transmission shift issues. Replacing the battery cable fixed most of it, because these warnings are coming from a low voltage condition created by the poorly made cable and a faulty amp sensor built into the cable assembly. You cannot fix it by new battery cable ends, trust me that doesn't work. You need the whole assembly. Bought mine from Rock Auto for about $104.bucks, and got a labor quote from the dealer to install it at $140 bucks. If you price the cable assembly through the dealer's parts department, they will charge you $249 plus labor. A whole lot cheaper to buy from Rock Auto for the exact same thing Ac Delco part. Good Luck, sure worked for me on both my 2012 and 2014.Captivas.