farley80

Hi. I've just taken my 07 Suburban LTZ in for a second opinion and am told I need lifters. after Stabilitrak/ traction control light comes on with a ticking in the engine.. after having had the valve train replaced just 2 years ago. Not interested in putting thousands more into more lifters when I just did that... to the tune of $6000,, I am a senior female and travel for business and don't want to be stranded on the side of the road. Any suggestions before trying to sell it and get another brand?

Burban4x4

I just joined this forum to share my experience. I have never joined a forum in my life, but I want to help any way I can with this problem. I am by no means a professional mechanic. I was a US Marine H-1 avionics technician from 2003 – 2008. I am now a degreed engineer. However, I am not an auto mechanic, I’m really not even a “car guy”, but I work on my own vehicles when and where I can to save money. Here is the situation. In September, 2017 we bought a 2009 Suburban LT 4x4 to accommodate our growing family. A few weeks ago, my wife was out of town (about an hour from home) for the weekend with her friends. She parked her Suburban for 3 days at the house they were staying. When she went to leave (3 days later) her Suburban’s battery was completely dead… All the way dead. The previous owner had replaced the battery before selling it to us. Her friends managed to get her car jump started and she called me on the way home to tell me the news. So, she got home and everything has been fine. We just had a break from work/school for Thanksgiving. Her Suburban was parked outside our house for 2 days, and when I went to start it, it sounded like the voltage was low and it struggled to start, but nonetheless, it started. So then yesterday she was going to grocery store after church and she called me soon after she left to tell me that the car was vibrating so bad that she couldn’t drive it because it was scaring her, and it wouldn’t get up to speed so she pulled over and turned it off. She said there was a Stabilitrack message, a Traction Control message and a blinking Check Engine Light. So I got in my trusty 2000 Ford F250 7.3L Diesel and went to her aid with a bag of tools. I decided to have her run her errands in my truck and I limped her car back to our house. I got on my computer and found this forum.

I read so many different things that were attributed to the fix that I couldn’t keep them straight, so I started to write them down. When I had about 10 different components that cause the issue I got confused. I knew I needed to pull the codes so I limped the Suburban up to my local Kwik Kar (oil change place) and the guy pulled the codes. I don’t remember the exact codes, but they were for the #2, #4, #6, and #8 cylinder fuel injectors. So, he rooted around under the hood then check the fuse box, and fuse #13 Injector B was blown (I assume “B” side of the motor that has the even numbered cylinders, this was the passenger side of the vehicle, btw). He replaced the fuse and cleared the codes with his $6,000 Snap On code reader and everything was great. I gave him $20 and said thank you! Then he put the plastic cover over the top of the motor and the fuse blew again…. AHHHHHHH!!!!! All the same lights came back on the dash and the engine started running rough again. He checked the fuse and sure enough it was blown. We replaced it again and this time did not put the plastic cover back on the motor. The guy told me I cold bring it back tomorrow and he could do a full diagnosis and it would cost $100. I told him if I couldn’t figure it out I would bring it back. I got under the hood when I got home and took all the fuel injector connectors off and took the wire harness out of the black plastic and began to inspect all the wiring. I found nothing. I started to put it all back together when I found the issue! Thank you, LORD!! The wire bundle that runs across the top of the motor and across the top section of the passenger side fuel rail was chaffing in the fuel rail and shorting out. There were 4 wires that had rubbed through the black tape and also rubbed through the insulation on the wires.

So here is what I figured out in hopes this would help someone else. In my case, the wires were shorted which explains the dead battery, the slow to start battery, and the fuse blowing for the injectors, but it had nothing to do with the Stabilitrack/Traction control…. Right? Wrong. My guess is that the Stabilitrack/Traction Control circuitry is very sensitive to voltage spikes and/or heavy current loads on the electrical system. This explains why there were so many different issues that fixed the problems i.e. TPS, Brake control module, spark plugs, lifters, bad gas, Fuel pump, smashed O2 sensor, Onstar computer, brake reservoir sensor, wheel speed sensor, etc. The problem is most likely not with the Stabilitrack/Traction Control system at all, but rather that is a byproduct of current drain on the battery from a totally unrelated component. If you have pulled the codes and replaced the suspect component and the problem is still there, my advice is to check the wiring to the area that is throwing codes. For everyone on this forum that is telling others to change the component that they changed to fix it is most likely wrong. It can be any component/associated wiring that has failed and is putting a strain on the electrical system.

This is just my opinion, and if you think I’m totally out in left field that’s okay, but I just wanted to give those who are chronically experiencing this issue to have hope that it is fixable. Good luck and God bless!

in2pro

Welcome to the forum, thanks for the informative write up! for sure the trac control stbil light can be a general "catch all" for a multitude of symptoms that the on board computer just can't diagnosis. For the most part is a general drive-ability issue, the computer can't tell a blown fuse from a open wire, from a shorted or open sensor or switch, it just knows something in a given circuit is not returning the expected signal. That is why the there is no specific fix, but as you pointed out in your situation there can be more common causes to check for, i.e. chaffed wire harness. ( which by the way can be the worst to try and find, because they are find on a cold day but not on a hot one)

Michael Moore

Try doing a global reset 1st. Disconnect positive and negative battery cables, hold them together for 30 seconds then reconnect battery. Sounds like, you may have spun a wheel or took off to hard and it triggered a code. If it comes back on after this, I would say it's a speed sensor. Hope this helps. Good luck.

rldavid71

Welcome to the Forum. As has been noted in the past, the main issue with GM products, when showing the traction control / stabilitrac messages is the fact that GMs programming for the vehicles does most often fault to these messages.on the vehicles message board...no matter what the real issue may be. It pays to think calmly and logically when trying to track down the issue, Just as you did. Congrats!

73shark

Burban 4X4: Welcome to the forum.
Good to have another engineer on board.

BWor

Good morning all,

We bought a very used 2007 Suburban (had 120k I think when we got it) in 2015. Four months after getting it we hit this issue.

Here's what we did:

Replace accelerator pedal. No good.
Replace pedal again. Still no good.
Replace throttle body. Nope.
Had all grounds cleaned, inspected, and reconnected. Made it worse.
Replaced pedal again. Trigged within 10 minutes of me leaving the dealership.

I noticed that it seemed to trigger often when we hit a bump or even rumble strips. When it triggered the last time, it triggered a P2138. According to the TSB, they examined the appropriate location and noticed one of the connections slightly loose. They cleaned it, reconnected, and zip-tied it. That was almost a week ago, and we have had zero issues since then (this was triggering at least once a day, and sometimes we could not even start our Suburban without it failing).

I'm cautiously optimistic that this is the issue and may shed light to others as to something to check out.

Austin901

Dexter Bradley

my 09 is doing the same thing when I try to put it in 4 low it says stabiltrack off. Any idea what this problem is?

cmanley23

I have a 2009 Suburban as well, but it is supposed to turn of the stabilitrak and traction control when it's put into 4 low. This is mentioned in the owners manual on page 2-41... thought I would verify the page in the book.