in2pro

I never had a "reduced power" condition at any time... the morning drive today went without issue....

dehcho

I have a 09 silverado that the flashing light with service traction control and service stabilitrak flashes, and check engine light also flashes. Trans shifts hard and lasted approx 36 hours. After that no light flashing and no warnings about service. Shifting normal now. What causess it?

Ponch

GM, in their infinite wisdom, chose that computer behavior/feedback for a plethora of problems. You'll have to put a OBD II CAN scanner on the car and look at the codes it returns. Then you'll have a better idea of what happened. May be.

Ponch

I made an appointment to have a dealer look at it. We'll see.

jason78

Saw this thread on a search- I am now battling this problem.....again. First time was $400 NOT Covered Under Warranty for Throttle Position Sensor at 50K miles. Problem went away. GM Customer service refused to help at all. Now at 58K and the problem is back again. Taking to dealer again tomorrow. Internet searches and threads in other GM truck forums I participate in seem to suggest this is an extremely common problem with newer GM trucks that have 5.3L V8 w/ Active Fuel Management. The last dealer tried the same crap saying it was bad gas. I always use name brand mid grade gas (not E85) and it is the same stuff that has run in my Silverado for the last 220K miles with NO Problems. I am starting to think the best way to solve this problem for good is to just trade off for another brand. I have been GM all my life and have owned many of them and been very happy. This 2011 Tahoe that I also bought NEW has been a piece of junk and GM's refusal to stand behind the product and FIX the PROBLEM for me and everyone else having the same issues is a true indicator of where they are headed as a company. Maybe now is time to leave GM behind and not look back.

Ponch

It seems to be a recurring theme with car manufacturer and that is get the owner out of the warranty period without spending a lot of money trying fix it right and then it'll be on the customer's dime when they will fix it right, out of warranty. I have seen it happen with BMW motorcycles too and if the owner pushes it, the good will gets pulled back and any offers go away. The thing is, if someone has an issue with a particular brand and the manufacturer offers an incentive to buy something new of the same brand, why would the customer do that? Moreover, who gets stuck with the defective vehicle that gets traded in and wholesaled out if the customer takes the deal? There are problems all around. There seems to be a flaw in human nature that we would rather avoid doing the right thing at great cost because we would be wrong than doing the right thing at less cost and being done with it.

jason78

The problem here seems to be the "right thing to do" to fix this particular problem is unknown. Most people can't justify to keep pouring money in to a vehicle that cost $40 or $50 thousand dollars to begin with chasing a problem that keeps coming up and being told it is not covered under that nice sounding 100K Powertrain warranty they like to advertise. From reading around, it sounds like a different diagnosis is given depending on the dealer and tech working on it then excuses are given as to why it happened. Just search some of these threads- why should a truck with 70K miles need new valves or a new throttle body at 40K? Furthermore what in the heck does any of this have to do with Traction Control or Stabilitrack alerts coming on? Seems like a bug in the ECM and the solution is to start replacing parts at the owner's expense till it stops. We will see what the problem is this time but if I have to open my wallet again for this problem, the only way I know of to solve the problem long term is to move my dollars to another company. GM won't care but I will not continue to buy GM vehicles to replace ones that they won't stand behind. At this point, I would rather have my 96 Tahoe again. It did not have all the bells and whistles but it ran great and was a quality truck!

Ponch

There are probably other error codes that get generated. You can go to an auto parts store and read them. I did. It led me to a problem with cylinder 1, which was an oil fouled plug and understand the plug was only replaced 7 months before.

I agree about the generic error which puts the vehicle into limp home mode. My guess it was done on purpose so a lot of problems will "encourage" owners to bring their vehicles into the dealer for service. Back to my BMW motorcycle, I can't even turn off the service reminder in the display. That can only be done by the dealer or if I buy a $300 scan tool. I call it the dealer extortion indicator. What it comes down to is that vehicle manufacturers want to drive business to dealer and so they don't want people maintaining or fixing their own vehicles and hence that generic error for a plethora of possible problems.

slyder941

I love that "DIC = dealer extortion indicator" so well stated. Not to bash all dealer service techs, but seriously look at them. Many are kids probably with minimal schooling, minimal tech training. I have had personal issues with my Burban enough to just unload it and be super happy.

Now a days techs just throw what ever part the scan tool or code says is bad.
this is not always right, what caused the failure !!!!! it can also be a daisy chain effect. The part failed or may still work because a part higher up the chain failed. Not replacing the actual failed part because they don't think through the process just replace what the computer tells them too

Ponch

The word is root cause analysis. The problem with computer controlled systems is that a lot of it is black box, meaning without special tools, someone doesn't know what's going on inside. Couple that with poor error trapping for those that have the tools and it's still difficult. The days of the dwell meter/tachometer are over and in order to make problems easier to diagnose, the manufacturer would have to create more sophisticated error trapping and probably more sophisticated computer as well. I will also add that what you are seeing is probably SOP. I used to repair Apple products and Apple would want a tech to replace the cheapest part first and work up the cost chain. With experience, I could ignore much of what Apple recommended as first steps and get to what the problem really was. It's part problem isolation, part intuition, part knowledge and experience. It takes time to develop and not everyone has the necessities to be good at it. Put all of that together and YMMV.