No Crank/No start/generally freaking out

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Krummelt1

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Good Evening
I am looking for some help with trouble shooting my 09 Tahoe. Intermittently the vehicle freaks out and it usually ends up with the vehicle not being able to be started or cranked.

Typically the first thing I notice is a "pop" in the radio followed by the gauges often cycling the full range of motion and the door lock locking and unlocking. At this time the engine seems to cut out for a moment or two also. Sometime it snaps out of it and doesn't do it again. The most recent time it continued to do it a point where I could not drive the car. Often after I turn it off after one of these events it will refuse to start with a no click, no start. In fact the vehicle will not respond to anything. The doors will not unlock on the remote, the interior lights do not come on. Nothing. It acts as if the battery is not even installed. I have found if I take both terminals off the battery, short them together and then put them back the vehicle completely resets and acts normally. Sometimes for hundreds if not thousands of miles.

Here is what I have done so far:
Load Tested battery-Sat
Removed and cleaned both ends of main ground.
Cleaned the grounds at the firewall
Disconnected and cleaned the control module at the front drivers side of the vehicle (ECM?)

I don't mind taking it to the dealer but I am most likely going to show up with a completely fine vehicle. I also don't mind throwing some parts at it myself but I don't really have a plan at this point. I am hoping someone else here has experienced something similar

Vehicle has 171k on it and is otherwise in great shape.

PLEASE HELP!!
 

Dustin Jackson

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Next time this happens take the negative battery cable and yank it around and try to start it. If it starts after yanking the negative battery cable around just replace it because that is the problem, for some reason they seem to break internally and cause stand intermittent issues.
 

swathdiver

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Treasure Coast, Florida
Good Evening
I am looking for some help with trouble shooting my 09 Tahoe. Intermittently the vehicle freaks out and it usually ends up with the vehicle not being able to be started or cranked.

Typically the first thing I notice is a "pop" in the radio followed by the gauges often cycling the full range of motion and the door lock locking and unlocking. At this time the engine seems to cut out for a moment or two also. Sometime it snaps out of it and doesn't do it again. The most recent time it continued to do it a point where I could not drive the car. Often after I turn it off after one of these events it will refuse to start with a no click, no start. In fact the vehicle will not respond to anything. The doors will not unlock on the remote, the interior lights do not come on. Nothing. It acts as if the battery is not even installed. I have found if I take both terminals off the battery, short them together and then put them back the vehicle completely resets and acts normally. Sometimes for hundreds if not thousands of miles.

Here is what I have done so far:
Load Tested battery-Sat
Removed and cleaned both ends of main ground.
Cleaned the grounds at the firewall
Disconnected and cleaned the control module at the front drivers side of the vehicle (ECM?)

I don't mind taking it to the dealer but I am most likely going to show up with a completely fine vehicle. I also don't mind throwing some parts at it myself but I don't really have a plan at this point. I am hoping someone else here has experienced something similar

Vehicle has 171k on it and is otherwise in great shape.

PLEASE HELP!!
If your battery is more than a few years old it's probably time to replace it regardless of the load test results. We see it all the time.

Do check your cables especially if you live in a salty area.
 
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