My 2012 broke down for the first time

[Quark]

I had just begun a three and a half hour return leg Wednesday when the DIC began showing traction control off, park assist off with warning chimes. Just happened to be in a construction zone but was able to continue to an off ramp. Before I could find a safe place to pull over the gauges went dead and even the gear selection indicator went out. Hoping perhaps it needed to cool down and possibly reset I shut it off, still running fine, and opened the hood but it was down for the count.

While trying to restart it would occasionally chug a little and die and the messages changed to service four wheel drive and trailer brake controller and eventually engine wouldn't even attempt to start. Later I found that the rear hatch wouldn't open although windows and door locks worked fine and battery seemed to have a good charge.

I was between towns basically in the middle of nowhere with limited reception (T-mobile which will be dropped as soon as possible) and twice I scheduled a wrecker with wait times of 2 hours and 1.5 hours for the second reschedule only to be cancelled because the driver couldn't verify by calling me. I had told my road side assistant that call backs would be impossible, oh well.

Thank goodness for the local good Samaritans who had checked on me and returned hours later to see how things were going. After six hours and with their help we were able to contact a local wrecker service. Well into the night we dropped off the Tahoe at the nearest dealership and I stayed at a nearby hotel. Early next morning a service representative called and told me my car was top priority and would do his best to get me back on the road that day. A couple hours later I called them back and was told it was the ECM and they had one on the way and it should arrive by 3 PM and it should be ready at 4. Sure enough at 4:15 I was on my way.

I would like to acknowledge all the good Samaritans out there willing to help a total stranger and also the McDaniel GM dealership in Marion Ohio. This has reaffirmed my faith that there are good people out there who will help and do their best when you need them. Thank you!

And my Tahoe? I'll be going on another adventure later this month nine hours away. One failure in nine years ain't bad.

 

[wsteele]

I have been stranded once in my 14+ years with my 2007 Yukon, so statistically, you should be GTG for at least another 5-6 year.

Good luck on your next adventure.

PS - I drive (and hike) a lot in areas with zero cell coverage, contrary to what Verizon might say on the subject. I have given serious consideration to getting a sat phone. Probably will this year at some point.

 

[avalonandl]

An ECM dying is unusual. Did they change the battery also?

Your symptons sound like a battery that shorted out...

 

[Geotrash]

Thanks for sharing your story and hats off to good samaritans everywhere. I don't hear of many ECM failures on these. Makes me wonder what the root causes of the failure could be.

 

[OR VietVet]

I agree with the sceptics about the ECM. While they can go bad, and yours may well have gone bad by itself or water contamination or who knows, but the ECM is a very rare failure item. Like @avalonandl said, I would suspect a battery problem or connections or grounds or both. How old is your battery? If old enough, I might lean toward replacing it.

 

[Geotrash]

I agree with the sceptics about the ECM. While they can go bad, and yours may well have gone bad by itself or water contamination or who knows, but the ECM is a very rare failure item. Like @avalonandl said, I would suspect a battery problem or connections or grounds or both. How old is your battery? If old enough, I might lean toward replacing it.

+1, Ron. My first thought was electrical system related - specifically grounds and battery cables. Especially because I believe he's in the rust belt.

 

[Bill 1960]

PS - I drive (and hike) a lot in areas with zero cell coverage, contrary to what Verizon might say on the subject. I have given serious consideration to getting a sat phone. Probably will this year at some point.

I use a Garmin InReach. Much more affordable than a sat phone, it’s satellite text messaging. And you can put it on inactive status on a monthly basis when not needed and there’s no charge, other than the annual account fee which is minimal.

 

[wsteele]

Thanks for sharing your story and hats off to good samaritans everywhere. I don't hear of many ECM failures on these. Makes me wonder what the root causes of the failure could be.

I agree, I haven't read about a single failure.

I use a Garmin InReach. Much more affordable than a sat phone, it’s satellite text messaging. And you can put it on inactive status on a monthly basis when not needed and there’s no charge, other than the annual account fee which is minimal.

I have looked at that as well. In the end, I think I just have more confidence in voice communications. I think the Inmarsat Satphone2 (I think that is the nomenclature) is what I will eventually get. We are out of reach a lot each week and most weeks, so even the monthly isn’t crushing in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Quark]

I'm getting ready to mow so to save time I'm just responding in general but I do appreciation everyone's comments.

The Delco battery, forget which type it is but recollection is it is a five year battery was replaced in 2017 so it is three years old. Now I'm concerned that it might be a potential problem. Nothing else indicates that the battery might be at fault. Have much to do before leaving next week I may replace it if that is the consensus.

Vehicle is very clean it is a garage queen when not traveling. I'll hand wash and wax leaving it parked inside when salt is on the road. The Tahoe only has 40,000 miles and it receives compliments regularly on it's appearance. Ground straps and connections that I can see look as new, no rust underbody is very clean.

The good people who came to help had Verizon and reception was very good. Midwest to south and east are my travel points and conclude Verizon will at least be better.

 

[Quark]

dupe, sorry

 

[OR VietVet]

A 5 year battery, IMO, is suspect after 3 years depending on condition of the rest of the system. Your battery is 4 years old. We are just throwing out options and again, the ECM replacement may have been completely legit but the percentages point to other problems.

 

[FrankU]

I ain't sayin nothing ! If I do she'll get me.

 

[wsteele]

I'm getting ready to mow so to save time I'm just responding in general but I do appreciation everyone's comments.

The Delco battery, forget which type it is but recollection is it is a five year battery was replaced in 2017 so it is three years old. Now I'm concerned that it might be a potential problem. Nothing else indicates that the battery might be at fault. Have much to do before leaving next week I may replace it if that is the consensus.

Vehicle is very clean it is a garage queen when not traveling. I'll hand wash and wax leaving it parked inside when salt is on the road. The Tahoe only has 40,000 miles and it receives compliments regularly on it's appearance. Ground straps and connections that I can see look as new, no rust underbody is very clean.

The good people who came to help had Verizon and reception was very good. Midwest to south and east are my travel points and conclude Verizon will at least be better.

You can take the battery down to a local Napa (or equivalent) AP store and they can test it right quickly. Cheap insurance. Some will test it in the parking lot for you. It won't tell you anything about the cables and grounds, but at least it would eliminate the most common electrical gremlin.

I agree on Verizon being the best overall, that is why I have it as well. It is just where I go a lot (even on the highways), there are long stretches of dead zones. Hence my desire to get the Sat Phone (or a device like the In Reach, like Bill 1960 mentioned).

In the final analysis, like your experience, there are a lot of good people out there who are willing to help people in a time of need.

 

[Bill 1960]

I'm getting ready to mow so to save time I'm just responding in general but I do appreciation everyone's comments.

The Delco battery, forget which type it is but recollection is it is a five year battery was replaced in 2017 so it is three years old. Now I'm concerned that it might be a potential problem. Nothing else indicates that the battery might be at fault. Have much to do before leaving next week I may replace it if that is the consensus.

Vehicle is very clean it is a garage queen when not traveling. I'll hand wash and wax leaving it parked inside when salt is on the road. The Tahoe only has 40,000 miles and it receives compliments regularly on it's appearance. Ground straps and connections that I can see look as new, no rust underbody is very clean.

The good people who came to help had Verizon and reception was very good. Midwest to south and east are my travel points and conclude Verizon will at least be better.

Verizon is best in coverage, that’s been our experience traveling all of North America. ATT a close second. Usually when traveling we have a phone on both networks so we’ve done a lot of comparing.

You may want to look into Visible phone service. It’s a subsidiary of Verizon that sells service for $40 unlimited. As low as $25 per line if you have four lines. Their coverage map is identical. I cannot speak personally regarding whether that translates in the real world or not, but I’m going to find out this year since I just switched one of our lines to Visible to test them out.

 

[swathdiver]

I'm getting ready to mow so to save time I'm just responding in general but I do appreciation everyone's comments.

The Delco battery, forget which type it is but recollection is it is a five year battery was replaced in 2017 so it is three years old. Now I'm concerned that it might be a potential problem. Nothing else indicates that the battery might be at fault. Have much to do before leaving next week I may replace it if that is the consensus.

Vehicle is very clean it is a garage queen when not traveling. I'll hand wash and wax leaving it parked inside when salt is on the road. The Tahoe only has 40,000 miles and it receives compliments regularly on it's appearance. Ground straps and connections that I can see look as new, no rust underbody is very clean.

The good people who came to help had Verizon and reception was very good. Midwest to south and east are my travel points and conclude Verizon will at least be better.

A Tech-2 or equivalent can show you the health of the battery, it's state of charge, previous state of charge, calculated temperature, etc. I reckon a 4 year old battery on a truck that doesn't get driven much would be near wore out by now, unless it spent most of its time on a tender.

That's a great story though about getting you fixed up in a jiffy! Flow GMC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina did the same for us as did Wackerli GMC in Idaho Falls, Idaho recently.

 

[Quark]

A Tech-2 or equivalent can show you the health of the battery, it's state of charge, previous state of charge, calculated temperature, etc. I reckon a 4 year old battery on a truck that doesn't get driven much would be near wore out by now, unless it spent most of its time on a tender.

That's a great story though about getting you fixed up in a jiffy! Flow GMC in Winston-Salem, North Carolina did the same for us as did Wackerli GMC in Idaho Falls, Idaho recently.

I was hoping it would last at least as long as the factory battery. It failed five years to the month after the vehicle was built. Since changing it I put a battery tender on it when it sits for a whole week during the winter. On a trip recently I noticed the voltage dip below 14 and I took it that means the battery is fully charge and the alternator has quit charging. I didn't notice this happen on the last trip though I was running the AC. I'm wishing I'd had it checked while it was in for repair.

 

[wsteele]

I was hoping it would last at least as long as the factory battery. It failed five years to the month after the vehicle was built. Since changing it I put a battery tender on it when it sits for a whole week during the winter. On a trip recently I noticed the voltage dip below 14 and I took it that means the battery is fully charge and the alternator has quit charging. I didn't notice this happen on the last trip though I was running the AC. I'm wishing I'd had it checked while it was in for repair.

It is quite normal for the charge voltage to drop down while driving. It starts high as it is recovering from the drain to start, lights on before it is running, etc.

 

[Quark]

As an update the Hoe is still good to go after a few long trips, one was 9 hours one way, and frequent trips to town after changing the ECM. No complaints.

Except it does have some type of squeak coming from the rear when hitting minor imperfections in the driveway while backing out. It's a 100 foot backup. Only does it after sitting in the garage overnight and goes away after hitting the road. I'm kind of sure that it is in the suspension or brake cable or something. I've tried pushing on the bumper before starting out but it doesn't squeak.

Thinking of trying the Range device on an upcoming trip. On long level highways the switching in and out of 4 cylinder mode shuddering starts to get on my nerves. If it doesn't hurt gas mileage I'll probably keep it.

I like my Hoe and was thinking of upgrading to a 21 model but kind of prefer the smaller less bus like size. The new cab forward design kind of reminds me of a bus driving experience and the problems are more than I want to contend with. Everything tells me to keep this little keeper but I started a fund to buy new and in a couple of years it will be enough to buy practically anything up to $100,000. Maybe I'll keep this another 10 years and buy a luxury sport ride, the money is starting to burn a hole. Any suggestions, Bimmer or something along that line? The Vette my be a little hard to get in and out of, getting up there in age plus I don't trust myself with that kind of performance.

Sorry for rambling but bottom line is I like my Hoe too much to give her up.

 

[OR VietVet]

As an update the Hoe is still good to go after a few long trips, one was 9 hours one way, and frequent trips to town after changing the ECM. No complaints.

Except it does have some type of squeak coming from the rear when hitting minor imperfections in the driveway while backing out. It's a 100 foot backup. Only does it after sitting in the garage overnight and goes away after hitting the road. I'm kind of sure that it is in the suspension or brake cable or something. I've tried pushing on the bumper before starting out but it doesn't squeak.

Thinking of trying the Range device on an upcoming trip. On long level highways the switching in and out of 4 cylinder mode shuddering starts to get on my nerves. If it doesn't hurt gas mileage I'll probably keep it.

I like my Hoe and was thinking of upgrading to a 21 model but kind of prefer the smaller less bus like size. The new cab forward design kind of reminds me of a bus driving experience and the problems are more than I want to contend with. Everything tells me to keep this little keeper but I started a fund to buy new and in a couple of years it will be enough to buy practically anything up to $100,000. Maybe I'll keep this another 10 years and buy a luxury sport ride, the money is starting to burn a hole. Any suggestions, Bimmer or something along that line? The Vette my be a little hard to get in and out of, getting up there in age plus I don't trust myself with that kind of performance.

Sorry for rambling but bottom line is I like my Hoe too much to give her up.

Check the rear suspension and shock rubbers. Rubber gets cold and makes noise sometimes till warms up. Track bar, control arms....etc.

 

[Quark]

Wondering if there is a rubber conditioner I could spray the rubber bushings with?

Edit: Spray white lithium grease should do the trick.