(Mystery) ABS / TC light ON, Brake press = grinding/jittering noise | 2004 Yukon Denali XL

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acelead

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Hi everybody,

I have a 2004 Yukon Denali XL with the 6.0 and full-time AWD.

It has just north of 230k miles on it.

I picked it up from a family that had been trading it back and forth among extended family members since new.

They were wealthy, had no mechanical knowledge whatsoever (but very nice people), and sold it to me cheap because it needed a new radiator (which I replaced myself because I am the opposite of wealthy).

They claimed it had regular maintenance and also claimed parts were replaced (but no records to speak of).

I have owned it for a little over a year, drove it back and forth from California to New Hampshire, climbed snowy mountains and towed all of the things.

It's a fantastic vehicle.

However now to the bad part.

I let a friend of mine borrow it to go camping and tow his boat.

On the return trip, he called me and let me know that the Denali was having issues moving under its own power, warning lights were flashing and it kept stalling.

When I got to the vehicle I discovered that the ABS and Traction Control lights were on.

When I started the vehicle and attempted to drive it while in "Drive", every time I would step on the brake I would get grinding and jittering from what appeared to be the front brakes.

The grinding and jittering would continue even after I would release pressure from the brake pad. The grinding/jittering would stop once the vehicle stopped (or almost stopped).

However, I discovered that if I manually shifted it (1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear) the brakes work just fine and I could move the Denali under its own power.

I was unable to replicate his report of the vehicle stalling so I'm not sure what that was about.

I also have discovered that the battery is draining itself over a period of a day or so if left alone.

Seeing the ABS light on, my caveman reaction was to pull the ABS fuse itself and low and behold the Denali drives just fine in "Drive" (no jittering or grinding when pushing on the brake pedal). However, since my wife does drive it occasionally with my two daughters onboard, I would like to get the ABS working again so pulling the fuse is a short term fix.

These are the clues I have so far.

I have no idea if my friend did something he shouldn't have and caused the issues OR its just a sensor going bad and he just happened to be the one behind the wheel.

Before I start poking things with my volt meter, I was hoping someone on here much smarter and with much more experience could at least narrow down my search parameters and save me some time.

I appreciate all of you for any help you can provide!

- Mike
 

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OR VietVet

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As bad as it sounds, watch for the front wheels to all of a sudden sag/tilt when weight is lifted off them, called "unloading" the front end. That would indicate a bad hub bearing. It will have a normal tilt in at the bottom if lifted in the center of the cross member but if lifted at the control arm close to the ball joint, the tilt would be almost unoticable if the ball joint and bearing are good and not severely loose. It could still make a grinding noise though.
 
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rockola1971

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Sounds like the stereotypical bad front wheel speed sensor and/or bad hub. They both cause out of tolerance wheel speeds. The speeds are compared to one another and if one is way out from the others then the ABS system will throw up and cause random ABS actuations. Hence your "grinding noise' which I assume is the ABS pump kicking on. Checking hubs is easy. Get front wheels off the ground. Just far enough you can turn tires freely by hand and grab at 12 and 6 oclock and try to rock tire in an outward. If the hub has play you will feel it there. Turn tire slowly and see if you can feel or hear any roughness in the bearing of the hub.

The battery dying over a day or so can be either something is staying on like a glove compartment light or an amplifier is staying on beause its turn on circuit is shorted (not to be confused with shorted to ground) AND/OR the very infamous bad ground causing BCM to not goto sleep after last door is closed. Check the obvious first and see if you can see any lights not turning off within 10mins of closing last door. Best to do when dark outside.

For now I would disconnect your negative at the battery when done with the vehicle for the day. Automotive batteries (Lead Acid) are not designed to be ran down often. It degrades its lifespan and significantly reduces it when ran well below 50% charge.
 
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MassHoe04

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I kept getting ABS codes on and off for a while. Thought I would replace sensor "when I get a chance"... Driver's side hub totally blew apart. Lucky to get off the road quick and flatbed home without any other destruction.
As soon as I got another ABS code on the other side, I wasted no time replacing that hub right away. Why wouldn't I do them both when the first one failed? Lack of funds.

Here is what the second hub sounded like off the ground and before it had a chance to fall apart. This is a video I took before disassembly and finding what you see below...

Here is what it looked like as soon as I got the axle nut off...

The outer half of the hub came off the knuckle with my bare hands! The axle nut was all that was holding the inner and outer parts of the bearing assembly together!

20220526_110401.jpg

Inner bearing rollers were laying on top of the control arm. Spit out like teeth on a hockey player.


20220526_102033.jpg

Learned my lesson! ABS codes are telling more than possible bad sensor! Definitely can involve bad hubs..
 
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A

acelead

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Sounds like the stereotypical bad front wheel speed sensor and/or bad hub. They both cause out of tolerance wheel speeds. The speeds are compared to one another and if one is way out from the others then the ABS system will throw up and cause random ABS actuations. Hence your "grinding noise' which I assume is the ABS pump kicking on. Checking hubs is easy. Get front wheels off the ground. Just far enough you can turn tires freely by hand and grab at 12 and 6 oclock and try to rock tire in an outward. If the hub has play you will feel it there. Turn tire slowly and see if you can feel or hear any roughness in the bearing of the hub.

The battery dying over a day or so can be either something is staying on like a glove compartment light or an amplifier is staying on beause its turn on circuit is shorted (not to be confused with shorted to ground) AND/OR the very infamous bad ground causing BCM to not goto sleep after last door is closed. Check the obvious first and see if you can see any lights not turning off within 10mins of closing last door. Best to do when dark outside.

For now I would disconnect your negative at the battery when done with the vehicle for the day. Automotive batteries (Lead Acid) are not designed to be ran down often. It degrades its lifespan and significantly reduces it when ran well below 50% charge.

REALLY appreciate the detail @rockola1971 I will go through and test this.
 
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acelead

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I kept getting ABS codes on and off for a while. Thought I would replace sensor "when I get a chance"... Driver's side hub totally blew apart. Lucky to get off the road quick and flatbed home without any other destruction.
As soon as I got another ABS code on the other side, I wasted no time replacing that hub right away. Why wouldn't I do them both when the first one failed? Lack of funds.

Here is what the second hub sounded like off the ground and before it had a chance to fall apart. This is a video I took before disassembly and finding what you see below...

Here is what it looked like as soon as I got the axle nut off...

The outer half of the hub came off the knuckle with my bare hands! The axle nut was all that was holding the inner and outer parts of the bearing assembly together!

View attachment 384114

Inner bearing rollers were laying on top of the control arm. Spit out like teeth on a hockey player.


View attachment 384115

Learned my lesson! ABS codes are telling more than possible bad sensor! Definitely can involve bad hubs..

You sound like me! Haha I would definitely wait until its too late. This is fascinating though, I will check the hubs. Where are you buying replacements from? A1?
 

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