Traction Control going nuts!!!

oilfieldpopo · August 30, 2014

I purchased a 2011 Silverado 1500 Z71 last month. It has a Rough Country 6" lift with 35" tires and 20" rims. While going around curves, the traction control will start flashing and it feels like I lose power briefly. After traction control lights finish flashing and I get out of the curve, everything goes back to normal. The dealership I purchased the truck from has been trying to figure this problem out. They ordered a Hypertech calibration programmer and programmed the truck to compensate for the lift and tires. They said it would fix the problem. It hasn't. Now they are doing more research to try to figure it out. I'm about to the point of giving this truck back to them and getting another one. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this problem? Thanks in advance

Doug_Scott · August 30, 2014

Do not have any suggestions as to what is causing it, but can offer some suggestions on how I would proceed. Start with simple basic things to check. Sometimes the cause is so simple it is overlooked.

The fact that it happens only in curves of the road should make it easier to pinpoint the cause. When you say curve, are you meaning any gradual bend in the road that requires you to turn the steering wheel, or are you talking about turning from one street to another?

The traction control system monitors wheel speeds, and will activate once the difference between wheels exceeds the specification. When going around a corner, your truck will see 4 different wheel speeds. You need to ask yourself why are the wheel speeds so far apart to cause the traction control to kick in.

Make sue all 4 tires are same size, brand, and model. Same for the wheels, make sure all 4 wheels are same width.

Make sure you are not in 4wd mode. I do not have 4wd in my truck, so I do not know offhand how you enable 4wd, so this may not even be a valid check to perform. Turn 4wd off completely , do not use 4wd Auto.

Disable traction control using the button on dash and see if that part works correctly.

Does the dealership have a way to record the PCM/ECM activity while on a road test? If so, ask them to record a session that includes you getting the traction control to activate as you stated. From that they should be able to see what sensor is tripping the traction control. It may be as simple as one wheel sensor just at the edge of the specs for it, and once going through a curve the difference between wheels crosses the threshold needed to activate traction control.

Any chance the dealership will give you the previous owners contact information? Or can you get it from your local DMV? If so, contact previous owner and ask if this is why he traded the truck in. If it is why it was traded in, ask him why he tried to do to fix it, as well as asking who did the work of installing the lift kit. Maybe ask who tried to fix it for him before he traded the truck in. There is no reason to be pissed at the guy for dumping the truck without telling the dealer about this issue, pretty much everyone else would do the same thing if it happened to them.

There is no sense in having the dealer call previous owner, he will likely deny anything was wrong with the truck before he traded it in, and the dealer will also likely take that information from the previous owner to cover their ass as well. You may be able to get previous owner information from someone that has access to GM's system with the VIN from the truck.

oilfieldpopo · August 30, 2014

It's not tires/wheels. They are brand new. The dealership I bought the truck from specializes in lifted/custom trucks. they do lifts/tires/rims in house. They have sold several hundred trucks (gm, ford, chevy, dodge, etc) that they have in house customized and have said the only other truck they have seen with this issue before was a ford. they calibrated that particular truck to compensate for the tires/wheels and the problem stopped. Mine hasn't. I haven't had any issue while making any turns at intersections. Only going around sharp curves in the road. My speed has varied from 15 to 25mph when the problem has happened. Truck stays in 2wd mode and not auto. I have pushed the traction control button on the dash to "disable" it to see if the problem would stop. With traction control turned off the truck will still have the problem while going around curves. If I go around 5 sharp curves, the truck will show the problem 3 times. Pretty annoying. I'm thinking the problem is linked somehow to the suspension lift and wouldn't necessarily involve the previous owner. Also, the truck is a 2011 model with only 15,000 miles. This dealership is by no means a fly by night operation and I am not bashing them at all. They sell tons of top quality products every year and do an amazing job at the customization they do on their trucks. I am just wondering if this one is a lemon.

Duelin · August 30, 2014

Don't know if the dealership has check or not. But when going thru a curve the body will lift a little and can stretch a harness or tug on connector. Unless they lengthen the harnesses when they installed every thing. Also Big tires and lifts put a lot of stress on the hubs. Could be losing signal from hubs. Just guessing. If the dealer ship (that works on them every day and does the installation) can't figure it out with hands on. It is kind of hard for us when we can't even see the truck.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Duelin

oilfieldpopo · August 30, 2014

I was just wondering if anyone had heard of anything like this before. I understand yall can't diagnose the problem.

Doug_Scott · August 31, 2014

It's not tires/wheels. They are brand new. The dealership I bought the truck from specializes in lifted/custom trucks. they do lifts/tires/rims in house. They have sold several hundred trucks (gm, ford, chevy, dodge, etc) that they have in house customized and have said the only other truck they have seen with this issue before was a ford. they calibrated that particular truck to compensate for the tires/wheels and the problem stopped. Mine hasn't. I haven't had any issue while making any turns at intersections. Only going around sharp curves in the road. My speed has varied from 15 to 25mph when the problem has happened. Truck stays in 2wd mode and not auto. I have pushed the traction control button on the dash to "disable" it to see if the problem would stop. With traction control turned off the truck will still have the problem while going around curves. If I go around 5 sharp curves, the truck will show the problem 3 times. Pretty annoying. I'm thinking the problem is linked somehow to the suspension lift and wouldn't necessarily involve the previous owner. Also, the truck is a 2011 model with only 15,000 miles. This dealership is by no means a fly by night operation and I am not bashing them at all. They sell tons of top quality products every year and do an amazing job at the customization they do on their trucks. I am just wondering if this one is a lemon.

I am not trying to put anyone down, or even question the reputation of the shop, but, keep in mind that humans are doing the work, and they have the worst reputation for being perfect at any time. The good part about asking on a forum is that you will usually get multiple suggestions that come from multiple people that think at different levels of logic. Important part is to not dismiss something just because you cannot see how that can make any difference. Saying that something cannot be the issue really does not carry much weight. If you already know the answer, you would not be here.

Your initial post did not say the shop you purchased the truck from did the modifications after they received the truck, and that you were the first owner of the modified version of the truck. Keep in mind that just because something is new does not mean it cannot be defective. It is pretty much the only reason new parts have warranty.

I find that stepping back and remove emotion from troubleshooting makes it easier and quicker to find the problem. Suggestions that I offer are for diagnostic reasons, not repair reasons. Try disabling the stabilitrack by holding the traction control button down AFTER turning traction control off. If that stops the issue, then you appear to have a "yaw" issue. Basically the system is seeing a difference in the turning radius between front and rear and will try to correct it. What is uses to determine this I do not know, but since you say it only happens at higher speeds, it maybe as simple as a sensor seeing the body roll and is associating that to needing stabilitrack to intervene or maybe a large enough speed difference between front and rear to set it off.

This is one of main reasons I asked about getting a capture done by the ECM/PCM to see what is setting the system off.

If the previous driver did not have the lift kit installed while he drove it, that does not preclude it from happening to him, so he just dumped the truck because he gave up trying to get it fixed. Dealer you got it from will not know this. Mileage on truck also does not mean anything at this point and time.

You may want to run the VIN against GM service history on the truck as well. This will tell you what work GM has performed on the truck while under warranty. It may or may not show anything, but by checking you can rule out some possibilities.

gmtech4 · August 31, 2014

Did they hook up a scanner at all ?

ianr1000 · October 27, 2019

I put a motofab lift on my 2015 GMC sierra 3 inch up front 2 inch the back. I was having no problems and I had a 275/55/R20 tire on for a month before I got new tires like I said with no problems, this was with the lift on. I got 275/64/R20 ko2's put on and the first turn on to the highway the traction control goes off but as soon as I straighten out it was fine. I've put new wheel sensors on the back today but didn't help and waiting for the fronts to arrive tomorrow. It only happen when turning sharp or aggressive. I have called around to shops and most say they have never heard of this issue and some say you need to get the ECU for the sensors calibrated. I have a buddy that has a 2 inch level kit on a 2014 silverado but 275/60/R20 ko2's and he is not having this problem.

Edited October 27, 2019 by ianr1000

STEEZIE · February 28, 2021

Rough Country offers a calibration tool for this. Im having the same issue '13 silverado 7.5" lift with 35" tires. I've also email superchips to see if their tuner can calibrate the Electronic Stability Control .

Tatercreekoutlaw · May 7, 2021

On 10/27/2019 at 12:02 AM, ianr1000 said:

I put a motofab lift on my 2015 GMC sierra 3 inch up front 2 inch the back. I was having no problems and I had a 275/55/R20 tire on for a month before I got new tires like I said with no problems, this was with the lift on. I got 275/64/R20 ko2's put on and the first turn on to the highway the traction control goes off but as soon as I straighten out it was fine. I've put new wheel sensors on the back today but didn't help and waiting for the fronts to arrive tomorrow. It only happen when turning sharp or aggressive. I have called around to shops and most say they have never heard of this issue and some say you need to get the ECU for the sensors calibrated. I have a buddy that has a 2 inch level kit on a 2014 silverado but 275/60/R20 ko2's and he is not having this problem.

I know this is old but what was your fix I’m having the same issue I got 2 1/2 in the front two in the rear I have the exact same issues as a made the first curve it kicked in

For some reason it’s real bad when I’m back down the boat ramp really aggravating