Steering wheel jammed up, Stabilitrak errors

[levismiths]

My truck did the same thing. I took it to the dealer and they could not duplicate the problem. It had no stored codes. They said they updated tranny software and grease my wheel stops??!! That did a lot of good. It has not happened again yet. I hope it doesn't. I took it to a front end guy because it also started making a clunk. I could not get it to make the noise while he was looking at it but he did say the rack and pinion had a lot of movement. He suggested changing the bushings. Now the truck is in the shop because i found a leak in the radiator which i researched and found that there was a tsb on this exact problem.tsb # PI1513 so if your smelling radiator fluid towards the front of the truck check it out. It is covered under powertrain warranty new radiator and thermostat.

Edited February 7, 2017 by levismiths

[DeePa]

I just had this fixed. They found a bad ground cable behind the dash.

 

I gave them this bulletin and it lead them to the problem. PIT5405A

 

I have not driven it yet but they claim it's fixed. It was very very inertmittent.

[DeePa]

Symptoms included low speed parking maneuver loss of power steering, wheel being ripped out of my hands, service stab, service park sensors, low battery start vehicle, flickering dash lights, radio cutting in and out when I hit the brakes, intellilink screen going black for a second then coming back on, etc.

[Cody Spada]

So there is a fix you can do.

This happened to me last night trying to parallel park, the whole thing wheel being ripped from hands, stabilitrak pops up on DIC, lower window, lights flicker, radio reset, all the fun stuff that makes you think your truck is possessed.

The fix. Under your tweeter speakers there on top of the dash there's a ground bolt with a wire and a nut, on both passenger and driver side. For some reason from the factory there's a rubber material probably to reduce vibrations that gets caught between the ground wire and the ground. Take off you pillars, remove the top part of dash with the light sensor on it, unbolt tweeters, unbolt grounds, move rubber out of way, bolt back down. And now you'll have a solid ground to the system that controls the entire truck basically.

You're welcome. No need to spend a couple hundred bucks at the dealership for some tech guy to think you're crazy.

Now if you have the voltage drop issue, I don't know what to tell you.

Edited February 11, 2017 by LilUziBert

[Tugboat0543]

UPDATE.... I called the dealer last night and left a message. They emailed back this AM and said:

 

"We drove it multiple times, hot and cold, wet and dry. For a while we had no luck with getting it to duplicate until this morning. Manager got steering to lock up and stabilitrak message to display for a very brief moment like you had.

technician is going to revisit the concern today since we cleared the codes (in the beginning). As soon as I find out more I will let you know. Its been a busy morning I wanted to get back to you sooner but I didnt want to wake you or anything.

If you wanted to speak on the phone you can call me whenever. Hopefully this afternoon my technician will have a little bit more positive information since it acted up this morning."

 

So good news here is that the manager had the same issues this AM that I brought it in for! I told the dealer I am done with the truck. Hi GM. I know you're reading this and following along! If I were you, I'd start taking some pretty serious action here. If I were in your shoes, there would be NO WAY I'd let a customer even sit in a truck that could lose steering at any moment, let alone drive one! Now you know I'm not making things up and the dealership's manager can back that up! Imagine what you'd have on your hands if steering is lost at 60 miles per hour with a full family inside. If I were GM, I'd be pretty nervous right now and I'd be scrambling to get in touch with my customer as quickly as possible to come up with a solution.....

 

I am going through the same issue loss of power steering,stabilatrac, trailer brake with out anything hooked up and the brakes go to the floor. It's the third time and by the time we get it to the dealership it fixes it self and they can't even get the codes we video the incident and I don't want the truck back till they find the problem! The tech said it might be the fuse box and I told them I don't want to guess at the problem I want them to know what the problem is so they can fix the issue!

Edited February 23, 2017 by Tugboat0543

[Stanley_USMC]

I have been dealing with this for the past year! Dealership has no idea what to do and GM could care less. This past weekend my Engine bay caught fire. Found out the Alternator blew up. Not sure if this is going to fix the problem, but we'll see. Good luck!

[Dnt]

That video where the wheel jerks is friggin amazing. It almost looks like the steering completely loses assist and jumps back from the wheel pressure. I guess that is the downside to having electric assisted steering and electrical gremlins. I would suspect this to be a total CanBus system reset issue caused by a power spike from a bad diode in the alternator. GM if you are listening and saw that video you better be proactive on this one! I would have the A Team working on this problem early this morning.................. .............. I have seen this computer system intermittently reset issue in older model cars with the CanBus system but the older vehicles did not have the electric steering system. With the electric power steering added to the mix this could really be a deadly situation to the vehicle operator and any passengers. Lawyers are probably cancelling their Tee times right now to get on this case. Most of your autoparts stores offer to test batteries and alternators for free. Problem is that these are mostly minimum wage employees with little equipment training (actually the same problem at a lot of dealerships LOL) so you might have to hit 1/2 dozen stores or dealerships to find one that has the right test equipment and employee skill level to test for a bad diode in the alternator.

[emeryz28]

anyone who has had the major jams or lock ups.....did light clicking noises from the column while turning the wheel proceed these major issues?

[Stanley_USMC]

No, only clicking during the electrical freak out.

[maalna2]

No, only clicking during the electrical freak out.

It your clicking sound like it was coming from the speakers by any chance? I can tell if it is a click-click or zap zap sound but it is always two quick sounds. and it happens so fast that I cant tell where exactly it is coming from but if the wheel is turned it snaps back to midline really quick then releases again.

[Stanley_USMC]

It sounds more of a click click than a zap zap. I just got my truck back from the shop after it caught fire. The battery cable that leads to the alternator made the alternator catch fire.

[Stanley_USMC]

I have video but I'm struggling to upload it.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Stanley_USMC

[maalna2]

Oh ok... took mine to the dealer Tuesday they could not find anything. Although they want it back to tear/ track down what is happening. I went ahead and dropped it off tonight. I could not determine if mine was click click or zap zap. But either way it sounded like a short coming from somewhere. Can't tell if speakers or under the dashboard area.

[LS 1st Gen]

Glad I'm not the only one getting bit by this bug. Any chance we can get some photos or a diagram of the offending ground wire & lug?

[Tugboat0543]

Very scary indeed. I would say one of those modules has a communication issue. The trouble is figuring out which one. They are communicating at all times even if not in use and all those components together make up the network. Why they do not fail to a safe state boggles the mind. The network is basically one giant loop, and if anything fails, the loop opens and nothing talks anymore.

Mine had the same issue last week they replaced the fuse box on top of the battery saying they think it's a bad positive battery terminal! I guess we will see so go so far but it went 5 months before acting up last time! 2015 suburban 4x4 LT

Very scary indeed. I would say one of those modules has a communication issue. The trouble is figuring out which one. They are communicating at all times even if not in use and all those components together make up the network. Why they do not fail to a safe state boggles the mind. The network is basically one giant loop, and if anything fails, the loop opens and nothing talks anymore.

Mine had the same issue last week they replaced the fuse box on top of the battery saying they think it's a bad positive battery terminal! I guess we will see so go so far but it went 5 months before acting up last time! 2015 suburban 4x4 LT