2014 and up guys with funky electrical issues.

[Parrish Mooneyham]

On 1/30/2020 at 7:57 AM, Chad Leslie said:

I thought I fixed the g218 ground issue in mid August of '19. It seemed to be better for quite a while, until this (https://photos.app.goo.gl/6gVfz6L9sueE55jc6). I am also getting voltage spikes of 16+ volts and then drops below 12 volts. I didn't do anything but shut the truck off and haven't had a problem until this morning. I was backing out of a parking space and the wheel jerked out of my hand again. This time almost taking my thumb nail with it. I have almost had it with the truck. I really like everything else about it. It is too dangerous to transport my children or pull my travel trailer. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

Hey Chad, wow dude, that is seriously severe, don't blame on not driving it.. Just a quick observation, it looks like it only jerked as you were turning the wheel.  The all electric rack and pinion I know draws a lot of electrical juice, it could still be something with grounding or even a positive power wire supply line not supplying enough juice due to maybe some resistance somewhere??.  Not sure.  That is only my novice observation.  That is something that GMC dealership should be able to troubleshoot as long as it keeps doing that. Whether it's a copper wiring issue (either positive or negative or both) or a control module issue etc... I know this isn't much help but those electrical Gremlins are a bear to figure out sometimes. 

[jabrake88]

Has anyone tied this to the hmi module at all? Mine died in my 2014 and I went with one of those companies that sell the newer ones programmed for your truck so I could add android auto and apple car play. 

I have all of these symptoms now, except for the wheel jerking (never had any before the replacement hmi). 

I did the ground modification, removed my amp/sub and removed my brake controller so there are no more 3rd party accessories any longer. 

[BlaineBug]

I see the potential for yet another recall in their future.  I thought they already had a recall to address this issue, or was it only a TSB?

[SSynical-1]

I have a 2016 Sierra that I began to notice minor issues on a couple of years ago. This started with flickering dash lights for the gauges. The driver information screen wasn’t affected, but gauge lights flickered day and night. Last summer, I experienced the radio and radio screen shutting off for only a second or so then the truck downshifted during highway passing or hill climbing when a downshift was required to maintain speed. This progressed to the low speed steering wheel jerking out of my hand and stabilitrak warning messages. It began to do this on nearly every drive and even when briefly moving the truck around on the property. 

 

I disassembled the dash and my grounds appeared to be fine. I did take the grounds loose and cleaned the terminal ends and re-tightened the grounds. This step made no difference. I took the truck in to GM and they found no codes and could not duplicate the issues. In January, I removed the from passenger side wheel and removed  the ground cable that comes direct from the battery and grounds to the frame. I thoroughly cleaned the ground end, the bolt, and the frame with CRC QD electronic cleaner. I was careful to clean the threads on the bolt and tried my best to clean the internal threads as well. I used a small amount of dielectric grease on the parts and reassembled.

 

Since doing this I have had zero issues with this truck. I have put approximately 3500 miles on it with several uses, both long highway days and many short trips. I truly think that the protective coating on the frame is causing intermittent ground issues for the BCM. Hopefully writing this isn’t going to jinx me, but wanted to let everyone know what I tried with at least success for now and was hoping it may help. If it works for others as well, maybe we found something.

[BlaineBug]

19 hours ago, SSynical-1 said:

I have a 2016 Sierra that I began to notice minor issues on a couple of years ago. This started with flickering dash lights for the gauges. The driver information screen wasn’t affected, but gauge lights flickered day and night. Last summer, I experienced the radio and radio screen shutting off for only a second or so then the truck downshifted during highway passing or hill climbing when a downshift was required to maintain speed. This progressed to the low speed steering wheel jerking out of my hand and stabilitrak warning messages. It began to do this on nearly every drive and even when briefly moving the truck around on the property. 

 

I disassembled the dash and my grounds appeared to be fine. I did take the grounds loose and cleaned the terminal ends and re-tightened the grounds. This step made no difference. I took the truck in to GM and they found no codes and could not duplicate the issues. In January, I removed the from passenger side wheel and removed  the ground cable that comes direct from the battery and grounds to the frame. I thoroughly cleaned the ground end, the bolt, and the frame with CRC QD electronic cleaner. I was careful to clean the threads on the bolt and tried my best to clean the internal threads as well. I used a small amount of dielectric grease on the parts and reassembled.

 

Since doing this I have had zero issues with this truck. I have put approximately 3500 miles on it with several uses, both long highway days and many short trips. I truly think that the protective coating on the frame is causing intermittent ground issues for the BCM. Hopefully writing this isn’t going to jinx me, but wanted to let everyone know what I tried with at least success for now and was hoping it may help. If it works for others as well, maybe we found something.

That ground you found to be full of undercoating is G141.  My 2019 Yukon was also found to have an undercoated G141.  Although my electrical issues were a lot more sparse.  The only present code was loss of communication with the ECM, so GM TSC recommended replacing the ECM as well.  But then the technician found this dirty ground.  I'm not sure if my issues will be non-existent from here on out but they were certainly different from yours.

This could be a more wide-spread problem, but to my knowledge there is absolutely no TSB that addresses G141 as being contaminated with undercoating.  The only TSB where G141 is mentioned is the TSB for improperly heat treated bolts used for grounds that can apparently stretch and loosen up a little bit, causing a potential bad ground.  And in that particular TSB, there are a host of grounds listed to check.  Although G141 being the main one as it is the main connection between battery and frame, which can cause many problems elsewhere.

In regards to the G218 ground you checked up on the dash, as you found, your truck should have been unaffected.  According to the TSB for that issue it affected trucks and SUVs built prior to June of 2015, so that would include all 2014 models and some early 2015 models.

Edited March 21, 2020 by BlaineBug

[tlaw91]

You should be voltage dropping your cables too. That little tiny positive cable has been known to also cause issues. Nice find/fix with the cleaning, GM has been having problems with frame wax causing ground issues since ‘99

-GM tech


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[BlaineBug]

Where is QC then?  At the very least why aren't they cleaning the location of the grounds to remove wax undercoating contamination?

[Mcarlo24]

Well I'm Back... It's been 2years 2 months since I replaced my battery which totally fixed my 6 symptoms (see pg 4)… Lately, The flickering Lights, Stabilitrac Waning, Loss of Power steering  at very slow speeds While Turning and Braking and the A/C Cutting out... Back then I tried the G218 Fix but it didn't work... I had a Bad Cell in my 4 year Old Battery and replaced it.. 

 

Symptoms are back so I am having my 2 yr 2 month old battery checked tonight at Pep Boys cuz its free.. . 

 

This can be dangerous... I was at stop Sign at a "T" Intersection  and was gonna turn right … I began my turn but decided to go Left because I saw some issue up the road with Police.. I braked initially to cut some speed to make the turn and  The stabilitrac light and chime came on, the A/C went off and I loss total Power Steering.. I had to muscle the remainder of the Turn and almost went up the curb... As soon as I gave it gas a took foot off the brake is when the power steering goes out... I am at the point where it is always happening... Seems turning, Forward or Reverse, at very slow speeds AND braking is when mine happens... I do not get the Wheel Jerking.... I honestly believe that I would have huge issues If I had to brake hard and try to turn to miss something in an emergency situation... 

 

Stay tuned..

[beetle]

In case it hasn't been posted yet, while changing oil today I found another ground connection that needs attention, driver side frame next to the E-Brake cable. Same wax issue.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by beetle

[Mcarlo24]

On 8/14/2020 at 12:55 PM, Mcarlo24 said:

Well I'm Back... It's been 2years 2 months since I replaced my battery which totally fixed my 6 symptoms (see pg 4)… Lately, The flickering Lights, Stabilitrac Waning, Loss of Power steering  at very slow speeds While Turning and Braking and the A/C Cutting out... Back then I tried the G218 Fix but it didn't work... I had a Bad Cell in my 4 year Old Battery and replaced it.. 

 

Symptoms are back so I am having my 2 yr 2 month old battery checked tonight at Pep Boys cuz its free.. . 

 

This can be dangerous... I was at stop Sign at a "T" Intersection  and was gonna turn right … I began my turn but decided to go Left because I saw some issue up the road with Police.. I braked initially to cut some speed to make the turn and  The stabilitrac light and chime came on, the A/C went off and I loss total Power Steering.. I had to muscle the remainder of the Turn and almost went up the curb... As soon as I gave it gas a took foot off the brake is when the power steering goes out... I am at the point where it is always happening... Seems turning, Forward or Reverse, at very slow speeds AND braking is when mine happens... I do not get the Wheel Jerking.... I honestly believe that I would have huge issues If I had to brake hard and try to turn to miss something in an emergency situation... 

 

Stay tuned..

So I went back to pep boys where I bought the battery 2 years 2 months ago and told the service guy about my electrical issues that I was currently having. So he takes the truck back and they test the battery and it passed. For some reason he decided to go ahead with the warranty and replace the battery with a a better 4 year warranty battery. And so far not one symptom has arised. These trucks are taxing on batteries with all the electrical stuff that they have. Seems like once the voltage gets below a certain number is when all this stuff starts.So like I said before if you are having these funky electrical issues and you've about had it, replace your battery with a good battery.

[Janderson21]

I have a 2015 Silverado and my dash gauges and lights start going crazy when my headlights are on. When i turn them off everything works fine. I put led lights in a year ago and had no issues until now. It also says the stabilitrak and airbags and multiple other things are not working and when i put it into reverse the screen starts to get fuzzy. Dealership along with shops say they cannot get a reading and cant figure out the issue. Ive checked the battery and the connections and everything is good. When i unplug the headlights everything works again. Could it be the led lights causing this or is there a bad ground or what. I cant figure it out. HELP!!!!!

[Griff1500]

Same issues here and did all the same fixes, cleaned the dash grounds, worked fine for a day, started looking for other grounds to check since for some the ground fixed it and others a different ground fixed it, so far I did the dash grounds, located as many of the frame grounds I could find and cleaned the battery terminals and even added some grounds but still no joy, next I'm going to tackle all the grounds I can find under the dash and behind the kick panels, I have gone through 4 batteries since I bought the truck new and currently have a new AGM battery in it so I want to fix this issue before it kills that one, I also noticed the issue comes on more often when the charging system is near 12v instead of 14v so I disconnected the sensor ring on the ground cable so it would stay at a higher charging voltage, if anyone has found a more definite solution to the problem please post.

[tlaw91]

Yeah I’ve posted the fix a lot of times

You all need battery cables

No you can’t fix them or clean them or whatever

You need BOTH negative cable AND the lil positive jump cable from the battery positive to the battery fuse block


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[tlaw91]

Also if any of you want to know how to test the cables I can post that too

You’ll need

A. A digital voltage meter

B. An assistant

C. 1 beer- it’s a 1 beer kind of test. Replacing the cables are 1.5-3 beer job depending on skill level.


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[2018GMC]

On 12/9/2020 at 6:49 PM, tlaw91 said:

Also if any of you want to know how to test the cables I can post that too

You’ll need

A. A digital voltage meter

B. An assistant

C. 1 beer- it’s a 1 beer kind of test. Replacing the cables are 1.5-3 beer job depending on skill level.


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Please post battery cable test procedure.