Dead battery and check engine light

[Colossus]

Don't hold it against the service advisor, they get told by GM what BS to tell you. 

[SILVER SLED]

#PIT5742A: SES MIL / No Start / No Crank / Runs Rough / Reduced Engine Power / Loss Communication / DTCs (V8 and V6 Inspect Engine Harness) - (Jul 29, 2020)

Subject:

SES MIL / No Start / No Crank / Runs Rough / Reduced Engine Power / Loss Communication / DTCs (V8 and V6 Inspect Engine Harness)

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Brand:	Model:	Model Year:		VIN:		Engine:	Transmission:
		from	to	from	to
Chevrolet	Silverado 1500 (New Model)	2019		All	All	LV3, L82, L84, L87	All
Chevrolet	Silverado 1500	2020		SOP	Built Before 2/14/2020	LV3, L82, L84, L87	All
GMC	Sierra 1500 (New Model)	2019		All	All	LV3, L82, L84, L87	All
GMC	Sierra 1500	2020		SOP	Built Before 2/14/2020	LV3, L82, L84, L87	All

 

These concerns could be caused by the engine wiring harness chaffing on the ECM mounting bracket, as shown below. The ECM mounting bracket has a sharp edge (1) and it can cut into the wiring harness.  Due to the number of circuits in the harness, there is a wide variety of different symptoms that could occur depending on which circuit(s) are damaged.

 

 

 

[Busybeehive]

2020 GMC Yukon 

Already replaced the battery after 2 months of no problems. I cannot leave it set for more that 4 days without being able to start it. I’ve had to put a battery tender on the “new” battery. 
 

dealer told me that it is just the way it is and nothing they can do about it. I’ve never heard of buying a new vehicle and having to plug it in so you can use it when you want. What a crock....

 

Anyone else having this problem and find a real solution?

[Tahoe02]

BusyBeeHive, did the post right above yours offer any help.

[1997SierraSLT]

GM will now be offering military type sleeping bags and MRE's at a discounted price when your brand new GM truck leaves you and your family stranded out in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter.

[AT4ChapinSC]

   I've had the same issue now twice. I bought a 2020 AT4 in October. I drove to see my wife in British Columbia (from South Carolina) for a few months this winter/spring). My truck sat for 4-5 days not started (in 30-40 degree weather) and went out one morning to start it- didn't start. Got my jump box out and it started, but took it to the dealership to replace the battery because it didn't start again without the jump box after i drove it around for a bit. The dealer in BC said they think i got a defective battery. OK. I figured since it was cold outside at least that may have contributed to it. 

 

  Fast forward to last week (July 18, 2021). Back in South Carolina. My truck sat again for 4-5 days (80-90 degree weather) without my starting it. Go out to the garage and key fob won't even unlock doors. I have a bakflip tonneau cover on my truck that unlocks from the inside... Go to try to pop my "multi-pro" tailgate to get my jump box or jumper cables- no dice. Fortunately this time I was somewhere I had access to another truck to use to try to jump it. Hooked up jumper cables and boom- every error message there was flashing by. Unfortunately the battery was actually dead.. wouldn't start with another truck jumping it. So i had to get onstar to come tow it to the dealership. They called me a couple days later and said it was a bad battery... I basically told them i didn't think thats what it was- it's happened before. He looked into my records and realized it had happened in March. They kept it for another couple days and said to come and get it, it was a bad connection to the battery terminal. Very nice guys and i certainly don't blame them, but all i did was spend 30 seconds on the computer googling "sierra 2020 dead battery" and it brought me here to tons of examples of the same issue, so it would be difficult to convince me that GMC is trying very hard to figure this out.

 

  I think the multi-pro tailgate is absolute garbage and poorly designed. Not having any way to manually open your tailgate seems idiotic to me at least. I asked the dealer about that and he looked into it and said there was no way to open it with a dead battery... his response was "get a different tonneau cover that locks from the outside". I called GMC north america to ask them- i was informed if my battery goes dead and my cables/jump box are locked in my bed that I cant access it and I need to call roadside assistance and get towed. Well, unfortunately where my wife lives I could be somewhere very cold and remote in the mountains. It's absolutely a safety concern. 

 

 I assume no one has found a real solution to this issue yet. I am going to go through this thread again more carefully- but i wanted to add this story. 

 

 Hope you guys are having a good Monday. Thanks for all the information

 

E

 

 

[AT4ChapinSC]

Second dead battery in under a month. I drove my truck yesterday. No problems. Got up this morning to a totally dead battery- too dead for a jump box or cables to another truck to start. Dead. Overnight. Good lucking truck but its a lemon 

[AT4ChapinSC]

Out of curiosity- is anyone having this problem using a pedal commander? https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjFpNeBoKzyAhWhCIgJHbrMAboYABAIGgJxbg&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQeD2nufMyDKEvQ5sIlaO5L6QIrmNOFA7fKA96Y37lMK1ms-Vdaf8Mq_VIw06mqjygo24oEAPc9rL2HPKLSOYGs2q&sig=AOD64_2mON5-PBxQz-ecOBXmSbkb-DTOLw&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwilvM6BoKzyAhVxSDABHT7QD6UQ0Qx6BAgDEAE&dct=1

 

 

Thanks fellas

 

 

Elliott

[mandrewbot3k]

Just had this happen to me. Had an intermittent engline light flicker a few weeks ago. Then Friday I got an ABS/Service ESC codes. Today, got the same codes as well, went to the grocery store. Went to leave and truck wouldnt turn over. Battery was only at 10.5V, truck was built 3/19, so only 30ish months. But the issue really came out of nowhere. I have an appt for Thursday, but will probably drop it off tomorrow if I can get it started. 

[AT4ChapinSC]

I had my 4th dead battery since March last week. Truck is in the shop again. After the third, the Service Advisor at the dealership kind of blamed my winch (Warn Zeon 12) and/or the pedal commander I had hooked up. I did a little research and called both companies. Pedal commander said it was impossible- their product doesn't actually drain any power- it just changes computer settings when it is on (it hadn't been used in months). Warn said it wasn't likely- but they put a power switch on this model. I actually had the power switched off before the 3rd battery died, but when the dealer replaced that battery they disconnected the warn winch anyway- so it couldn't possibly have contributed... Also took the pedal commander out anyway just to be certain. Now the truck is in the shop for the 4th battery- and they are at a loss. They actually admitted this time they think some module is coming on that shouldn't be- and are doing more tests. I hate to say i was glad that it happened again, but after blaming my winch and pedal commander it was somewhat redeeming that those weren't the problems. Anyway- hopefully they figure this issue out. I forwarded this thread on to the dealers service manager so they are definitely at the very least aware that its not an isolated issue. 

 

E

Edited September 6, 2021 by AT4ChapinSC

[ajs800]

I had a "no start" similar to a dead battery off and on for the last 2wks so I stopped to chat with my dealer and they checked it out and said my starter is bad and ordered new one.  After reading this info regarding the fuse block I went ahead and tightened all four as they did seem loose.  fingers crossed but I'm now on day 3 with no issues...hard to believe this might be the answer as my dealer orders useless parts.   They didn't seem to be aware of the fuse block TSB. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by ajs800

[clowe1243]

Had just about all these issues on the stock battery with March/2019 original battery.  The biggest two were the ESC failure and brake system failure.  These both are caused by a pretest at start, thus the CEL.  Once you have optimal voltage and a clean start, the CEL will go away; I believe the brake test is roughly 2 mins.  Have taken it to the dealer twice for the draw test only for them to say it was low and they charged it. 

 

I have since replaced the battery on my own to forgo more BS excuses from the dealer.  Put the factory battery on a maintenance/tender and and it states bad battery; bet my tester cost less than that tech and equipment.  Watching the voltages after a couple days, the AGM charger would bring this battery to ~13 volts.  Leaving it off the charger for a week, and I saw 11 volts.  To me, thats a real draw test and a failure.  Sadly, AGM batteries are temperamental to charge/low  voltage/lack of use situations, so to get a dealer to say you need a new battery when it can just be charged is nearly impossible.

 

IMO, with these batteries being so expensive, and GM or ACDelco not wanting to own up in these situations of warranty, they should have just put conventional batteries, and let the customer choose if they upgrade.  I get the need for high CCA, but damn.  I now have a permanent mount for a tender cable just so I can keep my battery charged, and have a mount on order for an AUX battery.

[Jay P]

36 minutes ago, clowe1243 said:

Had just about all these issues on the stock battery with March/2019 original battery.  The biggest two were the ESC failure and brake system failure.  These both are caused by a pretest at start, thus the CEL.  Once you have optimal voltage and a clean start, the CEL will go away; I believe the brake test is roughly 2 mins.  Have taken it to the dealer twice for the draw test only for them to say it was low and they charged it. 

 

I have since replaced the battery on my own to forgo more BS excuses from the dealer.  Put the factory battery on a maintenance/tender and and it states bad battery; bet my tester cost less than that tech and equipment.  Watching the voltages after a couple days, the AGM charger would bring this battery to ~13 volts.  Leaving it off the charger for a week, and I saw 11 volts.  To me, thats a real draw test and a failure.  Sadly, AGM batteries are temperamental to charge/low  voltage/lack of use situations, so to get a dealer to say you need a new battery when it can just be charged is nearly impossible.

 

IMO, with these batteries being so expensive, and GM or ACDelco not wanting to own up in these situations of warranty, they should have just put conventional batteries, and let the customer choose if they upgrade.  I get the need for high CCA, but damn.  I now have a permanent mount for a tender cable just so I can keep my battery charged, and have a mount on order for an AUX battery.

I made a connector that plugs into the trailer plug to hook up my battery tender. Works great. The only thing is you can't charge at a high rate since the fuse for the trailer power is 40amps.

 

Jay

[AT4ChapinSC]

Very glad to hear you guys found some workarounds for this issue- I know how frustrating it is to have a brand new very expensive truck not work properly.  

 

If it were as simple as keeping it on a battery tender I'd probably have gone that route, but I am parked for days at a time deep in the wilderness for large parts of the winter so that just wasn't feasible. Basically a safety issue at that point. Couldn't keep an unreliable truck in what easily could be a life and death situation. Fortunately I was able to sell the truck for what i paid for it, so really thankful for that. I do feel for the poor soul that ends up buying that truck though. Fortunately it's still under warrantee. Going to give Ford a shot now. Been a Chevy/GMC guy my whole life- but after 2 new GMC trucks in the last 10 years basically being lemons, gonna have to give someone else a shot. 

 

 Good luck to you guys getting a permanent and reliable fix achieved with these trucks-I hope it works out well. I know GMC was of ZERO help and my dealer just kept replacing batteries without addressing the root of the problem. 

[Steve Martin]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:11 PM, Jay P said:

I made a connector that plugs into the trailer plug to hook up my battery tender. Works great. The only thing is you can't charge at a high rate since the fuse for the trailer power is 40amps.

 

Jay

Looking for details on this.  I've got a good idea, just curious your setup details if you can share.