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2020 Trail Boss, 5.3, dead

Jason Hughes

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Jason Hughes New Member

Jason Hughes

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First timer and first ever Chevy. Been a Ford guy forever. Anyway, I go to get in my truck tonight (1,876 miles) and nothing. It’s just dead. Called GM and they walked me through to finally getting it started. Now, the check engine light won’t go off and the parking brake will not disengage. The AC was only blowing out of the dash and floor and wouldn’t come out of the vents. The DIC did flash low battery too.  Just weird.  Been waiting for nearly 4 hrs for a tow truck to take it to the dealership. Thank goodness it happened at my house. Anyone ever heard of this kind of issue? Could a completely dead battery have caused this and the truck’s computer just needs resetting?

JimCost2014 Senior Enthusiast

JimCost2014

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Jason Hughes said:

First timer and first ever Chevy. Been a Ford guy forever. Anyway, I go to get in my truck tonight (1,876 miles) and nothing. It’s just dead. Called GM and they walked me through to finally getting it started. Now, the check engine light won’t go off and the parking brake will not disengage. The AC was only blowing out of the dash and floor and wouldn’t come out of the vents. The DIC did flash low battery too.  Just weird.  Been waiting for nearly 4 hrs for a tow truck to take it to the dealership. Thank goodness it happened at my house. Anyone ever heard of this kind of issue? Could a completely dead battery have caused this and the truck’s computer just needs resetting?

Welcome to the site, and GM trucks.

 

Yes. a bad battery can cause more problems than you can imagine You are driving a rolling computer, and it needs clean, fresh power from the battery to perform as it was designed that way.

Colossus Senior Enthusiast

Colossus

Posted
Posted

Yes.  With how much crap is controlled now a days by the computers, poor voltage can wreck all kinds of havoc on modern vehicles. 

Ryguy Enthusiast

Ryguy

Posted
Posted

That’s happened to me and I’ve read others with the same issue. The parking brake getting stuck is a function of it being electronic and relying on the battery voltage to operate it. Do you have any accessories hooked up to the truck? Even a cell charger left in the cigarette lighter over night can draw enough voltage to cause issues. 
 

If you let the truck sit for around 10 min it should reset itself, and you should be able to release the brake and drive off. The CEL will automatically reset in most cases. The dealers not gonna help you they will just jump the truck and clear the CEL and tell you everything is reset. 

Jason Hughes New Member

Jason Hughes

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On 5/29/2020 at 10:38 PM, Jason Hughes said:

First timer and first ever Chevy. Been a Ford guy forever. Anyway, I go to get in my truck tonight (1,876 miles) and nothing. It’s just dead. Called GM and they walked me through to finally getting it started. Now, the check engine light won’t go off and the parking brake will not disengage. The AC was only blowing out of the dash and floor and wouldn’t come out of the vents. The DIC did flash low battery too.  Just weird.  Been waiting for nearly 4 hrs for a tow truck to take it to the dealership. Thank goodness it happened at my house. Anyone ever heard of this kind of issue? Could a completely dead battery have caused this and the truck’s computer just needs resetting?

Charged the battery overnight.  Truck ran fine today.  AC is still not working correctly, however.  Air is blowing about 50% out of the vents and 50% out of the floor.  Still gonna take it to the dealer Monday morning.  

Patrick Nelligan Enthusiast

Patrick Nelligan

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Posted

The dealer should run a battery diagnostic on your truck. Same thing happened to me. The tests takes 4 hours according to my dealer. They ran mine and my battery came back as borderline fail. They ran the diagnostic a second time and the battery failed. A new battery was then installed and covered under warranty. My truck had 1000 miles when this happened. Everything has been fine since for my 2020 Trail Boss. 

Supraman0614 New Member

Supraman0614

Posted
Posted

I just had the same issue over the weekend with my 2020 LT Trail Boss.  I was parked, nose down, on a slight incline overnight with the parking brake set.  Got in it in the morning, and all I saw when I pressed the started button was error messages.  I checked the battery voltage, and it was around 4 volts.  Put it on a slow charger for several hours, and it started fine afterwards, but with the CEL on.  When I scanned the codes, there were many related to low voltage, which I guess it to be expected.  I cleared everything, and it has been fine since, but I'm going to keep my eye on it.

BIGDOGx Senior Enthusiast

BIGDOGx

Posted
Posted

Did gm go away from delco battery's? It use to be imo one of the strong points of gm trucks like when they used Bilstein for shocks. I have owned a 95 s10 zr2, a 05 Silverado and now a 14 sierra and all Delco battery's gave me 10 years each in my last two trucks and only changed them because of their age and not because they died on me, my 14 still going strong with almost 7 years on it now. Shame if gm battery's are as flimsy as most of the rest of the truck now.

Colossus Senior Enthusiast

Colossus

Posted
Posted

Delco batteries were made by one of 3 battery manufacturers, maybe.  Johnson Controls?  If it's any comfort battery issues are happening all over the board with other manufacturers.  These vehicles are too dependent upon the batteries.  Damn computer systems. 

  • 3 weeks later...
ATVPITCHICK New Member

ATVPITCHICK

Posted
Posted

I am in the exact same boat here - bought my new 2020 Trailboss on May 26th, 2020 - drove it til 6-1 and it was DEADER than DEAD  that day. Tow truck company (through Chevrolet.com) came out with a LITERAL TOWMATER truck, not a rollback / flatbed.  I was FURIOUS - (don't worry, the kid was nice, and I was too) - he was able to jump it and I drove it straight back to the dealer (Turnpike Chevy in Morgantown, PA).....  they had it for 3 days - all kinds of "tests" run - and replaced the battery - scanned for codes, found codes 25A2, U0146, U0100, U0101, U0140 & UO151 stored.  Performed calibration updates - found a GM document 5613964 that addressed concern for the BCM (brake control module) - reprogrammed BSCM and cleared codes.

 

Fast Forward - to 6-17 (only 1200 miles on vehicle and I drive it EVERY DAY)....  called dealer and let them know on the touch screen, when I started the truck - it said "" the software updated encountered a problem... blah blah blah  - and next time it's in park it will try again".  (same message I got on the 6-1 when it died).  I called the dealer - service rep said " call Onstar" which after I hung up with him, I tried and I could not by pushing the button.  Called from my cell phone - and was told - the truck was still in Demo mode (odd since I specifically CALLED ONSTAR 2 days after having the truck to inquire about price etc....)   Keep in mind, I have owned Chevys for YEARS - and this is my 3rd Silverado......

 

So, called dealer back - Sales Manager said they remotely sent the signal, etc....... for Onstar to work.  I told him, and the service guy that I GUARANTEE this truck will be dead in the AM - as the CAL (calibration) showed up where the compass was.   No one listened.  Oh, did I mention I am a female, and they probably don't think I know what I am talking about ????  LOL - we tear 4 wheelers apart and I DO know what I'm talking about.

 

So FF again to 6-18 and sure enough, the dumb blonde IS correct.  Truck is DEAD.  This time I call AAA (since Chevy roadside sucks).   My husband & I charged it for 35 minutes and nothing happened - AAA comes out with the "defibulator" pack - and bam - starts up.... Awesome, I thought - let it charge up for about 30 min -   try to put it in reverse, HARD shifting.......  shifter wouldn't tell me what gear I was in  - made it to Drive - drifted down driveway - and put my foot on the gas - NOTHING - till about 2nd gear - then wouldn't get OUT of 2nd gear - RPM's WAAAAAYYYY high - had to get it back into my driveway - then call the rollback again.  I would've blown it up if I drove the 12 miles to the dealer....SERVICE ESC, Service Parking Brake and every service light was ON - at 1231 miles... so - long story short -   Dealer said to me today that after having my truck for 2 days and over the weekend,, it "threw a set of voltage codes".  They are generating a technical assistance case to see if any additional info for repair is available and then will request a GM engineer come out to the dealership if they can't get a definite method for repair.  

 

Lets hope GM makes this right....  (PS I have pictures of every dash board light, mileage, communication, etc.....)

 

PS - ONE more thing - originally my dealer said "make certain you put your parking brake on every time you park it" - yup, did that - 2 weeks go by and same problem.  

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