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Active Grill Shudders Question/advise

Miguel Olea

By Miguel Olea
in Engines & Drivetrain

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Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

Posted
Posted

I removed the grill and upper bumper cap on my 2018 Sierra for another project.  I'm starring at those stupid shudders.  My truck has 47K miles and they still work.  Should I replace them now as preventive maintenance?  I assume they need calibration after?  If they fail later, in the open position, can I just unplug them and have them completely tuned out?  I've seen where people leave the motor with a stop; however, most of the time it's the motor that fails.  Should I remove them clean the connections and try to seal it up?  I think water enters where the shaft spins and makes its way down to the connector from the inside and gets corroded.  

rav3 Senior Enthusiast

rav3

Posted
Posted

I'm curious about this. 

Did you not get a code (with a check engine light) when you removed the shutters?

Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

Posted
  • Author
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No.  The shudders are still in place.  I did unbolt them and swung them over on top of the radiator support to seal the motor halves with high temp silicone.  I also used some high temp synthetic brake caliper grease on the motor shafts to try and seal out water.  Didn't unplug them as I was afraid to set a code.  Thinking of attaching some plastic shield over the top of the motor to deflect water.  Having to take the urethane bumper cap and grill off is stupid design to replace these useless things!!!

MikeBMW Senior Enthusiast

MikeBMW

Posted
Posted

Why would you want to remove the shutters?
They, actively, work really well on my 2017.
Isn't that how it was designed from from the factory?

Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

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Posted
1 hour ago, MikeBMW said:

Why would you want to remove the shutters?
They, actively, work really well on my 2017.
Isn't that how it was designed from from the factory?

Because when they fail it costs $300+ for the part and requires removing the urethane bumper cap and wheel lip moldings which have numerous plastic clips and never go back the same.  Also, it will set a Check engine light which will be an automatic fail at time of inspection.

MikeBMW Senior Enthusiast

MikeBMW

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Miguel Olea said:

Because when they fail it costs $300+ for the part and requires removing the urethane bumper cap and wheel lip moldings which have numerous plastic clips and never go back the same.  Also, it will set a Check engine light which will be an automatic fail at time of inspection.

OK. I'm close to 100,000 miles with no issues, but, I guess, we all gotta do what we gotta do.
I'm bowing out since I have no desire to remove my shutters for any reason.

Buckwild27 Enthusiast

Buckwild27

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Miguel Olea said:

Because when they fail it costs $300+ for the part and requires removing the urethane bumper cap and wheel lip moldings which have numerous plastic clips and never go back the same.  Also, it will set a Check engine light which will be an automatic fail at time of inspection.

If you can't get the bumper cap off and back on exactly how it came off you should not be working on your own vehicle. I've had my bumper cap off a handful of times already and it goes right back on as it should.  

Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

Posted
  • Author
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well, this is getting off topic.  I already have my truck back together, but any info on deleting the shutters would be great.  I'm hoping to tune them out if they ever get stuck in the open position, rather than break the font end apart again to R&R them.

  • 1 month later...
Jay Ratliff Enthusiast

Jay Ratliff

Posted
Posted

I took several blades out of mine a while back. The motor will have arms connected directly to some blades, the rest will be driven by arms from the primary drive blades. I removed all secondary blades, about half of them, leaving only those connected directly to the motor.

 

I was experiencing slight temp spikes on the hwy, I guess the blades would cycle closed, temp would spike, then they'd cycle open to drop the temp. Got tired of seeing this happen, and it doesn't happen any more since the mod.

  • Like 1
Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

Posted
  • Author
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all the mods I've seen require leaving the motor connected.  I'd like to eliminate it completely.  Usually it's the motor that gets water inside and then the green crusties form resulting in "lost communication" and a check engine light.  I guess you could use the allen key mod and relocate the motor to an easier spot to access, but then - where would you get the stupid motor when it eventually goes bad?  I just ran a bead of caulk around the top seam and put some heavy synthetic plastic/rubber safe brake caliper grease around the motor shafts to discourage water intrusion.  I also added a small plastic over hang over the motor to shield it from water

  • 1 month later...
Wicked Mayhem New Member

Wicked Mayhem

Posted
Posted

I have successfully deleted the active grill shutter assembly completely, motor and all. You’ll need HP Tuners or a way to disable certain codes. Mines been done for around 6 months and 5000 miles with zero issues. I have the plug for the motor sealed up and zip tied out of the way. 
 

If you’re using HP Tuners, you’ll need to set these 4 codes to “no error reported” and make sure the box is NOT checked for “ses enable”

 

P059F

P151E

U1501

U1510

  • Like 1
  • 1 month later...
Miguel Olea Enthusiast

Miguel Olea

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks!!!  Just what I was looking for.  I wanted to reply earlier, but for some reason it was not allowing me to type and then I forgot about it.  If and when they go bad, hopefully the get stuck open and I can just depin the motor wires at the main connector under the radiator close out panel and just leave the wires for the ambient temp hooked up.  Thanks again.

 

Miguel

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