Engine shutdown on 01 Sub

Rodman · April 9, 2006

I just got an 01 K2500 Suburban with the 8.1 in it (77k miles). I have two problems.

The most urgent is that it will suddenly shut down for no reason just as if the ignition were turned off. If I'm on the freeway I feel a jolt, then a loss of power and the battery light comes on in the display. Then it just starts back up on it's own as if nothing ever happened. If I am at low speed it shuts down and I have to pull over as best I can with no power steering etc. and wait a few seconds to start it. I saw some posts that were similar to this problem but they were pretty old. It happened to my wife yesterday a couple of times. There is no predicting when or where it will stop and it's fine most of the time. Sometimes it does it only once, sometimes twice. It always starts again but I having low confidence.

The other problem is with the auto 4wd. On my 99 Tahoe it was seamless. This one acts like the 4wd is engaged all the time if the auto 4wd feature is selected. It binds on sharp turns just like high 4wd was selected. The Tahoe acted as if it was in 2wd until the tires started to slip and you could feel it pull with the front end.

It's also noisey. I don't know if it's tire noise or front wheel bearings. I swapped the tires front to back but the noise didn't change. It sounds like noisy tires though.

ChevyTech007 · April 9, 2006

With the stalling I bet your looking at a crank sensor. Its fairly common on a 8.1. Not fun at all to change. You need to scan for codes for both problems. The 4x4 problem could be an encoder motor failure or an internal transfer case problem.

opsbear7 · April 9, 2006

for the engine problem...its the alternator...happen to my 97 burban...$125 later its fixed

gtfearons · September 5, 2006

The answer to the engine quitting is crank sensor like stated above. I have the EXACT same thing happening to me, but of course could never be replecated at the shop. I took home a code reader that was plugged into the truck. when it happened I pushed the button and it read all the codes. It only took two months for it to happen, but when they read the codes they knew exactly how to fix. good luck.