Weird Acting Escalade!

bmdupont · February 3, 2009

So yesterday morning I drove the truck uptown on my way back I stopped at a light and the truck died. I started it up quickly and moved out of the intersection, couldn't accelerate very fast and once I got to the side of the road it died again.

Tried restarting and nothing, battery was dead. Had someone come jump me and I drove the truck home and let it sit in the driveway running for about an hour to make sure it wouldn't poop out again.

When I was driving home I would hit the gas it would stutter and almost feel like it was going to die again.

2004 Escalade

This doesn't make any sense to me, anyone had a similar problem? I don't understand why the truck is feeling like its idling low and having problems getting gas and the battery died?

Thought this might be something that is common systems of a problem? Anyone?

PhilB · February 3, 2009

Sounds to me like you have a charging system problem. Either your alternator is not charging the battery correctly or your battery is not accepting the charge correctly, and you're running the vehicle of the battery. I had a friend who has an 01 or 02 YD, and it did something similar. Just die at a stop. He had a replacement alternator on there and it was squealing like the bearing were going bad. So he replaced that. I noticed that his battery, OEM Delco, was starting to leak at the positive terminal. So he replaced that. The positive cable looked good, but he replaced that too. Still had the problem. He took it to the dealership. The mechanic had to replace some small wire that goes from the battery to someplace, I can't recall. It was corroded. I think it was under the battery tray. Anyways, the gist of it was an electrical issue.

Just a thought.

Phil

Grayson · February 3, 2009

An alternator won't charge a dead battery...

bmdupont · February 3, 2009

I will check the battery and alternator tonight, hopefully that is it. Would this cause the rough idlling also?

Spurshot · February 3, 2009

Ignition and fuel. The battery/power issue should be run to ground (figuratively) , then check the fuel system for delivery. When was the last time the fuel filter was changed?

bmdupont · February 3, 2009

this is my GF truck, i imagine she hasnt had the fuel filter changed in a long time, ill check tonight. Thanks for the help!!

satori · February 3, 2009

I will check the battery and alternator tonight, hopefully that is it. Would this cause the rough idlling also?

Yep. Parts stores like Autozone will test both the battery and alternator for free.

killterrorists · February 3, 2009

My 2001 silverado acted like that once and now that I think of it my 1999 classic did almost the same thing. I never had the dead battery issue just the rough idle and engine dying issues.

Both times it was a bad fuel pump. GM dosent seem to be able to make a fuel pump that lasts more than 150,000 miles.

bmdupont · February 3, 2009

Yeah I didn't think about the fuel pump, its got around 100k on it so its getting up there.

DofD · February 3, 2009

My Dad had a similar issue on his 02 Escalade. The side mount terminal was broken inside the battery and intermittently would loose contact causing stalls and symptoms like that.

satori · February 3, 2009

To me though, the fact that the battery was dead and you had to be jump started would point more to the charging system than the fuel system.

bmdupont · February 3, 2009

I will definitely check the battery and ALT first and get those out of the way and then move forward from there. I hope this isn't a combination of two things.

Spurshot · February 3, 2009

Gotta agree with you Mike. Still, changing the fuel filter is cheap insurance against a fuelpump failure now or later.

I did a DS move or lack of move on my 99. I changed the filter after 35K miles since new, then bought another at around 100k, tossed it in the toolbox in the truck and forgot about it until the fuel pump died at 180K or so. I was on the freeway near Palm Springs when it died at 75 mph. I knew right away to check the filter. I pulled the upstream side (engine) of the lines first. No fuel, none. I then pulled the other side (tank) and there was fuel gushing. The filter was solid as a rock. I changed the filter but the pump had died...or more correctly, I killed it.

CapitalTruck · February 15, 2009

This Escalade, if similar to the other GMT 800's of the same year (and my 2004 Silverado), doesn't have a replaceable fuel filter. All it has is an in-tank filter/strainer that is "self cleaning" by gas sloshing around the tank.