Chevy 2500HD Horror Story

[Teamfour]

Here is a weird idea - have you towed the trailer without hooking up the electric connection? It could be that the drag of the trailer is causing issues with a wheel sensor?

I am also one of those who believe in process of elimination and root cause analysis instead of throwing parts at a problem.

[Thurman]

I bought a 2014 GMC Sierra in November of '14. Prior to that I had an '07 GMC Sierra and had used it to pull both my 18' work trailer with electric brakes and my previous 29' FR Grand Surveyor with electric brakes and no problems. After buying the new truck I did pull the camper twice before buying a new one in January of '15. On the way home from the dealer, about 90 miles away, I lost the brake lights, the ABS light came on, and the service engine came on. I was closer to home so I went on home. The next day I took the truck to the selling dealer and the service writer stated he knew what it was, a blown fuse for the trailer brakes. At that time they did not have any replacement fuses as they had run out of them. What does that tell anyone? I sort of pitched a fit that I had to operate the truck without this fuse and all those idiot lights on. When I asked why they could not take a truck off the lot and remove that fuse so my truck would be fixed you would have thought that I had thrown hot water on the service manager and the so-called vice-president of the dealership. Three to four days later they called to tell me to bring them the truck as they had a new fuse for me. They replaced the fuse and everything seemed to be alright. I went home and hooked up to my fairly new camper and yep the fuse blew again and all the idiot lights came on. I took the truck and trailer back to the dealer, parked so that one of their driveways was blocked, went inside and the service manager looked as if he had seen a ghost. I told him I was not moving that truck and trailer until they decided to find and fix the problem. One of their mechanics was out in the service center lobby and heard that conversation. He came over to ask me what was going on and I told him. He told me that they were aware of this problem with the introduction of the 2014 new again body style models. He even told me that was a Technical Service Bulletion (TBS) on this problem and it would require a new "body control module" to fix the problem. The service manager was looking at this mechanic like "you're butt is fired dude". I stood there in front of maybe 6-8 people and told the service manager that IF this mechanic is punished in any way for telling me this I would cause him more problems than he could tolerate. He stomped out of the service writing office area and went off somewhere, I didn't care where. Another service writer came over and asked me to come to their parts department with him and he would order the new BCM for my truck. When I got to the parts department I knew one of the workers there. When I asked him if they had ordered these BCM's for other '14 trucks he looked at me with a smile and stated that maybe half of the trucks this dealership had sold had to have the BCM replaced. The new BCM came in a few days later, they called me and I took the truck over to them. They offered to loan me a brand new 2014 Sierra for two days while they worked on my truck, how nice of them. After the new BCM was installed I told the mechanic I was going straight home and hook up my camper to see what happened. He told me that nothing would go wrong as GM had redesigned the BCM program, it was some sort of electrical back feed from using the trailer brakes that would cause that fuse to blow. So far I have had no other problems such as this. I hate people, such as a service writer, who just blatantly lie or mislead a customer just to make his life easier.

[bridgekev]

Thurman, they replaced and programmed what they called a chassis control module during the 6th repair attempt. Unfortunately that didn't fix it. Your story is similar to the runaround I'm getting. That's the most frustrating part for me. Not every vehicle will be perfect, but the "customer service" has been absolutely awful. I don't understand how they can stay in business treating customers this way. I always wondered why Ford has outsold Chevrolet for the last 40 years. Now I know.

[Springerdad]

Originally Posted by bridgekev

Thurman, they replaced and programmed what they called a chassis control module during the 6th repair attempt. Unfortunately that didn't fix it. Your story is similar to the runaround I'm getting. That's the most frustrating part for me. Not every vehicle will be perfect, but the "customer service" has been absolutely awful. I don't understand how they can stay in business treating customers this way. I always wondered why Ford has outsold Chevrolet for the last 40 years. Now I know.

And I'm sure Ford and Dodge owners could probably relate similar customer service issues like yours too. The sad part of all of this is no one has the true wherewithal to solve the problem. And for that, I'm sorry for your trials. This is just one of many reasons I left the industry.

[mrpep]

I have a Honda Pilot that has the abs , engine light and vtm-4 lock light on all the time . I looked it up and found someone who had this issue and they claimed that something triggers the abs which then affected the rest like a domino affect - I've been driving like this for years - no problems


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tacky]

Bridgekev, I heard about your concerns on a GM forum. I work for GM technical assistance, a help line for dealer mechanics. Believe it or not, we do not want unhappy customers. Because this only occurs with the trailer attached it does appear to be trailer related. It is possible this is from a badly grounded Piezo igniter throwing random voltage all over the trailer and truck chassis. This can be eliminated by disabling the igniter while towing and turning off the gas flowing to the hot water heater and refrigerator. As inconvenient as it my be to tow with the fridge off, I'd suggest trying that to determine if that eliminates your issue. If any of the dealers you had your truck at contacted GM technical assistance I could access that information if you sent me your VIN. 

[bridgekev]

Two of the dealers contacted GM. The fridge was off and empty the first time. Because we were on a trip the last time, it was on and stocked. The vin is 1gC1cveg2Ff507275. I'd turn off the fridge to make these issues go away

[thebrakeman]

If you are not willing to do some troubleshooting yourself, you might as well sell the truck for what you can get, and move on. It only has problems when connected to a/your trailer, so anyone test driving it won't see the issue. And since multiple dealers have not solved the issue (who are not RV pros), if/when the next owner of your truck hooks up their trailer, they probably will not have the problem.




I only hope your trailer does not give you the same problem on your next Ford or Ram.

[bridgekev]

Sell a new truck under warranty for what I can get? Not a chance of that happening. This is why there are lemon laws. It's a pita, but there's no way I'm eating$10k because Chevy sold me a pos.

[JohnVtx]

Surely your RV dealer will loan you another RV for a trip to see if it is the Trailer, not your truck.

[sugarjohnson]

Search the forums and you will see stories like this from every brand. You have been given good advice and I would be shocked if its truck at this point. These trucks are sensitive to voltage I have a 2015 3500 and had similar issues with trailer brake warning on BRAND new 2016 Wildcat and BRAND new truck. End result was brake issues on brand new trailer straight off the lot. Has anyone pulled all for drums on the trailer and checked trailer brakes? A wire rubbing internally will act just as you describe throwing codes to the truck randomly.

[thebrakeman]

I understand. But:
A. 3 dealers could not fix
B. GM won't buy your truck
C. You refuse to troubleshoot yourself, with the good advice given here.
What are your other choices, if GM won't help you, and you won't help yourself?

[doc73]

Originally Posted by 5 hole

I notice you had the original Poster, Bridge have the EXACT same trailer!! Only 2 years apart, coincidence??

Have not been on in two weeks, sorry. My trouble was without a trailer. Just general driving did it.

[aceinspp]

Originally Posted by bridgekev

Sell a new truck under warranty for what I can get? Not a chance of that happening. This is why there are lemon laws. It's a pita, but there's no way I'm eating$10k because Chevy sold me a pos.

From all the post here you still have not taken the action that most folks have suggested. I'll bet it's not the truck. You just looking to get something and give a good products bad name. Maybe you should have bought the other brand. Maybe try one and see how your tt and other tv react. Later RJD

[MillerTime]

Originally Posted by bridgekev

Sell a new truck under warranty for what I can get? Not a chance of that happening. This is why there are lemon laws. It's a pita, but there's no way I'm eating$10k because Chevy sold me a pos.

Ever check to see how much you will spend on an attorney to get it lemon lawed? Its not cheep.
You will loose way less, if you just sell it privately.

As being a current tech, and also pretty savy with rvs, I'd also recommend trying pulling another trailer or switching the trailer to another gm vehicle. The symptoms may not be the same on another make, but thats not the manufacturer's fault. Every manufacturer uses different programs and management systems so you have to test with similar make vehicles.

[asquared]

You keep saying you had the truck dealership go over the trailer wiring not rv people. That is not their specialty do they could miss some. We have given you advice. At this point you seem determined not to try anything to fix this. Why post here then? I understand how frustrating it is to have a problem that can't be replicated or fixed. I have been down that road with my old Ford f250. I was willing to try anything reasonable to get to bottom of the problem. You can rent a trailer from a uhaul dealership. You can ask your rv dealership if they have something you can test tow. There are lots of ways to try towing another trailer. You could also try borrowing a friend's truck or renting a truck to tow your trailer and see if the problem occurs. Bottom line, you need to try to help get this fixed. I understand not wanting to on a new vehicle but sometimes you just have to.

SITE TEAM NOTE: Keep in mind we do not allow talk of legal action on these forums. We have given this thread a lot of leeway. Please everybody stay off the lemon law talk.

[MillerTime]

Originally Posted by asquared

You keep saying you had the truck dealership go over the trailer wiring not rv people. That is not their specialty do they could miss some. We have given you advice. At this point you seem determined not to try anything to fix this. Why post here then? I understand how frustrating it is to have a problem that can't be replicated or fixed. I have been down that road with my old Ford f250. I was willing to try anything reasonable to get to bottom of the problem. You can rent a trailer from a uhaul dealership. You can ask your rv dealership if they have something you can test tow. There are lots of ways to try towing another trailer. You could also try borrowing a friend's truck or renting a truck to tow your trailer and see if the problem occurs. Bottom line, you need to try to help get this fixed. I understand not wanting to on a new vehicle but sometimes you just have to.

SITE TEAM NOTE: Keep in mind we do not allow talk of legal action on these forums. We have given this thread a lot of leeway. Please everybody stay off the lemon law talk.

Sorry, just trying to emphasize that there is a cost associated with the avenue the op was wanting to head.

[Tacky]

FYI for followers of this thread. The issue that bridgekev is having, is;
1) very unusual, very few vehicles affected by this issue.
2) results in abs light coming on, with diagnostic trouble codes stored for wheel speed sensors.
3) being actively investigated by GM engineering.


This is not an issue of message stating trailer disconnected, or check trailer wiring, those are usually due to a trailer brake wiring issue.
It is hoped a solution will be available soon.

[MillerTime]

Originally Posted by Tacky

FYI for followers of this thread. The issue that bridgekev is having, is;
1) very unusual, very few vehicles affected by this issue.
2) results in abs light coming on, with diagnostic trouble codes stored for wheel speed sensors.
3) being actively investigated by GM engineering.


This is not an issue of message stating trailer disconnected, or check trailer wiring, those are usually due to a trailer brake wiring issue.
It is hoped a solution will be available soon.

Thanks for the info!
Yes i was aware of the issue, i just know from a diagnostic standpoint, you have to have similar conditions and equipment and ALL the variables to trouble shoot the problem.

Trailer towing with his camper being the said issue that seems to make the difference as per op.

I wonder if there is an axle tube or axle bearing issue where some kind of movement or flexing of the parts is causing the issue when the suspension is loaded from the trailer weight.
-Tacky if you find out, id love to know what the outcome is to this, even if you just pm me.
You never know i might need to try to fix this issue in the future. I only own gm vehicles and have been a 3rd generation gm tech.

[Blackhat6mike]

I know this doesn't answer the OP's problem, but just to show you how a totally unrelated issue can create havoc on these new ECMs and PCMs, here is what I've just been through.
I went out to crank the truck [2013 Silverado 2500HD Duramax/Allison] and nada. All the idiot lights lit up, but not even a click. After 30 min of trying to figure out what was going on, I tried holding the key to the start position AND opening the door at the same time. Engine cranked instantly. I had heard the door locks lock when the door was first closed and thought that might have something to do with it since they don't normally do that.
What had happened was a tiny diode in the dashcam had gone bad and was sending erratic electrical signals back to the ECM/PCM because that was the circuit the dashcam was taking its power from. It was wiping out my tunner, radar detector, TPMS, door locks and electric door lockout switch on the armrest.
One little unrelated miniscule problem had completly wipped me out. I replaced the diode and added several more through out the other devices just in case any of them buy the farm later on.