TRUCK KEEPS DYING EVERY OTHER WEEK

[HUMMERICH23]

My truck's battery first petered out on my Christmas eve (mind you the battery and truck are less than one year old ). It was fine and then died on me two weeks later and then did it again another two weeks later. Took it to dealer and got a new battery and everything checked out ok and they thought possible bad battery. Then it died on me again two days ago two weeks after i just got the new battery.

So right now my truck has been at the dealer for two days where they did a leech test/parasitic test, and an amperage test over night where it came back NEGATIVE for any problems. They cannot figure it out and the dealership's manager remember early on some of the H2's fuses were bad or something and pins or something were messed up causing the battery to drain but other than that there are NO TSBs or any routes they know to go down.

At first i was worried it was my Hot Tune on my pcm messing something up, but i have had that since July and thought why now would it do that now and my only other thought it was the Nav running constantly but all the test came back negative for any drains. So i am just waiting patiently with my H3 alpha as my rental and hoping anyone here might have a clue of what they should do next????


Richard

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Hmm I have the same problem, something is draining my battery too.

I'm starting to suspect the pac_audio thing for my Kenwood head unit.

Next time I take the center console out I will try to add a switch so I can disable the complete system when I leave the truck to see if this helps.

Rene

[HUMMERICH23]

Yeah the weird thing is it is absolutely fine for the periods between the battery dying. It will start no problem and then all of a sudden just out of the blue its dead. This last time i just drove it at 11pm with absolutely no problem and went out to start it at 6:30am the next day and wham dead.


One thing i dont understand is when it wont start, all of the electronics, lights, Nav, dashboard, etc stuff turns on and is fine. No dimming of lights, no power loss to run those things but turn the key and zero, nothing.

Richard

[Mark805]

This happened to me on my 07 H2. I would have to jump sart my rig about once a week. I took it to the dealership and they told me they would look at it the next day. they gave me a loaner H2 and off I went to work. That evening I called and they said there was nothing wrong with my truck adn i coud get it in the morning.

The next morning, I drive down to get it and meet with the service manager. He grabs my keys and walks back up to me and tells me the truck wont start. :dancingbanana:

So he decided to replace the factory battery and all is well with the world. He mentioned there was a batch of factory batteries that seemed to have problems and this is what he based the replacement on. Haven't had the problem again and its been about 1.5 years on the new battery.

He stated they checked the battery and charging system and all seemed to check out, so he was confused but glad to see i was happy.

Have em swap out the battery, I bet that'll fix yours too.

[timgco]

my 07 had an issue with the factory stereo/NAV drawing power and also had something to do with the drsd seat module at the same time. I lookd though my service records but could not find that exact information.

...and yes, there have been pleanty of us that have replaced the factory battery due to bad cell.

[HUMTECH]

Is your onstar activated. I have run into issues with onstar when its not activated the module wakes up periodically and searches for a signal, when it cant find one it stays awake and keeps searching. I have also had a few radios that stay powered up, even though they look off, they are still drawing around 200mA when staying "awake". Very intermittant.

[HUMMERICH23]

I have activated my OnStar but i am really thinking it has something to do with radio or Nav. They are going to keep the truck one more day and do the amp test again over night for the third time. They said this time they will actually drive it around and then pull it in and hook up the equipment and see if there is anything. I know they truck has just sat in the bay without being driven or locked so i wonder if they should lock it thereby enabling the alarm system and see if there is a drain there. Just thought of that and hope they would be smart enough to do that.


Richard.

[HUMTECH]

They should try exactly that. Always need to duplicate a typical drive cycle the owner goes through to check for intermittant problems for sure. They should hook up a disconnect switch between the neg cable and battery. Close the switch and drive it using all accessories at least once. Then hook up the amp meter across the disconnect switch, once that is all done open the switch to allow all current flow to travel through the meter without actually removing power from the truck and all the modules.

[HUMMERICH23]

Dam that sounds good. I am going to tell them that exact method!!!

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Hi Richard

You say that when your truck won't start you have no problem running all you other eletronics. No dimming light or anything.

Then my guess is that you have the famous ignition problem.

Try and use the search function there where a very good right up on finding this error (and how to start you truck when this happens).

If you have lights it's not your battery.

Ignition problems can come and go until it fail completly.

Regards
Rene

[HUMTECH]

Missed the part where ya said all accessories still worked, i agree ignition switch or starter. when it happens to not start check to see if the starter relay clicks, if it doesn't problem is between ign switch and relay most likely ign switch. If the relay does click check for power at the starter, if you have power at the starter, ya need a starter.

[HUMMERICH23]

I got the truck back today and of course after 4 days they could not figure out anything or come up with any ideas, however i love and thank you guys for the help. It sounds like i might have the ignition problem like you guys are saying because on the days that it dies, when you go to turn the key you dont hear a thing, nothing, no starter, no clicking, nothing but all the electronics and everything else works fine and lights are not dimmed at all. The guys at the Central Hummer did say my battery was very low each time i brought it in and thats why they thought i had a drain somewhere.

I even ventured to tell them about your guys's ideas and they were delighted for me to email them or call them with what solutions you guys come up with so they can help out others and file it. If it happens again i am copying exactly what you guys are saying so at least it gives them another road to go down.


Richard.

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Hi Richard

Do yourself a favor and find that article on finding the problem. There is a workaround in there so that if your stranded you can still start you truck.

Print out the instructions and put them in your car. It WILL fail again.

My way was to turn the egnition on, turn the wheel all the way right, then you can reach the starter behind the right front wheel.

You will need something to jump the starter this way.

But there where another solution where you could jump the relay from the fuse box I think. And thats pretty easy.

Rene

[Ed G.]

The ignition switch problem will cause your battery to drain and will cause your key to become stuck in the switch. Had it happen twice in my 2003.

[HUMTECH]

Another thing you could check is the connector at the ignition switch, on a couple of occasions i have found that the connector is not fully seated in the ignition switch body

[HUMMERICH23]

I called my Tech at Hummer today and told everything you guys have said and he said only the one about the onstar coming on sounds legit and that i wouldnt have a battery problem if it was the ignition or starter. I told him to look into it but he said that was the least plausible cause which i think now is the most plausible and said that is not a road to go down and said why was the battery low if that was the problem.


The more i think about it, the 4 or 5 times it has died, every single time i first used the remote start and nothing would happen and then go to start the truck manually and it is dead, not clicking, no turning over of starter untill a quick jump. I just remembered that pattern with the remote start and wonder if it has something to do with the starter/ignition in that way. The only thing i dont understand is why would jumping it make it start if it was an ignition problem. I think ill try starting it everytime now with the remote too see if that drains it or see what happens.

Richard

[HUMTECH]

Check behind the dlc(data link connector) for a wire spliced into the data line(purple wire). If there is a splice into that line the next time it wont start disconnect the splice and try to start the truck after key has been off for at least 10 minutes. Its possible the remote start is sending a feedback voltage into the class2 data line which will cause all sorts of problems including a no start

[Tones H3]

Just out of curiosity does your h2 have an aftermarket radio/nav? I have had the exact same issues in my 06 h2 ....After a couple of months of the same crap you are going through, we finally isolated it down to the radio harness..It had a parasitic draw that was killing my battery...Just a heads up to anyone who is having the same issues with an aftermarket radio or nav.

[HUMMERICH23]

I do not have an after market radio. Also I will do what you told me to HummerTech next time it dies. She has been very good but i know its coming. I copied your posts to me and sent them in an email to my Hummer Maintenance manager and he was pretty impressed with your knowledge. Where you located in Canada? If i cant get this fn figured out i am driving up to you.

Richard

[HUMTECH]

Im in Calgary Alberta

[HUMMERICH23]

A little too far for me, but i did have my PCM sent to TILLEY ALBERTA for a Westers Hot tune so i guess part of my truck has been up by you!!! Ever deal with them?

[HUMTECH]

Ive talked to him through email about doin my pcm in my SS Trailblazer but havent had it done yet. Probably will this spring sometime

[HUMMERICH23]

WELL SHE DIED ON ME AGAIN this morning while i was going the closing of my new house (not very pleased and let the dealership know). This time i drove it the night before with no problems at 11pm. Went out to start it 7am today and it was flat DEAD. Lights barely even had a glow to them, this is the deadest its been.

Made a list of the things you guys have told me, printed them off and gave them to the service manager. Also got the manager of the dealership involved who has been a great help/friend since i bought our first Hummer two years ago and we talked for a while. I told them i wouldn?t even bring it in until they at least knew what the Fk they were going to do. They had it 4 days last week and couldn?t come up with crap. That really pisses me off. I told them i went on Google for 5 mins and got a laundry list of things along with what you guys told me and they had it 4 days and did shiiitttt.

They are leaning towards OnStar running at night and will pursue that tomorrow. I got a question for HumTech or anyone who might know; Do you guys think any of this had to do with my Hot Tune on my PCM and would that mess up the idle levels or how the pcm controlled the alternator etc. That is the only thing i could think that might be a reason for this, but like i said i have had the tune Since June and now 8-9 months later why would it cause this. I just wanted to know for sure if they give me crap for having a tune and blame that i can say it has nothing to do with what?s going on.



Richard

[[__--MUD--__]]

You know if your onstar was upgraded to the newer system?

For those that still have the old units, like myself... What are they doing now that the network is unreachable? Even if they are not activated and not getting signal, could they be continously trying to connect to the network? Cell phones w/ low signal, crank up the power to try to get signal..

I would kill for a device I could plug inline to my battery that would log the draw at say 5 minute intervals. So i when i have a dead battery i could go back at see what the draw was over a time period.

I live right next door to my office, so i dont drive alot, truck usually sits from friday-monday. I keep my tools in it, so i'm getting in it maybe 5-10 times over the weekend. I need to check what the draw is when I open the doors. I know when I first hook up the battery, its about 7amps.

[HUMTECH]

I doubt very much pcm programming has anything to do with it.

[[__--MUD--__]]

there's a TSB on this for all trucks and h2's-

Faulty Ingition switch, not indexing properly causing 300-500mA battery drain.

Thats right in the range of draw I'm seeing. Gonna tear apart the column and disconnect the ignition switch see if my draw goes away.

[HUMTECH]

If its not indexed right you will see the odometer stay lit up

[HUMMERICH23]

So after two more days in the shop they have NO IDEA what to do or what is wrong. Can not reduplicate the battery dying and they contacted GM technichal service or something and they pretty much blew off my complaint and were absolutely no help. All test are normal they keep telling me and all they do is the same dam amperage test at night and thats it. I told them to please do more or look into other things like ignition and starter but they said its fine.

I think part of why it dosent act up at dealer is because they spend 8 hrs charging the battery, then dont drive or start it at all and slap on the amperage meter and get nothing. So i told them to please do more so the manager is going to drive it home, use the remote start everytime starting it, and put the equipment on at home and check in middle of night and morning.

To say that i am fustrated is an understatement with what the truck is doing and why they are soo poooor at figuring it out. And to put icing on the cake the h3 they gave me an 09 with 500 miles on blew its transmission on me and had to drive it 40 miles to dealer going no faster than 40 because thats all as fast as it could go.

Richard

[Ed G.]

Go to Walmart and buy a Dura-Start Max for $76 they have a 3 year free replacement warranty. This way you can get rid of the factory crap replacement and if the new battery doesn't solve the problem, in 30 days, you can get your money back. I worked for Exide for 6 years and believe me new batteries all not always "new". Battery's that fail quality checks are reworked and sent out to customers on the same pallet as the new ones. You can't tell new from reworked from the outside but on the inside it can get scary!

Ed

[HUMMERICH23]

Still at the dealer and still nothing. They did pick up on normal driving the Volt Meter Plunges down to 10-12 range and they thought that was odd. Other than that still no new news and i guess everything GM Tech has told them has tested negative or they never really even tested it.

I have noticed the volt meter dropping off in December but thought it was normal and all the problems started in Jan. Before the Volt Meter would always stay strong at 14 and never fluctuated but i have noticed since the battery problems started once the battery was new or recharged from the dealer the Meter Dropped to 10-12 but if you jumped it from being dead it would jump up to 14 i assume to charge the battery but it seems once it gets charged the system takes a crap. I thought this was normal as the manual says the volt meter will change so i never thought of it as a problem untill the dealer stated it might be.

Richard

[madmike]

Wow , I never thought this would be such a viscious issue. When AM Gen cant even fix the problem. Im old school, I would probably put a high amp relay on the battery which would disconnect it from the rest of the car every time you stop it. Although you would lose your radio channels:) What a nightmare. Also I would disconnect the battery and reconnect it to see if it drains. There has to be a light on or something. Good luck!!!:

[madmike]

Meditating on this post and missed the obvious. Your Alternator was fluctuating. When running , your alternator should be charging the battery as well as running all your electronics. New batteries? No drain? really sounds like a bad alt. Im sure any local auto parts will check it for you. Although I usually place a voltmeter across the battery to see if its charging. I believe it should read above 13 volts constant. Seems your truck is running off battery until it dies.

[HUMMERICH23]

I wish someone told the service department it was that easy because its going on THREE WEEKS they have had my truck and NOTHING. I am going to flip a gasket tomorrow when i head back to the dealer. They state the problem is too intermittent to catch and pull fuses to see what stops the drain. There has to be a test they can do besides waiting every 5 days for the drain to kick in and miss the drain then wait some more and tell me nothing yet.

Richard

[[__--MUD--__]]

I feel for you... I'm still fighting same battle. I didn't catch if you ever said what the amp draw is on the battery or the year of the truck. Mines an 04 w/ 350mah draw. I've pulled my remote start, and bypass module, heated wipers and hid lights. I've yanked every fuse in the enging bay and interior. My issues started around the 1st of the year. I still think the old onstar module is a potential problem w/ the network unavailable. I've had a few service people say they didn't think the onstar was fused and is wired direct to battery for survivability in an accident.

I found this the other day, its right in my draw range..gonna start disconnecting it tonight.

Condition/Concern:

During battery parasitic drain testing, there may be some confusion as to the normal power consumption reading from the OnStar? system.


Recommendation/Instructions:

When performing current draw tests it is important to understand the power cycles of the various OnStar? systems. All OnStar? customers with currently active vehicles have digital/analog cellular capability. A green status LED on the OnStar? keypad normally indicates an active OnStar? account. A red LED indicates a system DTC. On Gen 6 and later systems, a clear, or "dark" LED may indicated the OnStar? system has been deactivated or may possibly have a no power concern/no communication.

The OnStar? system will stay powered up after ignition off for an extended time in order to allow for remote services like door unlock, horn honk, light flash, etc to take place as requested by the customer. Power cycle (also referred to as DRX) times vary depending on the generation of the OnStar? system. Technicians may identify the system generation by using a Tech 2 (Body>VCIM>Module ID Information>Module Information 2) or by using www.onstarenrollment.com.

All Gen 6, Gen 7, and 8 systems are powered up continuously for 48 hours from ignition off. After the 48 hours the Gen 6 and some Gen 7 power off; Gen 7.xxL, and all Gen 8 systems will enter a 9 minute OFF 1 minute ON power cycle for an additional 72 hours. At the beginning and end of the 1 minute ON stage, you may or may not experience a short spike of current at the beginning and at the end. This allows for calls from OnStar to be received by the system. After 120 hours from ignition off, these systems then completely power off.

The expected current draw of the OnStar? module is:
? IGN ON - 240 to 400 mA
? IGN OFF - 3 to 20 mA for 48 hours
? IGN OFF - after 48 hours (120 hours on specified VCPs) - 0.2 to 0.8 mA
? During extended voltage monitoring for platform battery parasitic it is possible that you may see a voltage spike caused by a cellular registration call that was triggered by the local cellular system, or that OnStar? has set a monthly trigger for a vehicle data upload call for the OnStar? Vehicle Diagnostic email upload. Note that in analog cellular markets all module generations completely power down after 48 hours. You can contact Technical Assistance to find out if your dealership cellular market or the customer's home cellular market still has analog service.

[HUMTECH]

On an 04 the INFO fuse is for the onstar

[[__--MUD--__]]

thats like a 15amp fuse, right? Know if the onstar is just a single unit or it has a seperate transmitter? If multiple are they both powered off this fuse?

Wasn't it around 02-03 when all those bad caps were made in taiwan? It would suck to have that **** start showing up in vehicles..

[HUMTECH]

I believe its a 15a fuse. Its in the underhood fuse box. Bad caps?

[[__--MUD--__]]

Capacitors man... caps..the little cylinder thingies in your electronics..

I'll be god damned, but I found my problem tonight. As i said before I disconnected all kinds of **** including my HID lights. But I only disconnected them at the ballasts.

I pulled the cover off my fuse block and yanked the main power feed there where my HIDs are powered off of. Obvoiusly that killed everything, but i didn't reconnect the power to the HID's when i connected it back up. Drain was about 25mah. WTF, no more drain, its the damn lights!... So I go to the HID manufacturers website and there's a little notice a couple pages deep about the H1 and H2 HID kits. The plug that connects to the relays IS WIRED WRONG! Swapped the 2 wires and everything is great.

I am so glad I figured this damn thing out...was gonna take it to the dealer monday if i didn't find the cause this weekend.

If anyone if wondering which HIDs are factory wired wrong, its this set-
http://www.predatorinc.com/projectionhidxenonheadlampset1.aspx

[HUMMERICH23]

Well I got my Truck back last Friday and so far everything has been ok and they ended up doing 4 updates to all the computers including the PCM, TCM, BCM, and OnStar. They think it was a combo of one of those so they just reset and updated all of them. GM engineering gave them all the updates and besides crossing fingers to see if it works (including dealer and GM) they couldn?t figure it out.

I think it was OnStar even though they said it already had the latest update and equipment .They said my drain was around 300 milliamps but bounced from 250-400 but most of the time it was around 300.

So far she has been great and no problems and the only thing I have noticed which I have always noticed is the volt gauge bouncing between 12-15 volts on me all the time. I read in the book it says it drops lowering during Fuel Economy Mode (whatever the hell that means, shocked to read fuel economy and hummer in same sentence). One service tech thought that was strange thinking it should stay at 14 and the manager said that is normal. What?s your guys? do???

Richard.

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Mine stays at 14 Volt all the time (when the engine is running).

I just pulled the Radio, AMP and INFO fuse to figure out if any of these are making the draw on mine

Rene

[HUMMERICH23]

Does it ever dip below when crusing on highway, on long trips, or always stay at 14 volts? When i start truck up it goes past 14 for a couple minutes than stays at 14 for a few then settles down around 12-13 volts. Dont know if that is normal or not.

Richard

[[__--MUD--__]]

Mine drops back down to 12 or so after a few minutes...it doesn't bounce around at all, moves pretty slow.

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Mine stays at or just above 14 all the time, dosn't drop at all when truck is running. it's a 2004

Rene

[HUMMERICH23]

That?s interesting. I had to drive an hour and half last night and both ways the needle stayed at or above 14. This past week during drives on the highway ranging from 30-40mins it was at 12 and this morning it started at 14 then migrated south to 12-13 and stayed there.

Don?t get me wrong, as long as this thing starts i dont give a **** if stays at 9 or 16 but i was just curious as to what others volt gauge does incase it acts up again and they have no clue of what it is.

[madmike]

If it ever gets to 9 i believe the engine will start to stumble and want to shut down. Had this happen when my alt went bad and was trying to get home with just battery juice( at night) :D

[solarflare]

HummeRich23,
That condition is normal. The new engines have a system that shuts down the alternator to give more power to the motor, when everything has a full charge. If you have a dealer brochure on the 08' models, it talks about it under the engine specs....I forgot what they call it, but mine does the same exact thing......If you would like me to look it up, I will.....

[solarflare]

I have a question for you....seeing that you have my twin....
About a week ago, I noticed that when I take my foot off the gas, or lightly apply the gas I get a slap/clunk in the driveline. Not sure what it is or what is causing it, but was just curious if you have had this issue? I only have about 6800 miles on her now.

[HUMMERICH23]

Yeah I have the same exact trait in mine. Has done it since day one and still does It 17500 miles later. I think it is the front diff and am not sure why. My H3 does the same thing but when I had driven other h3 as rentals they did not do it. I hope others do this, it will make me feel better. I would just like to know if it the tranny or front diff?
Rich

[HummerJim]

Sounds can be deceiving but I'm 75% sure it's coming from the area of the transmission. My '08 does the same thing if you let your foot off the gas abruptly. It doesn't do it all the time though and I think it's something with the 6 speed.

[solarflare]

Now with mine, it's not as much as a noise that you hear, but rather a nasty clunk that makes the truck shake. It does it when slowing down slowly, foot on the brake (city traffic-stop and go), and it seems as though the torque convertor sticks between 2nd and 1st gear.....as if it hesitates before it shifts down to 1st gear. Does not do this when slowing down fast. Doesn't do it all the time, so it's hard to bring it in to have it checked out.
Wondering if a programmer would remove the TCM system that causes the problem....perhaps? Any other thoughts???