Wife's Tahoe shut down

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04 Tahoe in my signature. She was driving home and it died. Radio,ac and gas gauge quit. She could not roll the windows down or unlock the doors with the switch.

I dragged it home with my Ford ( at least it runs). Proceeded to try to figure it out. Starter will not spin with the key but it does spin when I jumped the wires at the relay and it spins fine so the battery is OK.

I can turn the key on like it was running and jump the starter and it still won't fire up.

It's doing some other odd things. The running and dash lights are on even with the switch off.

I'm stumped... I'm thinking the computer died. Any ideas?
 
I get it that you said the battery seems fine, but this sounds a lot like when I had a shorted cell in my car battery.
 
Make sure your ground cable is good and triple check those double positive battery cable connections at the battery
to check ground cable use a jumper cable from good ground on engine to battery bolt and see what happens
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I get it that you said the battery seems fine, but this sounds a lot like when I had a shorted cell in my car battery.


Maybe you can hook up a good battery from another vehicle with jumper cables to the cables in the tahoe and rule out a battery without actually swapping batteries.
 
Originally Posted By: vssjim
Make sure your ground cable is good and triple check those double positive battery cable connections at the battery
to check ground cable use a jumper cable from good ground on engine to battery bolt and see what happens
I checked the cable ends with an ohm meter.ok
 
Originally Posted By: strongt
Could be something simple as just a bad ignition switch.


No way could a GM product have a bad ignition switch.
smile.gif
 
1. Park/Neutral Position Switch
2. Ignition Switch
3. 10A Crank Fuse - Inside Underhood Fuse Block
4. Starter Enable Relay Control - Inside PCM
5. Starter Relay - Inside Underhood Fuse Block
6. 40A Ignition Fuse A - Inside Underhood Fuse Block
7. 10A Ignition Fuse E - Inside Underhood Fuse Block

All that stuff in the starter circuit plus two batteries; a left battery and a right battery.
You also got 32 TSBs on that car; many of them related to the starter circuit.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: strongt
Could be something simple as just a bad ignition switch.


No way could a GM product have a bad ignition switch.
smile.gif



No way could a Honda or Toyota have a bad air bag made by a "superior" Japanese company.
 
Sounds like loss of electrical to, well, everything.. If everything inside is dead, then I would check the underhood fuse block thoroughly.
Oh, saw, you checked all the fuses.
Check the bulkhead connectors that join the engine harness to the body harness at the firewall. Dealt with a GM product in the past that had water get in one and corrode the terminals.
 
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Time to get the wiring diagram out, look for the obvious then test the ignition relay and switch with simple tools like a DVOM and test light.
Without some actually testing its all guesswork.
 
I'm thinking ignition switch. My 2007 Trailblazer started doing weird things. Intermittent a/c not working, ABS failure warning, power windows not working, etc. I could stop and restart and things would work fine again. Had the dealer replace the ignition switch module and no more problems. In the old days when you turned an ignition switch, you forced contacts together with a wiping motion. On my 07 switch, turning the switch operates a cam that pushes contacts apart, or when moved away, allows the contacts to close by spring tension. I believe as the contacts age and oxidize, they start to generate heat which is transferred to the contact spring, weakening it. Eventually weak spring tension may cause the contacts to completely fail. High contact resistance can create low voltage problems with the computer modules as well. Ignition switches are not as robust as they were in years past.
 
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