Good Lord....my h3 is fallin apart

Takin the family shopping tonight and I stuff the gas to make a pass....my traction control light comes on, my message center starts flashing like 10 different things at once and my truck stalls. Hit the onstar button and have the woman run a diagnostic...comes back with a traction control failure, abs failure, chassis stability system failure (no idea what that is) and a 4 wheel drive system failure (woman told me that I wouldn't be able to shift into four wheel drive) As I'm talking to her everything clears, I asked if she cleared it and she said no but I do see now that there are no failures showing.

I think I need that ghost whisperer chick to check out my truck.

i think it's your inner-jeepster telling you it's time to get a rubicon . . . . .

Mike..it just accured to me..you have a bad ground somewhere and this could be the root of all your problems too....That will really mess with your PCM and other electronics...All I can say is to arm yourself with some tools and go around looking for all the frame and body ground points and loosen them and retighten them again....they're everywhere, especially under the hood.

shorty....your still a dik

Dennis, I was thinking the same thing but I would think a loose/bad ground would also make my mpg problems intermittant like what happened tonight, not constant. I dunno, ya think the stuff my message center was flashing would be stored on my PCM? wondering if I bring it to a dealer would they be able to pull a code like from a check engine light?

takes one to know one, neener neener neener . . . . .

i don't know about the H3, but on the H2 the code clears itself when the cause goes away after so many cycles, or whatever the hell clears it. the H3 may keep a history, but i kinda doubt it. your dealership should be nice enough to at least read the codes for you without charging you an hour's labor, at least you would think they would. it's worth a shot, especially after all the troubles you've had with it. unless, of course, you ripped 'em a new one when you took the rental back. they may charge you double the hourly rate just to talk to ya . . . .

never had a chance to rip anybody about the rental...they were closed and I had to drop the key in a slot....bastards

Your H3 should store codes in history. I am guessing it will be a C0327 or C0276 which is tranfer case motor (actuater). They should be able to find the problem pretty quick. Steve

thanks steve, so will the tranction control failue, abs failure and the chassis stability system failure show up as well? Or just the 4x4 failure?
BTW...what the hell is the chassis stability system anyway?

Mike,

Sounds pretty similar to the problem I had on my H3 at 500mi. DIC displayed 6 error codes. Mine cleared for about 5 minutes and then failed again. Dealer had a bulletin on it that said to look at one of the connectors leading into the main fuse box. I've got a previous thread on it.

Found it.... hope it helps... -Brian

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Picked up the H3 from service this afternoon and for anyone that has the inside scoop on error codes and bulletins they found 5 error codes: P1682, P2101, P0036, P0030, P1516. This led them to Bulletin #PIP3508C. My receipt says the bulletin instructed them to remove and reinstall the UBEC and reset the codes. Someone know what the UBEC is?

They did mention that they have experienced this a few times. "A loose connector leading into the main fusebox under the hood" is how they described it. If someone has access to the bulletin, could they shed some more light? It might help someone else in a similar situation. The car acted like it was running on 2 cylinders and we had no choice but to tow it in.

thanks Brian, that sounds very similiar to what I just had happen. Just curious, do you remember what the error messages where that you got on you message display screen?

quote:

ORIGINAL: importkiller

thanks Brian, that sounds very similiar to what I just had happen. Just curious, do you remember what the error messages where that you got on you message display screen?

Pretty much what OnStar told you... reduced power, stabilitrack (sp?) failure, traction control failure. Felt like I lost half my cylinders. Cleared up after I turned it over 4-5 times, so I attempted to drive it back to work. In my case, I got 2 blocks in traffic and everything failed again. Had to get it towed. Dealer said I wasn't the first.

May not be what your problem is, but the multiple system failures sounds 'deja vu.'

I assume gm is using the same error coding that they did back in 04, at least my engine misfire code p0300 is the same. If so your codes are:

P1682 - Driver 5 Line 2
P2101 - Control Module Throttle Actuator Position Performance
P0030 - Heated Oxygen Sensor (H02S) Heater Control Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 1
P0036 - Heated Oxygen Sensor (HO2S) Heater Control Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 2
P1516 - Throttle Actuator Control (TAC) Module Throttle Actuator Position Performance

Thanks for the info. Don't know enough about the architecture to understand if these codes can be traced back to a single connector. Apparently, this 'yet-to-be-named' connector leading into the fuse box does have a nasty habit of working itself loose, due to vibrations and temperature changes (or so they said).

Importkiller,

Your error codes are EXACTLY the ones we just got on our '06 H3 last week. It was a bit unsettling as the H3 was purchased used w/ 16000 miles for my wife and she thought she broke the H3 going over some potholes!

The problem was more or less constant and we weren't able to clear the errors for more than maybe a minute or two at a time by messing with the shift buttons.

The truck was taken to the dealer and they replaced the Xfr case actuator which fixed all the error codes and allowed us to shift into 4W dr again. As I said already, the error codes and symptoms were EXACTLY like yours and from what I've read on other forums it seems to be a common problem. What year is your H3?

Oh, and you've 'gotta love the Onstar diagnostics (sarcasm intended). All you have to do is dial in and you can get someone to read off the codes you already have on your DIC and tell you what you could have already guessed (you need to take it in for service).

Typically it is one or more of the messages you got. My customers quote every message possible when this happens and the failure is not there when they come in. There is a bullentin on these 2 codes for the actuator but only lists two messages coming up. Service four wheel drive and traction off. Once they get some codes out of it they should figure it out. Steve

Mine had the "service four wheel drive", "traction control off", plus "ABS off" and "stability system failure" like importkiller's and it turned out to be the actuator (more than 2 codes)

Same exact thing happened to me - faulty ground

HUMMERmole, I had that same problem but I think that is different. If you only had 3 error codes, it would be the 4x4 actuator motor gone bad. All that happens here is your 4 wheel drive controls shut down and its stuck in whatever mode of 4x4 you were in at the time.

importkillers sounds more like finskeeper, a loose connection.
You could get your own scan tool and check your own error codes.
http://www.scantool.net/
When OBD-II logs an error, it stores in the "Freeze Frame" all the sensor readings of the motor for the tech so they can see what conditions it happened under.

This is the fuse box conection. I had the same problem with only 500 miles on mine. Error codes in the DIC....Traction control failure, Abs Fault. Vehicle stalled and would not restart. Waited about an hour, started and hen stalled about 5 miles later. Dealer replaced the fuse box and everything has been fine for the last 25000 miles. Knock on wood!

hopegully it will hold out till next weekend to bring it back to the dealer...I should to a different dealer