Service Stabilitrak

[km9v]

I have a 2011 SS w/ 113K miles on it. The past week I've gotten the service stabilitrak message in the DIC 3-4 times. After it pops up, the tach goes dead & it runs bad. If I shut it off & let it sit for 15-20 min, it starts back up just fine with no error lights, runs fine. On the way home from work today, it stalled at a red light. No error lights or anything, started right back up. This car has never stalled by itself (only poor clutch disengagement). Battery voltage at the underhood posts is 12.9V, battery is about 3 years old, Delco AGM. Any thoughts?

[Rmkuper]

Check out the wiring harnesses on the passenger side. Under the water pump.. They are secured to the block with metal brackets. These brackets are known to mangle up the wiring loom and heat tape and cause electrical issues. GM had a recall on it in 2011 I believe. But it was a stupid fix. The wires become exposed and being so close to the exhaust manifold the wires start to loose the ability to insolate properly. So you start getting false readings to the ECU. Worst case they begin to melt.

I removed the damaged loom/heat tape and replaced it. I have some new brackets on the way with rubber insulation to help prevent the damage going forward. For now I packed the cables in some 1 3/8 heater hose.

The other thing I did was remove the stud the brackets are connect to. This is also the main ground to the ECU so MAKE SURE you disconnect battery first. The GM manual say the ground should be installed between the stud and nut with the brackets on top. I ran across an article on camaro5 where the guy moved the ground behind the stud against the block then put the brackets by themselves between the stud and nut.

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[km9v]

I checked out those wiring looms, no problems there.

[Car Nation Videos]

Replace the battery with a new one and your problem will be fixed.

[km9v]

Originally Posted by Car Nation Videos

Replace the battery with a new one and your problem will be fixed.

Well, I was about to update this thread and say that replacing the battery fixed the issue. For a few days it didn't show up, but today it did. Not sure what else to check.

[Rmkuper]

Did you move that ground from the stud and attach to block? Sounds stupid but it's worth a try. Be sure to disconnect battery first. The only other thing I can think of is the main power run from battery. Replacing that worked for a couple others when I was researching my issue. Others have had to replace ECU also....

If I can find the thread I will post it dude spent months and tons of $$ tracking it down.

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[AlanRubin]

Originally Posted by km9v

Well, I was about to update this thread and say that replacing the battery fixed the issue. For a few days it didn't show up, but today it did. Not sure what else to check.

From what I read, and saw, these come with AGM batteries from
the factory. Every RockAuto replacement, is an AGM. I replaced
mine with a top end battery, that is not AGM and it seems to be okay.
I still saw the headlamps dim when the car shifted from 2-3, which is
odd. It happened in another car I had, but it was a DSG trans, not
a slush-box automatic. I changed to HIDs, that doesn't happen anymore.

You need to pull the codes when the error comes up, it can be the
throttle body, as it was with mine, EVERY time. I am on my THIRD one now.
However, I also got the REDUCED POWER warning when it got real bad.

[Rmkuper]

Originally Posted by Rmkuper

Did you move that ground from the stud and attach to block? Sounds stupid but it's worth a try. Be sure to disconnect battery first. The only other thing I can think of is the main power run from battery. Replacing that worked for a couple others when I was researching my issue. Others have had to replace ECU also....

If I can find the thread I will post it dude spent months and tons of $$ tracking it down.

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Here is the thread it's a long read but lots of good info.

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=527875


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[km9v]

Originally Posted by AlanRubin

From what I read, and saw, these come with AGM batteries from
the factory. Every RockAuto replacement, is an AGM. I replaced
mine with a top end battery, that is not AGM and it seems to be okay.
I still saw the headlamps dim when the car shifted from 2-3, which is
odd. It happened in another car I had, but it was a DSG trans, not
a slush-box automatic. I changed to HIDs, that doesn't happen anymore.

You need to pull the codes when the error comes up, it can be the
throttle body, as it was with mine, EVERY time. I am on my THIRD one now.
However, I also got the REDUCED POWER warning when it got real bad.

The original battery was AGM. The second battery (the one in question) was not an AGM b/c it was nearly twice as much as a standard battery. The new battery is AGM (AC Delco). I'm not getting any SES codes at all after the service stabilitrak message. I have a code reader & there's nothing at all.

[Rock-It Man]

Originally Posted by Rmkuper

Check out the wiring harnesses on the passenger side. Under the water pump.. They are secured to the block with metal brackets. These brackets are known to mangle up the wiring loom and heat tape and cause electrical issues. GM had a recall on it in 2011 I believe. But it was a stupid fix. The wires become exposed and being so close to the exhaust manifold the wires start to loose the ability to insolate properly. So you start getting false readings to the ECU. Worst case they begin to melt.

I removed the damaged loom/heat tape and replaced it. I have some new brackets on the way with rubber insulation to help prevent the damage going forward. For now I packed the cables in some 1 3/8 heater hose.

The other thing I did was remove the stud the brackets are connect to. This is also the main ground to the ECU so MAKE SURE you disconnect battery first. The GM manual say the ground should be installed between the stud and nut with the brackets on top. I ran across an article on camaro5 where the guy moved the ground behind the stud against the block then put the brackets by themselves between the stud and nut.

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Thanks for the detailed discussion of this harness problem! I did a preventative inspection and found that there is ample clearance to the hose clamps. Nevertheless, one of the clamps would benefit from being rotated for additional clearance. This sort of design error that is all too common in routing wire harnesses. If you're going to depend on hose clamp clocking and small differences in wire harness dressing (mine just happens to have good clearance) to prevent damage, your design is not ready for mass production, because no one on the assembly floor is going to follow such instructions. Even in aerospace, it's hard to get technicians to pay attention to details like this, let alone in automobile production.

My other thought is that in your case, the plastic sleeve has disintegrated because of close proximity to a bare tube header. The outside temperature of a cast iron header or of a ceramic coated tube header would be significantly lower. You will benefit from wrapping more of the wire bundle with heat reflective tape, as is your plan. I have the original equipment cast header and after 11 years, the plastic sleeve over the harness is intact and not brittle.

A friend who runs a one-man high-end auto repair business is always preaching that aftermarket headers are a risky proposition for modern cars specifically because their heat often damage wiring under the hood.

[Rmkuper]

Originally Posted by Rock-It Man

Thanks for the detailed discussion of this harness problem! I did a preventative inspection and found that there is ample clearance to the hose clamps. Nevertheless, one of the clamps would benefit from being rotated for additional clearance. This sort of design error that is all too common in routing wire harnesses. If you're going to depend on hose clamp clocking and small differences in wire harness dressing (mine just happens to have good clearance) to prevent damage, your design is not ready for mass production, because no one on the assembly floor is going to follow such instructions. Even in aerospace, it's hard to get technicians to pay attention to details like this, let alone in automobile production.



My other thought is that in your case, the plastic sleeve has disintegrated because of close proximity to a bare tube header. The outside temperature of a cast iron header or of a ceramic coated tube header would be significantly lower. You will benefit from wrapping more of the wire bundle with heat reflective tape, as is your plan. I have the original equipment cast header and after 11 years, the plastic sleeve over the harness is intact and not brittle.



A friend who runs a one-man high-end auto repair business is always preaching that aftermarket headers are a risky proposition for modern cars specifically because their heat often damage wiring under the hood.

I agree 100% about the headers, wish I had wrapped them prior to installing. Out of curiosity I hit my headers with a temp gun when I found the issue. Temperatures ranged from 500-650° at idle. So I could see them at minimum a couple 100° hotter at WOT if not more. Given that even the best wiring starts loosing its insulating properties around 200°, its no wonder I was having issues with that part of the harness exposed only inches away from the headers...

With all that said though the headers did not help the situation.....I did not see anything that would indicate melting on the wires or the loom. I really think this was more the metal rubbing against the tape and plastic. It was only damaged in the one section right around the bracket. Nevertheless I would encourage anyone to check this out. Especially those with aftermarket headers.

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[km9v]

After doing some more searching, I looked into possible throttle actuator issues. I found doing the #5 & 20 fuse pull may help the actuator relearn and possibly correct the the stall issue. So, I pulled the fuses last night & put them back in this morning. Started the engine & let it idle for about 5 min. and went for a drive. No stalling so far and it ran a bit smoother. I'll see how it goes the next few days.

[George-CZ]

[km9v]

Well, still getting the service stabilitrak message. It's not just stalling at red lights, it's starting to come on while driving down the road too. This morning the engine just died when I was taking a turn. Power steering just died mid turn. Yesterday, the message popped up while doing 80 on the hwy. The motor didn't die then. Not sure what else it could be other than the throttle body actuator. Any thoughts? Can I buy just the actuator or do I have to get the whole throttle body?