2003 Suburban starting problems

dead battery. This has happened twice. I was able to start it by jumping or charging the battery. I took it to the dealer and they say they cannot find the problem. They said next time don't jump it, but have it towed in to check it out.

dead battery. This has happened twice. I was able to start it by jumping or charging the battery. I took it to the dealer and they say they cannot find the problem. They said next time don't jump it, but have it towed in to check it out.

a quick and dirty method of this is to use a continuity tester clipped between the pos batt terminal and the pos battery cable with the cable detached from the battery. If things are normal, you'll see the light on the tester go from very bright to dimmer and dimmer. If it stays brightly lit, then somewhere is a current drain far greater then the normal clock/radio, etc. drains.

Then of course it's a matter of finding the drain. Start pulling fuses and watch for the tester light to dim or go out...

This is how we found the drain in my 94 Caddy's trunk/seat/locks circuit, saved about 4 hours of shop labor!

BEFORE you start pulling fuses and opening up the power feed circuits to the radio, I suggest that you know first how your radio will respond.

On many new vehicles, if you remove the battery feed to the radio, it will go into THEFT mode, assuming that it is being stolen. When you return the power feed to the radio, it will require you to enter the security code to get the radio to function again.

There are other ways to carefully measure the power drain without opening up the power feed circuits.

---Bob Gross---

I found out that dealer policy varys on this point and called around until I found one in my area who would do it as a freebie. The kind of dealer who getrs my repeat business! Fwiw, I was quoted anywhere from $25-$40 USD for this "service".

I do there's a way to get the radio itself to display the TL codes. but I've never needed it as the dealer who did me the nicely also made sure I had the code safely written down for future use...

Its a '03, Go to your dealer and have it fixed. It's WARANTEE WORK.

On that note, you can also just make sure there's no stored code before yanking the power.

no kidding.. thats why you paid the extra $7000 from buying a used car.

Read his original post.

Yes, but I'd still go make a fuss at the dealership. They told me "there was no problem" when a wheel speed sensor failed and started triggering my abs for no reason.

I don't think GM uses that kind of Theftlock system anymore (at least not on most of their vehicles), instead the radio is connected to the Class 2 data bus and ensures when it's turned on that the VIN number of the other modules in the vehicle matches what it should be. Therefore there is no need to unlock after disconnecting power with such a system.