8 speed shifting strangely, followed by check engine and a P0651 code

MDSilveradoGuy · June 11, 2019

I wish that I had better things to post, but this whole thing has turned into a nightmare and is heading in the direction of a lemon law buyback I am afraid.

I had the Grand Cherokee for not quite a week while they had my truck. They replaced the TCM, re-flashed everything and drove it for a couple of days without issue and gave it back to me. I had it for 2 days, and it seemed to be running well. We took the boat out for a beautiful day on the water, and on the way home from the river got caught up in some DC traffic due to a flaming Altima. At one point, I needed to move in traffic and looked down to see a Christmas tree of a dashboard and had a truck that wouldn't respond to the accelerator pedal - in the middle of an 8 lane highway. I managed to get it moving finally, although it had absolutely no power and got it limped home. It wouldn't pull my boat up my driveway to get it off the road unless floored and then would barely move. Whenever I pushed the brake, a loud clicking was emanating from under the dash (sounded like the interlock solenoid only much louder), the brake pedal was spongy and then hard, when I tried to turn it off it kept telling me to shift to park (it was in park, the dash displays both said P, but it could not be convinced otherwise). I finally got it to shut off and restart a few times, and it seemed to straighten its act up. I got it to the dealer the next day, and while we were standing next to it in the service drive with the keys in hand it lit up all of the interior lights, the cluster lit up, gauges cycled, infotainment booted up and shut down, it started beeping to check the rear seat, and then everything went dark.

They took it in and called GM. The foreman took it home for a few days. It twice went into limp mode on him, and once left him for dead. It then blew the 400A fuse again. GM said to replace the fuse, starter motor, wiring harness to the starter, and battery. They did that and also ended up putting an ECM and another TCM in it (I have my concerns about the BCM at this point due to the strange behavior above). It acted up again and GM told them to park it and flew an engineer out to the dealer Monday to look at it.

Apparently some of the trucks have a main wiring harness that is too short, so when the engine torques, it pulls on the harness and breaks the wires. GM told the dealer to separate the harness, find the breaks and splice them. Both the dealer and I have pushed back on this - and I made a second call to the CAC about this. I will not accept a month old truck with a spliced together harness. Fix it right and replace the damn harness. I am waiting to hear back on it, but I told them on the phone I have zero trust in this truck and zero confidence that it will not do this to us again, and at this point it has had so much done to it that it's not the truck I bought. 1 more visit and I have a solid lemon law case in Maryland, however since it is now affecting things like it being able to actually move under its own power unexpectedly I believe it falls under the safety clause.

Regardless, this has completely destroyed the new ownership experience, blown my confidence in the truck, and I just want to be done with the whole damn thing and forget the past 5 months. I have spent enough time driving and towing with this Grand Cherokee that I am actually starting to like them (in spite of my hatred of V8s and general distaste for anything that isn't GM or Mercedes) - and it's going to be a bit of a choice of either this or order a carbon copy of my current Silverado. I just really don't feel I can trust this one if they don't replace pretty much everything electronic and wired in it.

Edited June 12, 2019 by MDSilveradoGuy

MDSilveradoGuy · June 12, 2019

Here is the video of it from that last night after I got up the driveway:

ILSilverado · June 12, 2019

Im in the middle of a buy back case myself. It seems GM put this truck to market way before it was ready. Call the BBB and at least get your paperwork started.

Edited June 12, 2019 by ILSilverado

AMPRG · June 12, 2019

https://fox6now.com/2019/06/12/ford-recalls-1-3m-vehicles-for-suspension-transmission-woes/

MDSilveradoGuy · June 12, 2019

Just got a call from the dealer - apparently the engineer from GM spent all day in it and found more chafed wires in the harness. They repaired those and it’s apparently behaving. The foreman is taking it home tonight and I’m supposed to come get it tomorrow.

They don’t have a part number for the harness still - but apparently the engineer knew exactly where to look for the break so I’m not the first to be going through this.

Apparently there are also 30+ cases of the 400A fuse blowing for no reason that they are trying to sort out. I let the dealer know I’ve already begun the buyback inquiry. I’m waiting to hear back from the CAC on my harness replacement - the only thing that will get me to go away is to replace that harness or buy the truck back from me. (It would be nice if people from GM still read these forums...)

zzrsouth · June 12, 2019

That's kind of ridiculous GM cant get a new harness from the assembly line. In my business the after sales support folks take whatever they need from the production line if they cant get a replacement part from the supplier and SM orders the factory a replacememt. After sales support guys shouldn't be shortchanged like that. Artifact of the car manufacturer/car dealer structure maybe?

MDSilveradoGuy · June 13, 2019

2 hours ago, zzrsouth said:

That's kind of ridiculous GM cant get a new harness from the assembly line. In my business the after sales support folks take whatever they need from the production line if they cant get a replacement part from the supplier and SM orders the factory a replacememt. After sales support guys shouldn't be shortchanged like that. Artifact of the car manufacturer/car dealer structure maybe?

That’s what I’m pushing for. Pull one from the line. I don’t care where it comes from - I just want it fixed right.

To to be honest I’m not looking forward to returning the Grand Cherokee tomorrow.

Chargershed · June 19, 2019

I am currently going through the same problem. My current dealer has rold me that someone was in the harness already(!) (Probably my selling dealer, which according to Colorado law, has to be disclosed before selling me the truck). They repaired the harness and put a hard plastic cover over the wires where they rub against the cam cover. I am with you guys, the harness needs to be replaced and a permanent fix figured out. Truck is awesome when it runs, but has left me stranded twice in the first 1100 miles of ownership. I am supposed to take a road trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake this weekend, I too have lost confidence in the truck. So far I am 11 days in the shop/ disabled out of 14 days owned....

MDSilveradoGuy · June 20, 2019

Yup... they did the same thing with mine, right where it crosses under the fuel rail.

I am currently waiting to hear back from GM - apparently my request for a replacement truck was denied (I wasn't even pushing for that... I just want the truck fixed), and I am waiting to hear back on the harness. Considering it impacted my brakes, and I have it on video doing such I have a case for it being a safety issue - notwithstanding the fact that it left me for dead on a highway.

I spoke with my lawyer and sent a certified letter to GM outlining the issue last week and basically stating that I want the harness replaced, I have no confidence in their repairs, and if they can't I'll pursue legal action for a buyback. Maryland is a pro consumer state in terms of lemon law, so I have them on my side.

So far, my truck has been driving fine since I got it back. We have had a lot of rain here, and I opened my hood the other day and the repaired harness was soaked - I have no doubt it will fail again.

MDSilveradoGuy · June 20, 2019

19 hours ago, Chargershed said:

I am currently going through the same problem. My current dealer has rold me that someone was in the harness already(!) (Probably my selling dealer, which according to Colorado law, has to be disclosed before selling me the truck). They repaired the harness and put a hard plastic cover over the wires where they rub against the cam cover. I am with you guys, the harness needs to be replaced and a permanent fix figured out. Truck is awesome when it runs, but has left me stranded twice in the first 1100 miles of ownership. I am supposed to take a road trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake this weekend, I too have lost confidence in the truck. So far I am 11 days in the shop/ disabled out of 14 days owned....

Please open a case with the Customer Assistance Center and demand that they replace the harness! The more of us who are demanding this the better for all. I was told that apparently they were created too short which causes them to rub as the engine torques under load.

When yours left you stranded, did it also blow the 400A main fuse? Last I heard from a contact at the dealer, GM had 30+ cases of them doing that and did not know why (not sure if this is 2.7 specific).

GM knows this is an issue. When the field engineer looked at my truck, according to my dealer he pulled the wheel/fender liner and knew exactly where to open the harness and found the second spot where it rubbed without searching.

MDSilveradoGuy · June 21, 2019

Last night on the way home, I got a call from a mediation specialist with GM. The conversation went well, and from what it sounds like they have something in the works to get a harness pulled from the line and sent to my dealer to install onto my truck. After we spoke, she said she was reaching out to my dealer to pull all of the records for this and to coordinate the fix.

I'm hoping all goes smoothly from here on out with this. As I am able to/if it doesn't go sideways and turn into a legal matter where I need to clam up, I will report back here what GM did to right this situation.

Regardless, even if they replace the harness and make everything as they should, I am disappointed that it took all of this effort to get it fixed correctly.

Fuelie · June 22, 2019

Not exactly the same but my 18 LTZ with 20K miles on it left me stranded a week ago. Similar, trans started down shifting, pushing on the gas did nothing. Turn off and restart and drive a mile and same thing. Eventually turned into a no start.

Called Onstar and got a tow, replaced ECM and said it was fixed, did the same thing within a mile of leaving dealer. The say they found a hole in a wire and now it's fixed. I will be picking it up on Monday and not sure how much confidence I have.

The dealer has been amazing, put me in a 19 RST Z71 and told me drive as much as I need. Dealer is 300 miles away from me and I have put 1600 miles on the loaner for work.

Time will tell.

Tom

Edited June 22, 2019 by Fuelie

MDSilveradoGuy · June 26, 2019

On 6/21/2019 at 8:00 PM, Fuelie said:

Not exactly the same but my 18 LTZ with 20K miles on it left me stranded a week ago. Similar, trans started down shifting, pushing on the gas did nothing. Turn off and restart and drive a mile and same thing. Eventually turned into a no start.

Called Onstar and got a tow, replaced ECM and said it was fixed, did the same thing within a mile of leaving dealer. The say they found a hole in a wire and now it's fixed. I will be picking it up on Monday and not sure how much confidence I have.

The dealer has been amazing, put me in a 19 RST Z71 and told me drive as much as I need. Dealer is 300 miles away from me and I have put 1600 miles on the loaner for work.

Time will tell.

Tom

Another person just commented that they had a similar issue on their 2019 with a 5.3

MDSilveradoGuy · June 26, 2019

Unfortunately, I got a call from GM last night and they are standing behind this repaired harness as being the fix. Ironically, my truck is back with the dealer because the volume control on the steering wheel no longer clicks or returns from its travel. None of my steering wheel radio or handsfree controls work, and if I hit a bump in the road it turns my radio down.

I called my lawyer a few minutes ago. I am completely done with this situation and want to be done with this truck. 5 warranty visits (counting the 1 where it never left the lot without acting up again), roughly 800 miles that they put on it working on it, 23 days and counting in their possession, a tar stain on my front bumper in the shape of a boot (also on the left front wheel), and apparently my LPO wheels were not balanced prior to install as they had to balance all of them to solve a highway vibration.

The whole damn thing is just sad.