2002 Suburban Service Engine Soon light flashing. Help!

[zogorion]

Hello all, one of my counterparts just left to head back to the states and I inherited his vehicle. It's an '02 2500 Suburban 4x4 LS 6.0L OK, now for the good part. It's running like shyt. It typically idles around 200 RPM when hot, and constantly stalls. The motor feels extremely down on power, I'm not sure if I could even redline it in Neutral. Sometimes the electrical system goes completely tits-up. The motor dies, And all electical power is gone, clock goes back to 12:00, radio presets go away, etc. All the while the SES light is flashing, and I need to know if there's a way I can get the trouble codes out of it without a scanner. As I am in Northern Iraq right now, and there's not exactly any NAPA's down the street. I may be able to scrounge up some parts for it though, if I know what to look for, as there are a lot of wrecked/damaged 'Burbs of the same year. Based on what I've seen this environment do to vehicles. Buy a Super Duty Ford 4x4 or Excursion 4x4 if you want it to last. The roads, if you want to call them that, will DESTROY anything with independant suspension, especially 2x4 vehicles are toast. Solid axle rules Iraq. Thanks.

[67ChevyRedneck]

The only way I know of to read the codes is to have a scanner. My truck did something similar a couple of months ago (00 silverado). Turns out the positive battery terminal FELL OUT of the battery when I touched it, but it was touching enough to run. I replaced the battery and all was good. That might explain all of the power "going away" and the clock resetting. The AC Delco batteries have been known for this problem.

Your problem sounds a little more serious than that though, can't hurt to check though. Not many people frequent this part of the board, but you should find lots of info and help on GM-Trucks.com It's an official GM site for new trucks.

[Chrome8]

A flashing check engine lite is never good. I know that it means the fuel mixture is not right and you probably have a miss bad. I wouldn't drive it much with the light flashing, i had a customer do this and his converter was plugged, he didn't know it and he scored a couple cylinders. He didn't have the other electrical problems you have. Wish i could be more helpful but i haven't turned a wrench on the new stuff in 6 years. I just sell em now.

[Josh]

flashing check engine light means a misfire, low idl is probably a dirty throttle body, and teh electrical problems sound liek a loose battery connection somewhere. Start checking the basics, fuel, air spark, etc. I would guess it has a few problems.

[st1x10]

Flashing Check Engine lights is bad news. It means that the misfire is so bad that raw fuel is dumping into the cats, which spells doom for the cats. If you run it too long it will damage the cats. The problems could be numerous, you really need to get it scanned. If you can find one. It is running really rich right now. It could be wiring to a sensor such as IAT or ECT. If one of those are disconnect or damaged it would read -40 and would run like crap. Sorry I can't help more.

[zogorion]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm actually starting to put it all together now. I'm pretty sure the battery is bad, gotta scavenge one somewhere. And I just realized earlier today that the truck is getting HORRIBLE mileage, now I know a 3/4 ton Burb with the 6.0 isn't going to get great mileage just putting around the base, but it's using gas like there's a hole in the tank, which would correspond with what you've all said. I'm gonna try to do what I can, but as much as I hate to say it, I'm probably going to have to drive it until it shyts the bed before the company will do anything. They won't fix it, they'll just requesition a new one. When I get some time, I'm going to try cleaning a few things here and there, and see what happens. Thanks again.
-Orion

[Bob Gervais]

If it's possible, try to get the codes out of it. If you don't have a scanner there, Harbor Freight Tools sells a cheap one for around $50 that will get you by, and will at least tell you what codes the computer has stored. Much easier to diagnose that way.