Service Engine Light On problems of the 2001 Chevrolet C/k 2500

Crankshaft sensor defective. 2001 Chevrolet 2500hd silverado 8. 1l VIN g vehicle has had a on and off problem with running rough, erratic shifting, service engine soon light on or intermittent. Took to the dealer bought from, never able to find anything wrong. Said it might be crank sensor, but if its running o. K. Don't worry about it. This problem started in approx Feb, 2004 and was last at the dealers spring 2007. 3 days it was there and they still could not even say if there was a problem. Engine light still on. Problem with the erratic shifting, rough running , engine light on continued until sept. 2008 when the problem became very serious. Vehicle began to stall or simply just quit running all together. You would be driving at highway speeds or just local driving and the vehicle would simply shut down, leaving you with no brakes or steering. It could not be restarted until you stopped, let it sit for a sometimes up to 10 mins. Vehicle would do this 2-3 times a day, or weeks before doing it again. In July 2009 the problem became serious, where the vehicle would just shut of while just sitting at red lights or stop signs. My mechanic did a scan and dtc's for crank sensor and several others came up. It was thought that everything from broken wires to modules had to be checked. I subscribed to a online vehicle repair info site and immediately found a product safety recall #06083 12/11/2007 for vehicles with an 8. 1l v-8 engine. The VIN numbers on my vehicle were higher than those in the recall, but the description of the problem fit exactly. My mechanic was showed the info and could not find anything on his service sight. It was decided to change the crank sensor. The vehicles performance increased 100% and the problem seems to be resolved. The old crank sensor was saved. Apparently g. M. Has many more vehicles out there with bad crank sensors than they acknowledge.