Ten problems related to engine and engine cooling have been reported for the 2003 Chevrolet Suburban. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Vehicle suddenly started going into reduced power mode and providing an error code indicating a problem with the throttle control sensor. From the hundreds of online posts (some by gm mechanics) this is an ongoing problem with many 2003-2008 trucks and suvs made by gm. When I began trying to repair this problem myself, I found out from my local chevy parts department that "they can not keep these throttle control assemblies in stock because we are replacing so many of them. . . " there seems to be a know problem that gm is not adequately being proactive about. This happens while driving highway, local streets and at startup. This becomes a serious safety issue when the vehicle goes into reduced power mode while the vehicle is in traffic.
I will be driving down the road both hwy and city. The Suburban will go into reduced engin and lose all its power and speed. I have to pull over and cut the car off and restart it and it's fine to go for maybe a mile and it does it again. They can not pin point what the problem is . It's very dangerous.
Driving on the highway and I lost all power. It said (reduced engine power) on the dash. This has happened several times and I haven't found a mechanic who can fix it. I've looked all over the internet and there are many other people with the same problem. This is very dangerous and almost caused an accident. It comes out of nowhere and for this to happen to someone for the first time, it's going to cause some deadly crashes.
Just finished driving vehicle for 1 hour at highway speeds without incident. Parked car for 5 minutes, upon trying to restart, the car displayed "reduced engine power" on the driver information console. Approximately 8 restarts and the message did not display. Drove car 5 minutes and parked it for 1 hour, upon restart displayed same message, car was virtually undriveable. 3 restarts later message no longer displayed. This message has now intermittently occurred ever since seemingly without any pattern. The message is related to a failure in the "drive by wire" system that allows for the elimination of a physical cable from the gas pedal. It causes the car to be completely undriveable until seemingly randomly fixing itself.
Driving in middle lane on highway out of state with kids in the car engine just quit--no power, couldn't signal to move or get to side of road, just sat in middle lane. Very scary!! towed to a nearby dealer-told us the fuel pump shorted the engine and had to replace the fuel pump. No advance warning-only a blower motor seemed to be malfunctioning that morning (have had a/c problems). No issue with power until it just quit. Seems to be a common complaint when researching this year and vehicle--loss of power or decreased power. With the number of incidents found, someone should research this before another car is struck from behind and there are injuries or worse, fatalities. To have something this major happen without any symptoms or warning lights, and for the number of cases found, seems irresponsible at best, negligent at least. Please look into this!.
I was driving my Suburban when a message reading "reduced engine power" came on and my car cut off. I was very lucky to only be going 20 mph in my neighborhood. Had I been going faster and had a car been following close behind, we would have caused an accident. This problem still persists and stops every 2-3 miles. We have to pull over, leave the car off for 5-10 seconds and then restart. We are then able to go another 2-3 miles. This is our only vehicle so we have no choice but to drive with our hazards on because we have 4 kids at 3 different schools to drop off and pick up each day. After researching this issue online, I am seeing that this is occuring in hundreds of Chevrolet and gm cars. It is my understanding that these 2 are the same company. I do not dare get on a mjor hiway or interstate because of the fear of the car shutting down and causing an accident. Chevrolet and gm are aware of this problem, as many people have filed complaints with both the company and the NHTSA. Why is there no recall to fix this? this is a very dangerous situation and could likely lead to a deadly accident. I am discussing a class action lawsuit with a number of people and once the info is collected, I will contact an attorney. Please help get these unsafe vehicles off of the road and into the dealerships to be fixed. Thank you.
"reduced engine power" light comes on and truck slows to less than 10 mph and the power steering stop working. This has happened six times in the last year. 1st incident I took it to the dealer and they said nothing was wrong with it. Diagnostics performed and nothing came back wrong. I think the wiring to the throttle is possibly to blame. If I hit a bump in the road or cross railroad tracks, the reduced engine power can come on. I have a hunch after researching online & finding that several other people have the same problem, that leads me to believe that chevy knows about it & is doing nothing about it. "typical"!! I am very displeased, especially because I love my Suburban. I suggest an investigation & recall of this problem. I ask that chevy takes responsibility for poor quality & repairs the problem pronto! OH, and the power seating fuse caught fire and exploded the little fuse in the fuse box, now the seats won't work & neither does the passenger side windows. The wiring done on this truck is cheap! the parts are cheap! not a happy customer!.
The contact owns a 2003 Chevrolet Suburban. The contact stated that she started the vehicle so that it could warm up and within a few minutes it was on fire. The police and fire department were called and a report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who advised her that the fire started in the lower resistor connector and the blower motor. The vehicle was deemed as destroyed. The manufacturer was contacted and an investigator inspected the vehicle but denied her claim. The failure mileage was approximately 132,000.
I have 2003 Suburban 1500, that keeps getting a error message "reduce engine power". The vehicle will all of sudden while driving, reduce speed and I can't accelerate above 25-30mph. I will have to pull over and turn car off for 10-15 seconds before it resets, however it will continue to happen over and over again! it is very scary and dangerous when I have my kids or my wife drive it because you never know when the car will have this happen. Strangely, when we drive on the highway we can use the "cruise control" feature when we reach 25mph and use the cruise control to accelerate that way with minimal occurances. I have taken the car to "2 chevy dealers and 3 mechanics" nither can tell us whats wrong! this is frustrating because we only have on car, and we know this a "safety hazard" and extremly dangerous and somebody has to look into this! I only hope someone who reads these complaints has the power to help me and everyone with this problem.
On three different occasions our 2003 chevy surburban has stopped in the middle of traffic for no apparent reason. We have taken it to the car dealership and they have charged us to put it on the computer machine and cannot find anything wrong with it, which leads me to believe that there is some kind of default with the vehicle. The last time we were making a 150 mile trip from our home to another city, and it stopped 5 times. We would have to pull off the highway and let it come to a complete stop, and then it would start back. Needless to say I was very frightened and this is really dangerous. I would appreciate you all investigating this to see if there is a problem with the vehicle, since nothing shows up when they test it. At the present time I refuse to drive or ride in it for fear it will stop in the middle of traffic again, and we may not be able to pull over and someone is going to be seriously hurt. Once before when we first purchased it , they found out at the dealership that there was pin holes in the heads on the motor, which it was taken in because it was smoking. This vehicle was purchased brand new.