Newb Off-roading for the first time

[baboon]

Hey guys, I just got a new H3 Hummer a week ago. Before that I've never driven any 4x4 or truck or SUV - my last car was actually a Chevy Malibu, so its a bit of a change.

Anyway, I went off-roading today for the first time - was fun and a bit scary for a newb like me. After about 15 minutes or so, I started getting an error message saying something like, "Traction Failed; Service 4x4" and the orange light that is next to the 4x4 button was off, and if I tried turning it on it would only flash for a few seconds and then go off again. I went back on the road immediately, and shortly after to a car wash. The whole way the error message kept continuing. After washing the car and turning it back on, the error message mysteriously disappeared and the light by the 4x4 button turned back on.

Is this normal? Anyone have any ideas what would have caused this? I'm a bit wary of going off-roading again before figuring out what happened.

Thanks.

[Sewie]

Not normal, but not uncommon. Most times I've seen that message it will reset after turning off the truck for a minute or two.

If it happens again, call OnStar and see if it threw a code. Then take it to the dealership.

[baboon]

Originally Posted by Sewie

Not normal, but not uncommon. Most times I've seen that message it will reset after turning off the truck for a minute or two.

If it happens again, call OnStar and see if it threw a code. Then take it to the dealership.

Interesting. I did turn it off for a few seconds and then re-start, but the error message continued. However, when I turned it off for about 15-20 minute while at the car wash, the error message went away the next time I started it.

I did try calling onstar and the receptionist actually got upset with me that I was using her time for something that's not an "emergency"

I went with a friend who has a Dodge Ram 1500, and he was jokingly ridiculing how a "Hummer" would get such an error and lose its 4x4 capability while his Dodge was working fine.

[wpage]

You will get flashing messages in your DIC for Stability Control if you have it engaged from the control panel and that is a normal condition.

When you engage OnStar you have 2 options one is standard call and the other is emergency call. If you use the emergency button they will treat you similar to using 911 for non emergency from home.

Not saying that you got it wrong. But there are a few bells and whistles to get used to operating the H3. It took me a while to get comfortable with mine. Don't be shy on reading your owners manual theres good info there!

Good luck with your new rig!

[cdmintmi]

Ive had similar sitiuations happen to me a couple of times too but the message always went away after I cut the truck off and back on. Although Ive never had the traction control failure (until I had a 4 foot steel silt fence stake wrap around the A-arm and rip a wheelspeed sensor wire out).

With me it seems to only give the message after I shift to or out of 4low lock. After it happened the second time I read the manual and it says you should shift to neutral (duh) and should be stopped or the prefferred method is to be moving foward or backwards (1-2 mph i think) while doing this. Ive tried it and it does seem to work when shifting into 4low lock but coming out of it sounds harsh so I stick stopping when shifting out of low lock. When I took mine in after tearing the wheell speed sensor wire off I had em check everything and told them what had happened. They said everything checked out fine. BY the way when that happens you get a ABS failure, TRAC failure, Stab failure, and Service 4x4 message.

As for your freind, Id give it a while and wait till his transmission is being rebuilt. Every owner of a dodge Ive ever known has had it done. A farmer down the road bought 6 of them for his farm and all but one was in the shop within 6 months.

[3Hummer]

remember though your rig will never go out of four wheel drive, you just may loose traction control

[SandT_H3]

When I first got mine, the same thing happened to me abd I had never even taken it off road yet. I took it in and they had to replace the PCM. Then a couple weeks later it started again and the service manager simply pulled down my glove box and unplugged then reconnected a couple of the wire connections in there and that did the trick. I have not had the problem again.

[DennisAJC]

It's an H3.

[BigPoppa1411]

Originally Posted by DennisAJC

It's an H3.

It never ends...

[RazM]

Originally Posted by DennisAJC

It's an H3.

Finally figured out how to count to 3?

[Big Dad]

Originally Posted by DennisAJC

It's an H3.

Holy $hit the philosopher finally chimed in....

Thanks for those words of wisdom!

[baboon]

Originally Posted by DennisAJC

It's an H3.

30,000+ posts?! I take it you can barely afford the payments and gas on your used H2 which results in spending most of your free time posting on this site instead of actually driving it?