# Help! Service Stabilitrak/Service Power Steering/Service Traction control/low power



## mikestony (Jan 17, 2013)

Oh my! It's like I'm looking in the proverbial mirror! I have the EXACT same issue albeit not as often as you. The same TCM code thing and messages etc.

I've replaced my negative cable once, then again today with a homemade one. 

In the past, I've replaced the positive cable assembly. I've cleaned all the grounds I can find. I've pulled my PCM and cleaned the contacts and put dielectric grease on them. 

This morning was the latest issue for me, at work. I got all the messages you did, but I shut my car off, then tried to start it. I turned the key and no response from the starter. I was a bit p.o.'ed and made my cable, installed it, and it started right up like normal.

We're in the same boat bud! I really hope we can solve this lol


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## mikestony (Jan 17, 2013)

So check my post here if we are the same:
http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/129-...sion-fluid-flush-post2822130.html#post2822130


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## welch_connor (Dec 13, 2017)

Close, but not quite the same. My error messages go in order, then the last one ( Service Traction Control) stays on. And my needles don't jump. I have 75K on it now and I did my transmission fluid at 70,000. (I flush a little over 4 qts every 10k) and the problem just started at about 74K, so Im assuming its not fluid level related.


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## welch_connor (Dec 13, 2017)

lets hope! it happened one time to me when I had about 35K on it, but I just considered that some sort of fluke. Now it doesnt seem like it is going away.


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## welch_connor (Dec 13, 2017)

So, It happened to me again. This time was worse then the others. Got off work, 3 AM. It very cold, colder than any night in the last few weeks of having this issue. (40 degrees on my display) I start the car- Starts fine. Battery sounds good, volts are good on display (13v+) All three warning lights come- Service traction control, service power steering, service stabilitrak, along with the check engine light. Car is running and sounds fine. I try to shift into gear, and the shifter moves, but does not actually go into any gears. 

On other cold mornings, with the service lights coming on, the same thing has happened, or I have been able to get it into limp mode so the car will at least move. After either driving the car to the nearest gas station ( a few miles) or letting the car run for a few minutes (5 minutes or so) , I have been able to turn the car off, let it sit for 30 seconds, turn it back on, and it runs fine- all service lights will be off.

On this particularly cold night, this "trick" of letting the car warm up for a few minutes didnt work. After about 30 minutes of the car being on and trying to restart it to get the problem to go away, I decided I needed a tow home. Turned it off, called the tow company. No answer. I decided to try the car one more time before calling another tow company. Low low and behold, car went into gear, everything is fine, and I got it home. I guess it didnt like being threatened with a tow!

Continuing, I woke up in the morning- 9 AM- 5 hours after I got it home. Still pretty cold out, 50 degrees or so, to get the car down to the mechanic for a professional diagnostic. The shop is about a mile away. Start the car, put it in gear, and everything is fine. Drive about 1/2 way there, and the car goes into limp mode. get it to the mechanic, and describe all my issues.

Update to today, and called the mechanic for an update. He is still trying to diagnose the problem, but its not looking good. The CEL code is U0101, lost communication with TCM. He says he checked the obvious things - Battery, Etc. Battery good. (Less than 1 year old) Recalled negative cable good ( I just replaced it ). He says he has checked for service bulletins or recalls that may pertain to this issue. When he hooks up his scanner, he can communicate with the TCM and all signs say its good. He can communicate with the ECM, and all signs say its good, and when he looks at the ECM, he says it shows that communication between the ECM and TCM is normal as it should be. Basically, ECM and TCM are communicating fine, but ECM is sending the code that they are not communicating fine, and throwing the service codes and putting the car into limp mode by either not letting me go into gear at all, or limiting power.

So at this point, he says he is going to look at a few more things, but the next step would be reprogramming the computer and "Hope" that works. Not exactly promising. Doesn't seem to me that software would be affected by the cold weather, but who knows. It seems to me it might be more of a hardware issue with the ECM or TCM, meaning that the cold weather makes a connector or chip in the computers shrink just enough to lose contact, and that when warmed slightly, contact is made again, letting the car run fine. 

Not sure what to do here- I don't want to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks. Flash or replace the ECM (mechanic seems knowledgeable) or take it to the dealer? (Which I try to avoid!)


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

welch_connor said:


> So, It happened to me again. I don't want to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks. Flash or replace the ECM (mechanic seems knowledgeable) or take it to the dealer? (Which I try to avoid!)


You still might have some Powertrain coverage left on the warranty? I'd visit the Dealer!


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## MrBlue (May 13, 2012)

Wow, this is so familiar.
2012 with 171,000 miles. Just installed a new battery 2 months ago. Then about 3 weeks ago the abs and traction lights start coming intermittently. I jump on here to find it is usually the negative battery cable. Knowing I'm past warranty, I buy a Delco cable and install it. I also clean the connection at the core support and add dielectric grease. Now tonight the lights are back along with the service power steering warning. 
This is really starting to stink.........


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## Skywalka87 (Jan 15, 2020)

Alright so tonight I had this exact **** show up on my 2013 cruze.....-*Stabilitrak/Service Power Steering/Service Traction control... so I YouTube it and the dude said it was the key fob. The key fob I was using is 7 years old so I took my other key fob that is brand new and started the car. The lights completely went away. This **** sounds far fetched but it worked for mine. Worth a shot.whats the worst that could happen?..*


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## Cruzsucks (Jun 22, 2020)

Has anyone found an answer to this one? My car works fine for


welch_connor said:


> Hi all, at my wits end trying to figure this out. I'm sure its something simple, at least I hope!
> 
> 2013 Cruze LS 1.8, Auto, 75K.
> 
> ...


Soooo...nobody has found the answer for this one yet? God this car is a piece of ****! Does this crap about twice a year...then all of a sudden it will start and all is fine. This morning went to the gym...get done working out, try to start car...nothing, just all of the service messages...stabilitrak, power steering, traction control....wont even try to start. Battery is good.


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## Please_be_Kind (Sep 23, 2020)

Skywalka87 said:


> Alright so tonight I had this exact *** show up on my 2013 cruze.....-Stabilitrak/Service Power Steering/Service Traction control... so I YouTube it and the dude said it was the key fob. The key fob I was using is 7 years old so I took my other key fob that is brand new and started the car. The lights completely went away. This ** sounds far fetched but it worked for mine. Worth a shot.whats the worst that could happen?..*


Hello, Could you please confirm if the issue has not come back while using the new key fob? I have the exact same problem. Trying to find a solution and avoid going to the mechanic and paying more money than necessary. Honesty is scarce within that profession. Specially when the customer is a woman. Thanks


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## 14CCruze (Jun 18, 2021)

I made 2 new key fobs because there was a code that I needed it I guess because it was broken but the isue didn’t go away im guessing it’s the battery or cables because it seems to hard start due to a bad battery


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## Fowlerh1975 (10 mo ago)

welch_connor said:


> So, It happened to me again. This time was worse then the others. Got off work, 3 AM. It very cold, colder than any night in the last few weeks of having this issue. (40 degrees on my display) I start the car- Starts fine. Battery sounds good, volts are good on display (13v+) All three warning lights come- Service traction control, service power steering, service stabilitrak, along with the check engine light. Car is running and sounds fine. I try to shift into gear, and the shifter moves, but does not actually go into any gears.
> 
> On other cold mornings, with the service lights coming on, the same thing has happened, or I have been able to get it into limp mode so the car will at least move. After either driving the car to the nearest gas station ( a few miles) or letting the car run for a few minutes (5 minutes or so) , I have been able to turn the car off, let it sit for 30 seconds, turn it back on, and it runs fine- all service lights will be off.
> 
> ...


Had the exact same lights followed by limp mode and the TCM fixed it. 2.5 labor hours, transmission fluid and the charge for programming it and it’s good. I bought the AC Delco TCM myself so I didn’t pay too much! Drove it 600 miles on a trip the next weekend and now have about 1,000 miles over last 3 weeks and no issues!!!


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## Dgl (7 mo ago)

Cruzsucks said:


> Has anyone found an answer to this one? My car works fine for
> 
> Soooo...nobody has found the answer for this one yet? God this car is a piece of ****! Does this crap about twice a year...then all of a sudden it will start and all is fine. This morning went to the gym...get done working out, try to start car...nothing, just all of the service messages...stabilitrak, power steering, traction control....wont even try to start. Battery is good.


I have had many of the issues listed here and more with my 2013 turbo (stabilitrak, power steering, check engine, U0100, loss of can bus communication etc.. etc.. etc..).
A few weeks back I was on the highway and all these faults came up plus, I lost all my gauges (speedometer, tach, temperature etc) the transmission stayed in gear but once I pulled off the highway it would not shift and would only limp along. After sitting a while I restarted the car and it ran fine. The next morning I turned on the key and received a list of faults which pointed toward module communication failures.
This time the problem was persistent. I had already gone the dealership route and had a new battery cable installed etc. The fix for me was to remove the battery connections, pull the three connectors on the ECM module located in the engine bay near the battery, apply dielectric grease to the female sockets and reseat the connectors.

All faults immediately cleared and I haven't had an issue since.


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## jmiedoty11 (2 mo ago)

welch_connor said:


> So, It happened to me again. This time was worse then the others. Got off work, 3 AM. It very cold, colder than any night in the last few weeks of having this issue. (40 degrees on my display) I start the car- Starts fine. Battery sounds good, volts are good on display (13v+) All three warning lights come- Service traction control, service power steering, service stabilitrak, along with the check engine light. Car is running and sounds fine. I try to shift into gear, and the shifter moves, but does not actually go into any gears. On other cold mornings, with the service lights coming on, the same thing has happened, or I have been able to get it into limp mode so the car will at least move. After either driving the car to the nearest gas station ( a few miles) or letting the car run for a few minutes (5 minutes or so) , I have been able to turn the car off, let it sit for 30 seconds, turn it back on, and it runs fine- all service lights will be off. On this particularly cold night, this "trick" of letting the car warm up for a few minutes didnt work. After about 30 minutes of the car being on and trying to restart it to get the problem to go away, I decided I needed a tow home. Turned it off, called the tow company. No answer. I decided to try the car one more time before calling another tow company. Low low and behold, car went into gear, everything is fine, and I got it home. I guess it didnt like being threatened with a tow! Continuing, I woke up in the morning- 9 AM- 5 hours after I got it home. Still pretty cold out, 50 degrees or so, to get the car down to the mechanic for a professional diagnostic. The shop is about a mile away. Start the car, put it in gear, and everything is fine. Drive about 1/2 way there, and the car goes into limp mode. get it to the mechanic, and describe all my issues. Update to today, and called the mechanic for an update. He is still trying to diagnose the problem, but its not looking good. The CEL code is U0101, lost communication with TCM. He says he checked the obvious things - Battery, Etc. Battery good. (Less than 1 year old) Recalled negative cable good ( I just replaced it ). He says he has checked for service bulletins or recalls that may pertain to this issue. When he hooks up his scanner, he can communicate with the TCM and all signs say its good. He can communicate with the ECM, and all signs say its good, and when he looks at the ECM, he says it shows that communication between the ECM and TCM is normal as it should be. Basically, ECM and TCM are communicating fine, but ECM is sending the code that they are not communicating fine, and throwing the service codes and putting the car into limp mode by either not letting me go into gear at all, or limiting power. So at this point, he says he is going to look at a few more things, but the next step would be reprogramming the computer and "Hope" that works. Not exactly promising. Doesn't seem to me that software would be affected by the cold weather, but who knows. It seems to me it might be more of a hardware issue with the ECM or TCM, meaning that the cold weather makes a connector or chip in the computers shrink just enough to lose contact, and that when warmed slightly, contact is made again, letting the car run fine. Not sure what to do here- I don't want to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks. Flash or replace the ECM (mechanic seems knowledgeable) or take it to the dealer? (Which I try to avoid!)


 Did you find the issue?


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## jmiedoty11 (2 mo ago)

MrBlue said:


> Wow, this is so familiar.
> 2012 with 171,000 miles. Just installed a new battery 2 months ago. Then about 3 weeks ago the abs and traction lights start coming intermittently. I jump on here to find it is usually the negative battery cable. Knowing I'm past warranty, I buy a Delco cable and install it. I also clean the connection at the core support and add dielectric grease. Now tonight the lights are back along with the service power steering warning.
> This is really starting to stink.........


Did you find the issue?


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## Bclarke37 (21 d ago)

So im kinda having the same issue here. Except I have a week startup when the weather is cold. It's been about 10° when this happens. However it's only the service stabiltrack warning that comes on in my car. I have the 1.4l turbo manual. Not sure if Mayne just a week battery but I have had no other issues aside when I try and start it up after a really cold night.


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