Incorrect Brake Control Install Caused 2011 Chevy Tahoe to Keep Running if Brake Pedal Is Held  

Question:

Expert Reply:

That is certainly a unique problem! But not to worry because I can at the very least tell you how the brake controller should be installed on your 2011 Chevy Tahoe. But before that, I recommend having the other issues on the Tahoe taken care of so that everything is back to normal before installing the controller.

What I think is going on is power is going to the controller to tell it you are stepping on the brake. Where ever the controller was connected is drawing power through the ignition switch or something to do with the ignition. So as long as you have a foot on the brake, the vehicle doesn't know the ignition has been turned off. When you take your foot off the brake power is removed and it shuts off. That is a neat trick for sure but probably not good for the vehicle.

A Chevy dealer might have to take care of all that, clear the codes, and then we can move on to the brake controller installation.

On a 2011 Chevy Tahoe the tow package wires are under the dash but you have to use the right ones. The tow package wire bundle is located under the dash, to the left of the steering column, held together with a white tag.

There will likely be 5 wires but you only need 4. The red/black wire is 12 volt power into the controller black wire. The white wire is ground and goes to the controller white wire. The light blue/white wire is input from the brake switch and goes to the controller red wire. The dark blue wire is output to the trailer brakes and goes to the controller blue wire. There should also be an orange wire but it is not used.

There may also be some connections under the hood that will need to be made to make everything fully functional. I have included a link to a help article that explains everything. It is possible that because of the faulty installation the brake controller may need to be replaced as well.

expert reply by: Michael H

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