Engine sensor failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
When engine sensor failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 report engine sensor failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 92,088 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41,445 miles | 62,866 miles | 82,500 miles | 110,000 miles | 133,533 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $180–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
2002 chevrolet 2500hd w/ 8.1l gasoline engine: the failure of the crankshaft position sensor on these engines appears to be a very common problem. This sensor failed on my truck at only 30k miles! I know of two other '02 trucks w/ this engine that also had the sensor fail and many others have been discovered while doing research on this problem! The seriousness of the problem lies in the fact that the truck suddenly stops running for no reason and you lose all power for the brakes and steering. At times it will restart without any problems once you shift to neutral, but other times it may not restart for a day or more. This was a huge safety issue for me since I tow a 10k lbs. Fifth-wheel with the truck! My truck stopped running four times over the course of two weeks as a result of this problem. Everytime was while traveling in traffic, with only one of the times while being stopped at a light! My truck is no longer under warranty due to the time limit of 36 months expiring. To have such a part fail with only 30k miles on the engine is outrageous. One of the other trucks I know of had the sensor fail around 55k miles. Same…
2002 chevrolet 2500hd w/ 8.1l gasoline engine: the failure of the crankshaft position sensor on these engines appears to be a very common problem. This sensor failed on my truck at only 30k miles! I know of two other '02 trucks w/ this engine that also had the sensor fail and many others have been discovered while doing research on this problem! The seriousness of the problem lies in the fact that the truck suddenly stops running for no reason and you lose all power for the brakes and steering. At times it will restart without any problems once you shift to neutral, but other times it may not restart for a day or more. This was a huge safety issue for me since I tow a 10k lbs. Fifth-wheel with the truck! My truck stopped running four times over the course of two weeks as a result of this problem. Everytime was while traveling in traffic, with only one of the times while being stopped at a light! My truck is no longer under warranty due to the time limit of 36 months expiring. To have such a part fail with only 30k miles on the engine is outrageous. One of the other trucks I know of had the sensor fail around 55k miles. Same…
While driving under normal highway conditions, the engine has stalled three times in two weeks. This causes a loss of power steering and power brakes. At this point I have been able to safely pull off of the road, as it has not occurred during congested traffic. While searching the database I found similar failures of 2001 8.1l engines that were recalled to replace the crankshaft position sensor. *tr
Also reported on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500
Loss of braking
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Other brake problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does engine sensor failure happen on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine sensor failure on the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 4.9 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed