No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
There are 3 reports of no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 28th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 80,000 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 $200–$1,800 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 5 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2021 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2004 has 3. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
I was driving on e-470 westbound near quebec when the car shutdown completely. No power. The car then would not start and had to be towed to the dealer to have a computer check. They told me it was the fuel pump, after a week, when I was having it towed to my mechanic for the repair, I decided to try to start it and it started right up. I drove it to my mechanic who checked the fuel pump and said it was fine. They could not find a reason why this happened. Same with another mechanic. Since then (I had owned the car for 5 months at that point) this has happened four more times, the latest on may 9th. Again it's been towed and again I am trying to find a permanent solution. I am now finding out the passlock anti-theft system malfunctions and cuts off fuel to the pump because the car thinks it is being stolen. I have also learned it has been a common problem in many gmc models over many years. Sometimes the passlock system can be reset (though that has never worked for me). The only way to permanently fix the problem is to disable the passlock anti-theft system. These systems should be removed from these cars. I would rather my car…
I was driving on e-470 westbound near quebec when the car shutdown completely. No power. The car then would not start and had to be towed to the dealer to have a computer check. They told me it was the fuel pump, after a week, when I was having it towed to my mechanic for the repair, I decided to try to start it and it started right up. I drove it to my mechanic who checked the fuel pump and said it was fine. They could not find a reason why this happened. Same with another mechanic. Since then (I had owned the car for 5 months at that point) this has happened four more times, the latest on may 9th. Again it's been towed and again I am trying to find a permanent solution. I am now finding out the passlock anti-theft system malfunctions and cuts off fuel to the pump because the car thinks it is being stolen. I have also learned it has been a common problem in many gmc models over many years. Sometimes the passlock system can be reset (though that has never worked for me). The only way to permanently fix the problem is to disable the passlock anti-theft system. These systems should be removed from these cars. I would rather my car…
On an exit ramp getting ready to merge with traffic and the engine cuts off. I was able to stop. Turned the key repeatedly, and though the radio and dash lights came on the engine would not turn over. I had the tahoe in "park" my foot on the brake. Nothing. Shifted it to neutral and tried: nothing. Movd the column up and down: nothing. Pounded on the column: amen it started. Drove to mechanic: could not duplicate problem. No data in computer indicating any problem. 6 weeks go by and tahoe will not start in my driveway. Go though the same litany again. Finally started. My wife takes my tahoe to lowe's in january car will not start. She tried so many times she drained the battery. I hooked up the jumper cables and it started immediately. I take it to mechanic and he "thinks" it's part of the ignition module, but doesn't know for sure. The part alone is $250. I decline to spend money on a maybe. Then for 4 months no problems. May 31st 2015, tahoe will not start. It started fine may 29th. Not only would it not start, but the battery was dead. Radio was out of sequence by 8 hours. Charged the battery and tahoe still would not start…
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Loss of braking
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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