Other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe
1 crash 2 fires 3 of the 21 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe report other engine problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 128,764 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.
20% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 miles | 40,750 miles | 86,000 miles | 105,250 miles | 138,764 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
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 2 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 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 28 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 400 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 240,000 miles.
By volume the 2021 carries the most reports, with 79; the 2004 has 21. 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.
Dt: while driving on the interstate at 76 MPH the vehicle was stalled, and the engine cut off. The owner had to pull over and restart it. Vehicle started back up, and died twice after that within 40 miles. The owner stated that there was no check engine light. The owner called onstar and they didn't see a problem. The owner stated vehicle lost power steering and brakes when the engine cut off. The car was taken to the dealership, and they could not duplicate problem. The owner contacted chevrolet, and they stated that they will look into the problem, and advised the owner to call back today. The problem happened since last year. The owner was still driving, it but did not want the car anymore since it was not safe to drive. *ak
Dt: the caller stated vehicle stalls. This happens when driving at slower speeds and idling. The engine hesitated just before it stalled. Dealer said the problem was in a computer chip the first time. The second time he had it in they told him he may be out of gas they could not duplicate the problem. Manufacturer was called and he filed a complaint with them. *ak *jb
2004 chevy tahoe speedometer quit working. Stays on 55 MPH even when engine is off. Told it would be about $800 to fix. Now oil gauge is not working properly. It does not drop to zero. Oil in engine is at proper level. *nm
Also reported on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Loss of braking
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 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 other engine problem happen on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 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