Service bulletins for the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche
A bulletin is a manufacturer's communication to its dealers, as NHTSA indexes it. The summary is NHTSA's. The document is the manufacturer's: read it at NHTSA. A bulletin is not a recall, and listing a model year does not mean every vehicle of it is concerned.
616 on file from NHTSA, as of 2026-10-19.
By type
By component
By trouble code
By topic
| PIC6101 | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM; EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that are unable to receive OnStar Hands Free Calling calls and or the OnStar center is unable to perform remote services. Technician will need to push the OnStar Blue button and verify the system successfully connects to an advisor. Place an outbound personal call from the vehicle and verify it connects. Place an inbound call to the vehicle making sure to dial using the 11 digit phone number (1 + area code + number). If outbound calls can be placed and only incoming calls fail. Cycle power to the Vehicle Communication Interface Module and retest inbound call to the vehicle. If the power cycle corrects the concern and the module manufacturer is continental, replace the Vehicle Communication Interface Module. If the power cycle corrects the concern and the module manufacturer is LG, please record information from the latest version of PIC4310 and call General Motors Technical Assistance Center for further assistance. If the concern is still present after the power cycle, please record information from the latest version of PIC4310 and call General Motors Technical Assistance Center for further assistance. |
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| PIT5486 | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that when dialing certain numbers using OnStar Hands-free Calling, the audio is distorted or has poor quality after performing the OnStar Canada Upgrade. Dealer should communicate to the customer that we apologize for this inconvenience and that General Motors is working on a solution for this concern. |
| PIT5353A | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY; EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL; EQUIPMENT. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about what XM offerings are available for vehicles. A dealer or customer can access the website listed below for vehicle specific XM offerings and availability. |
| PIT4943D | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE; FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY; ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have a Service Engine Soon Malfunction Indicator Lamp. Technician may find Diagnostic Trouble Code P0442. Technician will need to review Techlink article from May 2013 titled "Using the Evaporative Emissions System Tester" Technician will need to follow these steps to help diagnose the issue. First after the P0442 has been verified do not disturb any of the fuel system components. The technician now can use the scan tool to close the Evaporative Emissions System. If possible change the tank pressure sensor units from inch_H2O to milimeter_Hg for better resolution. Now the vehicle can be stared to monitor the tank pressure sensor output value for approximately two minutes. If the tank pressure sensor value does change, pressurize the fuel tank side of the purge solenoid with the GE 41413-A / J 41413-A and the necessary adaptors. Now add smoke and allow pressure to stabilize for 2 minutes. If smoke is allowed to pass through the purge solenoid, replace the purge solenoid. If the tank pressure sensor value does not change, then install CH-48096 adaptor between the purge line from the canister and the purge solenoid. With the Evaporative Emissions System closed, pressurize the system through the CH-48096 adaptor and allow the system to completely stabilize, by observing the Press / Vac Gauge for a minimum of 5 minutes. Now add smoke to the system with GE 41413-A / J 41413-A after system stabilization. Now inspect the purge solenoid, engine side, fuel cap, canister vent solenoid filter and any line quick connects. When the leak is unable to be located, test under a vacuum condition. his type of leak may be detected by using the scan tool Purge/Seal function to create a vacuum in the Evaporative Emissions System and then observe the FTP sensor parameter for vacuum decay. |
| PIC4696B | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:ANTI-THEFT DEVICES. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician on how to unlock radios that are Delco TheftLock. Technician will use the radio to get the scrambled code. Technician will need to contact the radio unlock center to retrieve the unlock code from the scrambled code. |
| PIC4696A | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:ANTI-THEFT DEVICES; EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician on how to unlock radios that are Delco TheftLock. Technician will use the radio to get the scrambled code. Technician will need to contact the radio unlock center to retrieve the unlock code from the scrambled code. |
| PIT3227L | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. STRUCTURE:BODY:TAILGATE:HINGE AND ATTACHMENTS. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that may have slack in one of the tailgate cables. Technician should not replace any parts for this concern. Please communicate to the customer this condition is a normal operating characteristic of their vehicle. |
| PIC5953B | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that may have an issue when using Bluetooth voice recognition with an iPhone. Technician should work with the customer to insure the phone contacts to not have any Emojis loaded to any contact. |
| PIP5338 | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. SUSPENSION; STRUCTURE:FRAME AND MEMBERS. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vibration complaints that are one of the most challenging complaints to accurately diagnose and repair. Technician will need to use Pico Oscilloscope Diagnostic Kit to effectively diagnosis vehicles. Technician should drive the vehicle will using the Pico Oscilloscope to record data. After the data is recorded it should be reviewed to determine the root cause of the concern. If a repair attempt made the concern better but not eliminated or had no affect at all, and are requesting assistance from General Motors Technical Assistance Center record another Pico file and save it to the computer. After the new Pico Oscilloscope data has been saved email the data to General Motors Technical Assistance Center in the subject line include ?Vibration? ?Business Associate Code? and the last 8 of the Vehicle Identification Number. |
| PIP4404F | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. ENGINE. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician vehicles with a slight rough idle. Technician should compare the concern with a like vehicle. If the concern is worse than a like vehicle, technician should follow published Service Information diagnosis and repair as necessary. |
| PIT3099N | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL; EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about installing General Motors Accessory pats. Technician can check Service Information for some accessories. Technician can also contact Partect for assistance. Technician can also contact Techline Customer Support Center for programming issues. |
| PIP5163B | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT ADAPTIVE/MOBILITY; FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE; ENGINE. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about engine block that have a possible cylinder bore damage, scoring or out of round as the possible cause of engine oil consumption, misfire, cylinder leakage or blow by. Technician will need to inspect the engine for Cylinder damage or scoring, an out of round cylinder bore, Dirt intrusion, and Catalytic Converter failure. |
| PIT5389B | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicle that may have an OnStar system that has progression tones when pressing the blue or red button. Technician will need to contact General Motors Technical Assistance Center with the scan tool data from the OnStar system. |
| PIT3098E | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. STRUCTURE:FRAME AND MEMBERS; SUSPENSION; EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have a lean to the left or right. Technician will need to measure fender wheel-opening heights, front and rear, to quantify vehicle lean. Fender wheel-opening heights are related to, but distinct from, trim height. The front wheel-opening height is known as P height, and the rear wheel-opening height is known as R height. Adjust and heights that are out of specification. After all adjustments are done, perform a front-end alignment and check headlight aim. |
| PIT5353 | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:RADIO/TAPE DECK/CD ETC.. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about what XM offerings are available for vehicles. A dealer or customer can access the website listed below for vehicle specific XM offerings and availability. |
| PIP5029F | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. ENGINE. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have a Malfunction Indicator Lamp on or engine misfire, rough idle, extended crank, or crank no start in some cases. Technician will need to perform published Service Information diagnostics. If technician finds carbon an upper engine and valve cleaning should be performed. |
| PIT5264B | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM(GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM). This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that are travelling from Canada to the United States. While in the United States they are unable to receive Turn-by-Turn directions. Due to the existing cellular provider not having roaming agreements in areas outside of Canada to support transmitting of the packet data required for Turn-By-Turn feature to operate. The customer has 3 options while traveling through the United Sates. First if the vehicle is equipped with a navigation radio they can request a "Destination Download" to the vehicle. Second if the customer uses the OnStar RemoteLink app they can send the directions to the vehicle. The third option would be to have the vehicle loaded with a ?500 phone number? The customer will no longer be able to use their Hands Free Calling minutes when the new 500 phone number is loaded. If a customer chooses to restore Hands Free Calling in the future a new phone number will be assigned to the vehicle; previous phone numbers are not available. |
| PIT5399 | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about connectivity concerns when connecting an Apple device via USB cord. Technician should insure the customer is using an original equipment manufacturer Apple USB cable. |
| PIC4310L | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM(GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM); ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicle that may have an OnStar system that has progression tones when pressing the blue or red button. Technician will need to call General Motors Technical Assistance Center with the scan tool data from the OnStar system. |
| PIT3227K | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. STRUCTURE:BODY:TAILGATE. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that may have slack in one of the tailgate cables. Technician should not replace any parts for this concern. Please communicate to the customer this condition is a normal operating characteristic of their vehicle. |
| PIT3046G | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. FUEL SYSTEM, OTHER:STORAGE:FUEL GAUGE SYSTEM. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that have an inaccurate fuel gauge. Technician should drive the vehicle to duplicate the concern. The fuel gauge will have a tendency to falsely indicate a lower fuel level than what is actually present. The fuel gauge will take a few minutes to show the correct fuel level. On vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission no buffering takes place when the transmission is in park or neutral. This is a normal characteristic and no repairs are necessary. On vehicles equipped with a manual transmission the fuel gauge is buffered in all gears and neutral. There is a timer which starts to count up when the clutch is depressed. When this timer reaches its calibrated value the buffering stops. This is a normal characteristic and no repairs are necessary. |
| PIC5953A | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that may have an issue when using Bluetooth voice recognition with an iPhone. Technician should work with the customer to insure the phone contacts to not have any Emojis loaded to any contact. |
| PIT5264C | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL; EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM(GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM). This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicles that are travelling from Canada to the United States. While in the United States they are unable to receive Turn-by-Turn directions. Due to the existing cellular provider not having roaming agreements in areas outside of Canada to support transmitting of the packet data required for Turn-By-Turn feature to operate. The customer has 3 options while traveling through the United Sates. First if the vehicle is equipped with a navigation radio they can request a "Destination Download" to the vehicle. Second if the customer uses the OnStar RemoteLink app they can send the directions to the vehicle. The third option would be to have the vehicle loaded with a "500 phone number" The customer will no longer be able to use their Hands Free Calling minutes when the new 500 phone number is loaded. If a customer chooses to restore Hands Free Calling in the future a new phone number will be assigned to the vehicle; previous phone numbers are not available. |
| PIC3278F | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL. This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician the steps needed to diagnose and repair the vehicles that may have unwanted or phantom phone calls. Technician will need to determine what type of call the customer is having that is unwanted. The vehicle may receive an incoming call just like any other phone. Typically the customer will hear the phone ringing in the vehicle. This scenario also includes incoming Bluetooth calls. One type of unwanted call can be made if the key pad is faulty the OnStar system will try to make a blue button call for shorted voltage in the circuits. The OnStar module could have an internal fault and produce a "Phone Unavailable" audio message also it may have a Diagnostic Trouble Code U1500 or B1000. Refer to diagnostics for the Diagnostic Trouble Code making sure to follow any applicable Bulletins or Preliminary Information sheets. A "Ready" or "OnStar ready" audio message heard while driving. In some cases it has been found that the customer is inadvertently pressing the ?push to talk? button on the steering wheel controls. On rare occasions, other issues in the steering column or Steering Wheel Control system may induce this concern. |
| PIC4310K | 2017-08-15. Service bulletin. EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL; EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM(GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM). This Preliminary Information communication provides information to the technician about vehicle that may have an OnStar system that has progression tones when pressing the blue or red button. Technician will need to call General Motors Technical Assistance Center with the scan tool data from the OnStar system. |
The summaries are NHTSA's. Each bulletin's page links NHTSA's copy of the manufacturer's document.