I am seeing another one of these in my very near future, need something easy to get a car seat in/out of and reliable. As an added benefit I can go across town and get a tune, and/or spray the shit out of it, and/or strip the drivetrain for another project if something happens when I am done with it. We used to have an 05 Escalade and it was an excellent vehicle, my dad has an 04 Yukon that has been very good to him, anyone else into these things?

12/19/2011 9:49:07 AM

My mom's got an 02 Suburban that's held up really well. No major issues in ~150k. I've generally found it pretty easy to work on, parts are plentiful and cheap. Only downside is that Vortec V8 is a hog. You can pretty much count on no more than 16-18 mpg on a good day. I do think that the removable passenger seats were pretty well thought out, as mom can get them in and out by herself most of the time. With the bench seat in it's pretty spacious, but take it out and you can fit a crapton of stuff in there.

12/19/2011 10:33:32 AM

does this generation have frequent fuel pump failures?

12/19/2011 11:23:45 AM

they're just so... blah....

12/19/2011 11:29:16 AM

lol. my family has... 6 of these.

There was a fuel pump recall for hard starting. the pump would not want to prime if the car had less than 1/4 tank. would drive fine if you got it started but if you turned it off you were stranded.

Not hard to perform, but the pump module is a few hundred bucks.

If you ever get stranded the temporary fix is to go under the truck and hit the bottom of the tank where the pump is with a hammer (or whatever else you can find). Give it 2 or 3 good wacks, and the car will start right up.

I think my moms 04 suburban is at 186k. Overall very happy with it, but it has had some issues:

-Gauge clusters are faulty. There was a recall for the speedo not working, which was done by gm under warranty. Now the second cluster has gone out, this time the LEDs are failing so you cant see the PRNDL. Also will go into a glitch mode where the speedo and tach peg even if you are going 10 mph.

-Right middle row seat which is the one that slides for access to the rear. THe slide and latch mechanism has broken a few times. Replacement GM parts will eventually break again, so i just made a custom piece. Problem is the cable stretches, so i just made the end piece adjustable so i can take up the slack when it grows. We do use the rear seat alot though.

-Latches that hold up the floor covers (the ones attached to the back of the middle seats) are cheap plastic and break

-leather on the front seats wears quickly

-buttons on radio and hvac wear from use and are now no longer legible

- gasket on intake mani have a recall. the rubber dries out, the recall issues new gasket material and fixes the problem permanently.

mostly interior stuff i gripe about.

12/19/2011 12:14:30 PM

Got an '03 Trailblazer, EXT version.

'tis a tank. Pretty bland ride, but a good workhorse. And I can fit 4 x 8 sheets of plywood/drywall/etc in the back.

Owner since mile zero was my dad. Only issue in 108,000 miles was the coolant thermostat failed, overcooling the engine constantly.

I like it. We do get snow here occasionally (MD) and I do a lot of projects that require lots of lumber.

12/19/2011 1:07:54 PM

my dad has a 03 or 04 Yukon Denali with the 6.0. I freaking love it, hes had some problems but since it's a company owned vehicle they've fixed everything so I don't really hear much about it.

I added trailer brakes to it and towed my 85 K5 with 1tons and 44's to the other side of Charlotte and back. It pulled great, and the stock air ride in the rear kept it very level.

12/19/2011 3:45:42 PM

Second the gauge cluster problems. I have an 03 2500HD with the 6.0. The gauges are the only thing wrong with my track at 115k. I've owned it since almost new. I've towed 12k lbs with it about a dozen times, some trips to indiana and TN fully loaded with no problems. Still on the original brakes in fact.

12/19/2011 4:34:51 PM

frickin GM gauge cluster's. Friend has a '97 Grand AM that had the cluster die like that

12/19/2011 5:30:36 PM

Quote :

"Got an '03 Trailblazer, EXT version."

Well its got the bowtie on the front, but the GMT360 chassis is not a full size. The GMT800 is what we talkin bout here.

Quote :

"they're just so... blah...."

Exactly. The best used vehicle deals are always blah+reliable or wow+troublesome. I can get a used Range Rover in the same price range but it doesn't fit the bill.

Air has it figured out. My dads had the cluster replaced, and the seats are beat. Also a heat shield rattles, the left/right AC is wonky, etc but its a good truck. Our Escalade (more like a Yukon Denali than anything else mentioned) was starting to barely show signs of interior wear at 90K when we sold it but really that's to be expected. I mean these are part of a long bloodline of mass produced American vehicles where the interiors fail long before the hard parts. And fuel pump failures are common in any vehicle with such high sales.

I would certainly pick this over any of the Ford offerings or similar Toyotas and fleets across the country have done the same for years. USA #1

12/19/2011 5:39:50 PM

im the original owner of a 2002 silverado 5.3L. Had the 1-2 shift shudder TSB done under warranty but no other issues. it only has 66k miles on it though

12/19/2011 5:47:20 PM

The shift solenoid problem is across the board with the 4L60 transmission though, not just on the 800 chassis SUVs, but so far the common issues I am finding are all fairly easy to deal with. I figure any one of the tahoes/yukons I am looking at will need driver seat repair, but I have been wanting to do some more good old fashioned upholstery work for a while so that will be fun. I used the old escalade to tow occasionally and it was a beast but I have that covered now, not so sure my wife needs a LQ9 6.0L powered AWD daily driver anymore though... I am also thinking of replacing my cummins dodge with a 4 door pickup on the same GMT800 chassis.

12/19/2011 7:36:45 PM

why does this not include the 2000 and 2001 models?

12/19/2011 8:17:25 PM

Because I can't edit the thread title.

12/19/2011 8:36:48 PM

ahh. I have dealt with the Left/right Ac mix issues too. Those mix motors are a biatch to replace.

12/20/2011 1:48:09 AM

Picked up an '04 Tahoe today

12/21/2011 12:14:03 AM

Looks like it needs new motors in the instrument cluster (speedo only reads 50-55 no matter how fast you go), there seems to be a vibration when idling at stop lights (motor mount?), and I will be making a call to http://www.seatshop.com but this one is super clean otherwise. Even has the headphones and remote for the DVD player.



[Edited on December 21, 2011 at 8:09 AM. Reason : oops]

12/21/2011 8:08:52 AM

I wonder if a silverado SS would make a good work truck

1/4/2012 1:19:28 AM

It pisses me off that the forums call the GMT900 the "nnnbs" instead of using the chassis designation. It makes it difficult when searching for something for my truck. Stupid rednecks, yankees and mexicans.

Anyway I've been pretty happy with my new truck so far. 2011 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT ext cab 4x4. I got the 5.3 with cylinder deactivation and have averaged 19.0 mpg the last week on my commute. The vortecmax is nasty.

1/4/2012 6:26:59 PM

^^^the recall on the '03-'04 gauge clusters just expired less than a month ago. knowing the people you know you might be able to get it fixed for free. if not, you can get it fixed for $180 with core if you don't feel like messing with it.

1/4/2012 8:08:49 PM

My mom has an 05 Tahoe that the gauges have gone crazy on. What is the fix for this?

My wife has an 06 Yukon XL Denali and we love it, no problems yet with it.

1/4/2012 9:09:07 PM

http://drspeedometer.com/


I believe the recall was only for failures under 70K miles, my hoe has 197K
When I get around to it, I am going to look into adding the trans temp gauge from the escalades into the cluster, or doing a complete conversion of the cluster or whatever.

[Edited on January 5, 2012 at 10:02 AM. Reason : gg]

1/5/2012 9:57:34 AM

^there's a guy on Ebay doing it for ~$65 with a lifetime guarantee (and 99.9% feedback)

drspeedometer is $200

thx u tww. my dad's '06 1500 has the same problem

1/5/2012 4:16:32 PM

Quote :

"Picked up an '04 Tahoe today "

any reason you picked a Hoe instead of Suburban? i'm shopping for a gmt800 and figure between a tahoe and suburban I'd rather just have a suburban. doubt tahoe gets better mpg or has any other advantages?

1/5/2012 7:08:52 PM

The right truck came along, honestly if this one hadn't been so nice we were going to look at a couple Suburbans right then.

1/6/2012 10:18:48 AM

The only difference between a Tahoe and Suburban is 17 inches.

1/10/2012 7:29:40 PM

Tahoe definitely gets better MPG. its only 2-4 on average, but that is significant in the long run.

1/11/2012 12:59:22 PM

^ really? what kind of mileage do you get? i don't see how the suburban could be getting any measurably amount of worse mpg. i think 2wd vs 4wd would make more of a difference.

1/11/2012 3:28:17 PM

joel, you will disappoint me if you don't have a LBZ Dmax in that thing in a month. then you can get 20-21 in the city.



[Edited on January 11, 2012 at 9:29 PM. Reason : -]

1/11/2012 9:24:05 PM

^ do want. drool.

1/11/2012 11:09:26 PM

That is really cool but a wrecked LBZ donor truck is 5K.

1/12/2012 9:39:33 AM

okay? you've got it. ain't nothin' for you.

1/12/2012 10:12:45 AM

LOL

1/13/2012 7:11:30 AM

you have to think the lbz is much heavier and requires different suspension and brakes for it to drive right

1/13/2012 8:56:35 AM

Quote :

"you have to think the lbz is much heavier and requires different suspension and brakes for it to drive right "

...beh

1/13/2012 4:53:02 PM

I doubt it.

1/14/2012 12:57:57 AM

^ alot to last post


My mom and sister have almost matching vehicles. only difference is the hoe is 03 with 16 wheels, and burban is 04 with 17's. Both are 5.3 2wd.

From my personal experiences the suburban averages 14.5~ according to dash, and on a 600 mi trip unloaded it got ~18

Hoe dash usually reads 16 (i drive this one alot less), but i did take it on the same 600 mi trip with one less person in the car and got 20.5



That Dmax tahoe is badass. I have always wanted a 2500 suburban with a diesel. Makes no sense the factory never offered it.

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 10:59 PM. Reason : sp]

[Edited on January 14, 2012 at 11:00 PM. Reason : terrible editing job]

1/14/2012 10:59:02 PM

Rear door locks are getting sluggish, maybe due to colder temperatures. Also the speedometer is all but useless now in the mornings. But still great otherwise.

1/23/2012 12:29:54 PM

My friend has a tahoe truck for his taxi what the sppedometer is totally dead, will he have to let the dealership repair this item?

2/13/2012 11:19:56 AM