Yukon is unhappy... again...

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
Guess it’s a good thing the neighbor inquired about buying the diesel truck and delayed me selling it for a month. He saw me taking pictures of it a few weeks ago and inquired.

(Inquired is putting it mildly. He wanted me to float him a loan, times is hard, all that usual story out here in rural land. I don’t want anything to do with that, so I told him I’m no good at being a banker, but I’d hold on to the truck for a month and he could see what he could do... it’s been a month and I haven’t heard from him and still see a number of Harleys in his garage across the road, so frankly I know he’s not serious about needing or wanting the truck. He said HIS truck broke down just before he came over to talk to me about mine. Plenty of time to sell the Harley if he really needs a work truck... so there’s THAT story... but anyway... nope. Not doing a loan for someone across the street who’s likely to not pay. Suing neighbors and repossessing vehicles across a road, leads to way too much drama way too close to home...)

Didn’t really think much of it at the time, but looking back over the last couple of days, the Yukon has had a little vibration on the highway on cruise control that I thought was something in the poor tormented front-end from all the washboards. I already have a brake pad or caliper making a clanking noise in the left front, so I figured it was about time to get it into the favorite shop and let them figure out what’s busted and what is wearing out in the front end anyway.

(The Subaru also needs a shop visit, but minor. Just a bunch of labor. The blend door servo for floor vs defrost is stuck in defrost and I took most of the dash apart trying to get at it and it’s still further back there. Probably have to remove the passenger airbag to get to it, so I put it all back together and have been living with it / driving the Yukon which has A/C that would freeze a witch’s... well anyway...)

Turns out, tonight it overheated a bit and started misfiring on what feels like a single cylinder to me.

It’s been doing that heating thing a little lately. Idling with A/C on, the temp would creep above the thermostat temp and then rolling it would sit in the normal spot on the gauge. Also noticed that the coolant level is very very very slowly dropping and I have to put a little in once in a while. Like six months... not fast, but I haven’t found the leak.

It held for 15 minutes under a pressure test without showing itself. For whatever that’s worth. I tested it when I tested the tractor.

The misfires triggered a flashing CEL of course, haven’t had time yet to pull the codes. I limped it home anyway. Misfiring at low RPM, when wrapped up a bit, smooth as always. Plenty of power revved up, no signs of the misfire getting worse under more work. Interesting.

Flashing CEL under throttle application of any sort, but other than idling semi-poorly and misfiring at low RPM with a minor vibration, it was running fine. Adding some 50/50 coolant in town where the CEL started kept the temp dead on at the thermostat temp.

In the 130,000 miles I’ve put on it, the only other two major problems have been the fuel pump failure, a fuel line rupture that pumped a tank of fuel overboard while driving and later at the gas station, and now this.

Just under 170,000 on it today.

Haven’t decided if I feel like diagnosing it myself in the garage since I have spare vehicles or having it towed or limping it to my favorite shop yet. Hmm.

COULD be... head gasket leaking into a cylinder when the missing coolant problem and the new misfire problem are combined.

Pulling all the plugs for a look at them would tell the tale there, but I nearly wanted to kill someone the last time I tried to pull that left rear plug on the Chevy 5.3 V8 in this thing. It’s accessible if you remove a whole bunch of other CHIT that didn’t have to be routed right across it.

That last part probably makes up my mind for me that it’ll either be limped or towed to the shop for a spa day or three.

Even with extensions and wobbles and everything else I had on hand to try, that back left plug is a BEEEEOTCH to get out.

Or... I’ll just send it to the crusher. Haha. Okay not really. Ha.

Busy week. I won’t get a chance to even think about looking at it until Friday assuming nothing else comes up in the schedule. It can sit parked.

Maybe the neighbor wants it? LOL.
 
Feel for you Nate. Doing the standpipes, dummy plugs and STC fitting on my 07 6.0. Three weeks ago the little TDI bug decided to have a cam follower come apart and drop both valves in the #3 cylinder.....Did it at 70 mph and sure smoked the clutch when it did it.
 
Feel for you Nate. Doing the standpipes, dummy plugs and STC fitting on my 07 6.0. Three weeks ago the little TDI bug decided to have a cam follower come apart and drop both valves in the #3 cylinder.....Did it at 70 mph and sure smoked the clutch when it did it.

Ooh ouch. That sounds a lot worse than a bad running 5.3L Vortec can throw at me.

I’m using this one to try out a shop with good
reviews that’s a LOT closer to home and has Mo-Sat 7-7 hours which my favorite shop just doesn’t have.
 
Ooh ouch. That sounds a lot worse than a bad running 5.3L Vortec can throw at me.

I’m using this one to try out a shop with good
reviews that’s a LOT closer to home and has Mo-Sat 7-7 hours which my favorite shop just doesn’t have.
The good news is...a guy can buy a crate 5.3 vortec for under 2 grand.
 
The good news is...a guy can buy a crate 5.3 vortec for under 2 grand.

Hahah I was thinking that. But if it ends up being that bad, which I doubt, maybe the Yukon needs an LS swap (and a new transmission to handle it)? LOL
 
Well it wasn’t anything “abnormal” for an old ass Chevy.

Plugs and plug wires and two coils are testing bad.

Other stuff found...

Bad oil pressure sender. I knew about that.

Lightly leaking front shocks, they’re original. Makes sense. Haven’t bothered to look in a while knowing they’d let me know by failing miserably with all the washboards I drive on.

Leaking right front axle seal. Normal Chevy at 170,000 miles.

Seeping trans cooler line. Meh.

Leaking thermostat seal/gasket. That’s where some of the coolant is going.

Leaking water pump seal/gasket. There’s where the rest is going. It’s original so it’s probably going to die soon anyway.

Front left brake rotor is MOVING in the holder. It’s original and has been turned once but lots of pad changes. I laughed, that’s the longest I’ve ever managed to get out of a set of rotors and they’re not scored or needing turning at all still. Silly thing wore out from the inside out! Amazing. Guy asked “So what’s the history of the brakes on this thing?” When I told him the rotors were original he started laughing. “Ok, now it makes sense.”

Brakes need done all the way around. I knew pads were good for about another 10-20,000 with my usual wear pattern (low, I baby my brakes and slow up accordingly in traffic) but they’d like to do all four.

So now I have to :

A) Decide if I’m keeping my lovely old beater overall. Probably will.
B) Decide how much of this crap I want to do myself. I’ll probably let them do the ignition stuff and oil pressure sender for sure, those are both an utter PITA.

Brakes, might do myself, new rotors and pads all the way around. Not a super hard job, it’ll just take a few hours in my garage in the current state of disorganized tools and no lift so have to mess with jacking and blocking and jack stands.

Shocks, I don’t usually mess with, but I also don’t have to change them yet. Hmm.

Trans cooler line, I’d probably let them do that since it’s such a mess and much simpler on a rack.

Water pump and thermostat is the questionable one. Not like I’ve never managed to cover myself in antifreeze before screwing with those. But not on this truck yet.
 
Well it wasn’t anything “abnormal” for an old ass Chevy.

Plugs and plug wires and two coils are testing bad.

Other stuff found...

Bad oil pressure sender. I knew about that.

Lightly leaking front shocks, they’re original. Makes sense. Haven’t bothered to look in a while knowing they’d let me know by failing miserably with all the washboards I drive on.

Leaking right front axle seal. Normal Chevy at 170,000 miles.

Seeping trans cooler line. Meh.

Leaking thermostat seal/gasket. That’s where some of the coolant is going.

Leaking water pump seal/gasket. There’s where the rest is going. It’s original so it’s probably going to die soon anyway.

Front left brake rotor is MOVING in the holder. It’s original and has been turned once but lots of pad changes. I laughed, that’s the longest I’ve ever managed to get out of a set of rotors and they’re not scored or needing turning at all still. Silly thing wore out from the inside out! Amazing. Guy asked “So what’s the history of the brakes on this thing?” When I told him the rotors were original he started laughing. “Ok, now it makes sense.”

Brakes need done all the way around. I knew pads were good for about another 10-20,000 with my usual wear pattern (low, I baby my brakes and slow up accordingly in traffic) but they’d like to do all four.

So now I have to :

A) Decide if I’m keeping my lovely old beater overall. Probably will.
B) Decide how much of this crap I want to do myself. I’ll probably let them do the ignition stuff and oil pressure sender for sure, those are both an utter PITA.

Brakes, might do myself, new rotors and pads all the way around. Not a super hard job, it’ll just take a few hours in my garage in the current state of disorganized tools and no lift so have to mess with jacking and blocking and jack stands.

Shocks, I don’t usually mess with, but I also don’t have to change them yet. Hmm.

Trans cooler line, I’d probably let them do that since it’s such a mess and much simpler on a rack.

Water pump and thermostat is the questionable one. Not like I’ve never managed to cover myself in antifreeze before screwing with those. But not on this truck yet.

Put it out of it's misery Nate. It's time.

image.gif
 
And both of us will be right.

Put it out of it's misery Nate. It's time.

View attachment 66107

NOPE. Haha. Cheapskate time!!!

I did the math and with just the ignition and the water pump/thermostat I can easily get another 20,000 out of it.

Not going to do the brakes. They aren’t there yet. I had the stupid things off myself and looked recently and they’re not ready. And the clunking rotor simply doesn’t matter. As soon as the caliper and pads press on it, it stays in the right spot. Haha. Braking is fine. So screw it. They ride.

I’ll do that brake job myself.

So I think it’s full IDGAF “hooptie” time for this truck now. It can leak all over the dirt driveway and I do not care. Hahaha.

But I’m gettin’ at least another 20,000 out of this thing!

That’s a year out here if I don’t drive the Subaru.

The repairs will run about .12/mile for 20,000 miles and it’s long paid off. If I can squeak it to 210,000 (40,000 more) that becomes $0.10/mile.

It’s now “run it until it dies” time. Never give up right at the end!!! LOL. This thing is going to its grave when it won’t run anymore. I have a goal.

$.10 mile capital cost. That’s the goal!

Purchase price to now has been $.13/mile. That’s taxes and out the door everything. Little less if you just go with the purchase price.

Repairs averaged over the life so far have been nearly nothing. Brake pads, dash cluster lights and servos, tires, one set of plugs (now two) and wires, a 4WD sensor and dash switch, and a climate control module.

And really nothing else. It’s been rock solid. Bought at 40,000 miles and currently at 170,000.

Stupid 5.3L V8 has nothing that will break. It’s too boring. Best thing about this truck really.

The price per mile is creeping up but until the transmission goes, which it will, it’s time to FLOG this thing!!! Hahaha.

Told the guy...

Do the ignition stuff... I hate that job, since you can’t get the rear plug out on the passenger side.

Do the water pump and thermostat because I can do those but I have time issues right now. I can’t do it in the thirty minutes it’ll take him to do it. Ha.

Leave the rest. Those are all “don’t care” on a truck this old. For now.

Maybe this truck needs to be lifted. Hahahahaha. Big old Yukon off roader and don’t care if it breaks? Hmmmm.

Edit: I forgot to mention the original capital cost comes down to $.10 a mile at 210,000 also. So they hit there. And they’re teasing me to try.
 
Now back to figuring out what to do with the Dodge.

It’s got soooooo many miles left on it, but I don’t need a diesel dually anymore....

:)
 
The thing is, Nate, you're assuming that this round of problems is going to be the last. That's a flawed assumption.

Now, as you said, you're in full "IDGAF" mode, but you're fooling yourself if you think that you'll fix this stuff and be good for another 20-40k miles. If you don't care about the piddling on it, that's fine, but you're making "Yukon is broken" posts a lot more now.

So, Jesse and I are right. :)
 
The thing is, Nate, you're assuming that this round of problems is going to be the last. That's a flawed assumption.

Now, as you said, you're in full "IDGAF" mode, but you're fooling yourself if you think that you'll fix this stuff and be good for another 20-40k miles. If you don't care about the piddling on it, that's fine, but you're making "Yukon is broken" posts a lot more now.

So, Jesse and I are right. :)

We shall see.

I do know this. I can get ten more years out of it.

If I park it as a lawn ornament like the neighbors have. LOL. :)
 
Nate decided to lower it instead, since he lives on a washboard dirt road in Kansas.
red-gmc-yukon-custom-lowered-springs-s-model-sport-utility-vehicle-fully-inch-wheels-53451757.jpg
 
Plus with Kenwoods in the other three vehicles and Bose (well, meh, but it does have good bass!) in the Yukon...

I’ll never hear all those rattling things falling off of the bottom of it!

Little Darius ought to do it...

https://g.co/kgs/xEbCsq

And no damn Celine Dion either. :)
 
I got about 220k on a 2002 impala. The first half of that was all highway miles and the second half was almost all city miles. It had never been to a dealer under my ownership.

Never had a transmission problem. Couple fuel pumps, water pump, hoses, nothing interesting. It was losing power, using water, and would overheat for about the last 18 months I had it. It locked up on me on the interstate one day. I got it towed to my place and eventually got is started again but there was little compression. Salvage picked it about 3 hours after calling.

My current ride is a 1998 Lumina, I really hate the engineering on this car but it was essentially free, and only has 155k on it I'm kinda worried about engine health but my brother has a 2000 Lumina in Denver still going strong with well over 200k on it. The transmissions in these cars suck as they both get hot and like to jerk when shifting to second gear from first. Brother's car is on the original transmission. I think I'll be driving this one to its grave too. Its kinda satisfying watching a PITA old car drive away on a flatbed knowing its going to heaven.
 
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I like your style @bnt83!

Plus with the stereos I can blast the theme song of my Hooptie Fleet.

“Hope on a Rope” - Red Wanting Blue

https://g.co/kgs/nFxykU

(Note first stanza... heh. Scott Terry is awesome. Modern day Bob Segar... and the most passionate stage performer I’ve seen in years.)

Dream's a whale and I am Ahab
I am the captain of this rusty Bucket ship
I left my home in search of big goals
I promised my family that I'd break the mold
So I set sail to the land of green grass
So much time's passed I forgot what I was lookin' for
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit, kid
Thatta boy, way to go
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit, kid
Thatta boy, way to go
Compass is broke, it gives me no direction
It reads like a riddle, gotta see through the smoke
"Stay the course" folks would always say
From port to port but they never know the way
Deliver me, Lord some kind of answer
This dream's a cancer and I can't paddle no more
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit, kid
Thatta boy, way to go
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit, kid
Thatta boy, way to go
Anchored down, I breathe in
'Cause we got hope, we won't be sinking
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit, kid
Thatta boy, way to go
Hope on a rope
The butt of a bad joke
Push yourself to the limit
There's no end to this road
Our hope, like a carrot on a rope
Always off in the distance, all she blows
Our hope, like a carrot on a rope
Just our of reach, that's all she wrote
Our hope, like a carrot on a rope
Always off in the distance, all she blows
Breathe it in
 
@Ted DuPuis will tell me to go buy a new Dodge and @jesse will tell me to go buy a new Ford. :)

And I'll tell you to fix the beater and ignore them. Besides, if you listen to Ted on ground bound vehicles pretty soon you'll have the beater parked under a tree and a kit car underway on the driveway and in the garage. :D
 
And I'll tell you to fix the beater and ignore them. Besides, if you listen to Ted on ground bound vehicles pretty soon you'll have the beater parked under a tree and a kit car underway on the driveway and in the garage. :D

LOL. Hey at least he owned a big rig for like one month that it was driveable! :) :) :)
 
Oh I think that’s sooooooo dumb when people lower trucks. Hahaha. :)

whatupdifflock.jpg

And I'll tell you to fix the beater and ignore them. Besides, if you listen to Ted on ground bound vehicles pretty soon you'll have the beater parked under a tree and a kit car underway on the driveway and in the garage. :D

It's not my fault that I give awesome advice. ;)
 
Yukon is happy now. Two new ignition coils, all new plugs and wires, new water pump, new thermostat, and minor coolant leaks all stopped. New oil pressure sender. Nice to have that gauge back but really didn’t care too much about that. :)

Two ignition coils tested bad. I was thinking of a different truck I had that had two plugs per coil, but the 5.3 in this generation had single coil per plug. So I had a couple of cylinders that weren’t firing well. One tested dead the other was questionable.

Silly thing squealed the back tires when I romped on it. LOL. That was fun. Clearly at least one cylinder has been weak for long enough it trained my foot to get into it harder than necessary.

I also knew it had fallen off an MPG or so on fuel mileage. We’ll see how that goes. Filled her up for a test this week.

Now to go drive up the steep hills going to the house and see if the cruise control keeps up with them better. :)

161970 on the odometer. Thought she was a little closer to 170, but nope. Anyway... Here we go! :)
 
Hang on to her Nate!

My old 94 Silverado rolled over to 234,567.8 the other day. Didn't get my phone out quick enough to get a picture....and I'm thinking 345,678.9 is pushing it lol.
4.3L Vortec
It's been a good one, but it's definitely feeling it's age.

Shamefully... the Prius now outruns it.
 
That was fun. Huge amounts of power and correct throttle response now.

Had fun on the last dirt road uphill. Stomped on it and played “steer the tail slide” up the hill. Hahahaha.
 
428,xxx on the 99 Silverado and it’s showing it’s age... Needs a rear main seal, two seals in the transmission and a full rebuild on the front end. Everything plastic is failing with the slightest heavy hand, needs new pins in the driver’s door and I’ve got to change all the lock cylinders due to wear.
Ready to get the 6.0 back on the road so I have heat and air conditioning again.
 
428,xxx on the 99 Silverado and it’s showing it’s age... Needs a rear main seal, two seals in the transmission and a full rebuild on the front end. Everything plastic is failing with the slightest heavy hand, needs new pins in the driver’s door and I’ve got to change all the lock cylinders due to wear.
Ready to get the 6.0 back on the road so I have heat and air conditioning again.

428. Whew. That’s up there for anything made by GM!

Heck that’s up there for Cummins! LOL.

But 99 was good times for GM. Probably all the way to about 2006. The electrical stuff was awful but the drivetrains, ignitions, and fuel systems were, if nothing else, big dumb and simple.

I think that might be one of the reasons I keep this truck alive. Even letting someone else work on it, it’s all stuff that in a pinch I could do in a garage at home.

There’s nothing particularly tech-laden or complex about this truck and certain systems you literally just need a bigger hammer to fix it than a household hammer. LOL.

Even a full engine or transmission pull and replace truly isn’t impossible on this thing in a home garage, if you really have to.

The experience with this new shop VERY close to home as shops go, was VERY positive. Looked over the bill carefully. Decent parts purchased and they detailed the brands and such, usual levels of service shop markup on those, nothing extreme, reasonable labor charges, and when we went to pick up tonight I talked with their very young but bright service manager about maintaining my old hooptie fleet and he shared about the four different shop project vehicles that he and all the techs are all working on.

They’re clearly all “car guys” (and yes they have multiple car girls there too, I noticed).

The funny one was they all went to the junkyard together last night to pull a Miata engine for their project Miata and it was the wrong engine. He said that was a bummer that they all missed it somehow. Hahahahaha. Five guys with trucks and tools and “oh crap!” haha.

He said they joked all day about LS swapping the Miata instead but they all feel like that’s been overdone. He said they’re talking maybe Coyote engine swap into the Miata but they don’t trust that engine completely. So they’re trying to think up a wilder idea for the Miata project.

They also have two classic restorations slowly going on besides the four project cars. They’re closed on Sunday but he said you’ll usually find about half the staff there messing with a project or restoration project after hours on days they’re open and on Sunday.

Clearly the kind of shop I want to use and support. So damn hard to find an enthusiast filled shop that enjoys making a living on the boring sack lunch auto work by day so they can play by night.

Surprised by how young all of them were. So many young folks aren’t into cars these days. The service manager has a 2016 Subaru he says he hates. Numerous problems. Good to know. A Miata that’s slightly non-stock himself (“not enough power though”) and a BMW X3 that “leaks everywhere and I hate buying parts for but drives great!”

He said they yanked the engine out of a Toyota Supra and shoved it into an RX-8 when the inevitable failure of the rotary engine happens. Hahahaha... that... is a very cool engine swap. :)
 
Nate: I’m known in the family for driving vehicles into the dirt and then a hundred thousand miles more! The least miles I ever put on anything was a MB 240 that I bought years ago. Dumped it after I put less than 5k miles on it. Had a ‘78 model Subaru wagon that made it to little over 100k before it left the fleet. Everything else I’ve put more than 150k miles on, after it’s ended up in my fleet. Last new vehicle I bought made it a bit over 285k before I sold it. Haven’t bought a new, as in brand new, vehicle since 1986.
 
Nate: I’m known in the family for driving vehicles into the dirt and then a hundred thousand miles more! The least miles I ever put on anything was a MB 240 that I bought years ago. Dumped it after I put less than 5k miles on it. Had a ‘78 model Subaru wagon that made it to little over 100k before it left the fleet. Everything else I’ve put more than 150k miles on, after it’s ended up in my fleet. Last new vehicle I bought made it a bit over 285k before I sold it. Haven’t bought a new, as in brand new, vehicle since 1986.

Sounds like me. I’ve had two brand new vehicles out of I think 10 or 11. Was just trying to count...

One was a Geo Metro that was such a POS (I was young and stupid and thought buying “new” meant “quality” and it was my third vehicle...) that I traded it away on a used Jeep XJ in less than a year.

The other was a second Jeep XJ that I stupidly leased in 2000 but got a little lucky on, they weren’t making XJs anymore at the lease end and didn’t want much for the buy out. Still a money loser. Drove it until 2008.

Drove that thing to 130,000 miles and it was still going strong but my little sister had a vehicle emergency, as in she needed one badly and quick, and I was in the mood to drive something else, so we gave it to her. All it had wrong with it was a rear main seal leak, because, Jeep.

She drove it only a few months in Brooklyn and woke up to a cop pounding on her door at 4AM that some moron cab driver and a “limo” driver had gotten into a battle for a left turn and one lane, and the limo driver lost, didn’t see the parked cars and plowed into the back of it at over 45 MPH. Pushed the rear hatch door all the way to the back seats.

Amazingly she told me the typical New Yorker thing, she had “her guy” kinda fix it and make it barely driveable to work until she dumped it for her move to Houston. Made me happy to give it to her but sad at how it died. I should have told her I’d come get it and rebuild it myself and lifted it some more. I had it slightly lifted and took it off roading often. Big wheels and tires is all. 30”.

Bought this Yukon right as we were learning my sis might need wheels. Driving past a small Ford dealer I spot six Tahoes and Yukons parked behind the building trying to hide them. All trade ins. Clearly parked where they’d be picked up for auction.

I go in and talk to the sales guys and negotiated a screaming deal for the loaded SLT white one that’s one notch below a Denali with all the Denali options on the thing that were allowed in the SLT trim.

Did this right in the middle of the 2008 economic crisis. Nobody wanted cars, nobody wanted gas guzzler cars either. It had 4 years and 40,000 miles on it and was traded by a lady insurance agent from Colorado Springs. Thing had never been anywhere but to a suburban home and her insurance office by the looks of it. Spotless. They didn’t clean it well and I found her paperwork stuck in the bottom of the glove box.

And then I drove it and drove it and drove it. I’ve already listed out the only maintenance stuff it’s ever had done to it. Every time it worries me that it’s dead, it’s some stupid $200 part.

By far this “repair” is the largest expense ever on repairs on it, and still nothing on this truck is seriously broken. And even this stuff was normal wear and tear and I should have done the plugs sooner. That would have caught the coils failing.

It’s not as pretty as the day I bought it but the paint is good, the engine is clearly good (much happier with all cylinders firing though!) and the standard problems with bad cluster servos and other electrical silliness haven’t really been major expense items. I have more money in tire replacements on this thing than in all the other repairs combined I think. And that was after I got 70,000 out of a set of BFG All-Terrain KO2s on it.

It’s had ONE alignment in all that time and it still tracks straight. Totally amazing. The guy said it wasn’t even out much then, just a little toe-in adjustment. Unbelievable compared to a whole bunch of my vehicles including the standard complete rebuild of the steering rack and the entire steering system on the Dodge. Because, Dodge.

I’ve towed a trailer way over it’s proper GCVWR behind it, numerous lesser trailers, bashed snowdrifts from blizzards in it, the dirt roads and washboards to the current house, endless hours of stop and go in the city when I had an I-25 commute, taken two generations now of dogs around in it, even driven it to OSH one year, and just generally flogged this poor truck while making sure fluids and consumables were changed properly and it rarely gives me trouble.

By the way, that feel I had that the trans was slipping for a while? Clearly it’s not. It was the crappy accelerator response of the engine trying to tell me it had bad coils. That trans and drivetrain flat out launched me tonight. Hahaha. It’s fine. It was the ignition system failing at least three years ago. LOL. Damn. It wasn’t producing power so it refused to downshift. Hahahaha. Totally awesome. I would put it in tow/haul on rolling hills because it was so laggy in throttle response but I figured it was the trans going. It wasn’t.

LOL. I’m an idiot on that one. Big time.

I think truly the only part that SUCKS about this truck is the size of the gas tank. It’s 26 gallons. On a road trip in it, nobody would ever get DVT, that’s for sure. At 17 MPG or so, you’re stopping a LOT to fill back up. It never got the EPA 19 MPG, ever. Not at 75 MPH anyway. Ha. For the engine and fuel use, it really needs a 30+ gallon tank for longer trips. Haha. Drove my co-driver to OSH nuts. “Time to put gas in it again!” LOL. Get a sustained headwind it’s worse.

I bought this silly truck when my daily driver for tech toys was an iPod Classic and a Blackberry. Hahahaha.

I can’t really complain if it blows up tomorrow.

But it’s not showing any signs of doing that. And a freaking crate engine or transmission for this thing are both CHEAP. Really cheap. Ten times cheaper than a used newer truck and more than that by far for new.

I hate that GM stopped innovating on their trucks a long time ago, but it sure helps me out on this thing. They’ve sold the 5.3 for so long they’re cheap as chips and readily available. Same with the dumb transmission in the thing.

I still want sleeper fast cars though. An AMG wagon with the V-12 would just be a hoot. Came close to buying one I saw finally pop up in Texas earlier this year. By brain kicked back in before I called the guy. Ha.

That would be WAY more of a maintenance nightmare than this truck by a couple orders of magnitude. Hahahahaha. And useless in winter!
 
Love the sleeper vehicles. Valarie’s Audi A8L is one of these, even though it’s got the V8 instead of the W12 under the hood. 0 to 60 times are a little leisurely, as it’s due for a timing belt, but 60 to 120 and it’s a rocket. Not bad for a 4800+ pound luxury cruiser. It’ll loaf along at 120 all day and still have quite a bit to give if one were to keep on the throttle. With the air ride on it, it’s like cruising the highway from your most comfy chair.
 
Love the sleeper vehicles. Valarie’s Audi A8L is one of these, even though it’s got the V8 instead of the W12 under the hood. 0 to 60 times are a little leisurely, as it’s due for a timing belt, but 60 to 120 and it’s a rocket. Not bad for a 4800+ pound luxury cruiser. It’ll loaf along at 120 all day and still have quite a bit to give if one were to keep on the throttle. With the air ride on it, it’s like cruising the highway from your most comfy chair.

Yeah. We’ve never owned one but it’s my new “unicorn” to chase. You saying “air ride” just gives me the willies though. That’s always the crappy system that’s broken on the older used ones and parts prices to fix that are always hideously expensive for what they are. Ha.

You ever watch Hoovies Garage on YT?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdEczn3MVkx_4PnMZ10MVFA

The guy is insane. He’s also decently well off in real life and can blow serious money on cars, but his Hooptie fleet is totally insane. He just bought a Rolls Royce with all sorts of problems. He blew up his Porche so he shoved an LS engine in it. He bought, drove, reviewed and then literally BURIED a 80s Chrysler with a backhoe because it was such a POS and joked that he’ll probably dig it up and see if they can make it run again in a year or two.

His review of his 1991 Dodge Caravan was hilarious.
 
Nate, you may need to change your user name to tl;dr ;)
 
I bought a 2003 'burb with 150k miles on it for $1300. Some rust, 4wd is iffy and the airbag light is on. It will sit for weeks, and start right up. I kinda want to sell it since I dont need it anymore, but I like it and its a great Home Depot type of run truck. Damn seat heaters come on randomly just on the drivers seat. Just gotta find that fuse.
 
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