Sold the Trailblazer

[6716]

$500. I was about to donate it when a friend said they knew someone who needed a starter vehicle, so I guess $500 is better than nothing. In my mind it's worth a whole lot more, thinking about everything "new" on it (headlight and taillight assemblies, tires are still fresh-ish), all the maintenance I've put in, and also the trailer brake I left in it. But of course, pile up all the negatives, and $500 is about right. Also I am moving and it had to go, so from a practical perspective it's good that it is handled.

I'm somehow strangely attached to it after 18 years, and I am just glad it gets to keep going and someone else will get some value out of it.

 

[Mooseman]

It had to happen and it will continue on until likely the wheels fall off.

Just noticed your signature with the 1500 Duramax. We are probably the only two here that have the little 3.0L Dmax. How are you liking it? Mine's at 76k km and so far, no major issues. Just had the #5 glow plug replaced under the powertrain warranty. I am contemplating installing an upgrade kit to the tranny to prevent the rear wheel lockup issue and prevent having the issue to begin with.

 

[BrianF]

I can't part with my Trailblazer just yet. She's still plodding along 18 years after buying it used.

 

[6716]

It had to happen and it will continue on until likely the wheels fall off.

Just noticed your signature with the 1500 Duramax. We are probably the only two here that have the little 3.0L Dmax. How are you liking it? Mine's at 76k km and so far, no major issues. Just had the #5 glow plug replaced under the powertrain warranty. I am contemplating installing an upgrade kit to the tranny to prevent the rear wheel lockup issue and prevent having the issue to begin with.

I kinda love it. Never had a diesel before. But the gas v8s seem to have valve problems lately, and the fuel economy (even though diesel is more expensive) was a draw.

I try not to get on the accelerator too hard in daily use, but when I want to show off it will push you back in your seat. I've been renting different travel trailers seeing which way I might want to go buying one, and there's no trouble getting up to highway speed with a decent load in tow.

I have read about the rear-wheel lockup and that does not sound like any fun. What upgrade kit are you looking at to try to prevent that? You are getting to the mileage where that has been starting to show up.

 

[Mooseman]

This one:

Project Carbon® General Motors 10-Speed Valve Body Upgrade Kit

*This Kit Fits ALL 10-Speed General Motors Transmissions*Introduction to the Project Carbon® GM 10-Speed Valve Body Upgrade Kit: Welcome to the #1 valve body upgrade kit for the GM 10-Speed transmission, proudly engineered and manufactured 100% in-house by Next Gen Drivetrain. This is the...

nextgendiesel.com

$1000USD for a couple of valves and some gaskets is ludicrous but they know they have the real solution. Dealerships have been installing them without being compensated by GM because it's better than buying them back. GM are too hard headed to use this. Heck, they could probably offer a couple million to buy out the patent and do it themselves.

I've had the update done to put it into limp mode if it detects when it could do the lockup. I'd be looking at close the $1500CAD to get that kit. Thing is, even though the tranny is covered under warranty for this problem, all they do is replace the valve body with the same failure prone one, if it's available, as they are apparently back ordered. So pay to do it now or go without the truck when it does fail.

Other than that, I love my truck. Tows our #7000 trailer no problem. I have the LM2 but apparently your LZ0 loves to drink the DEF when towing. I'll be doing the rear brakes soon as they are down to 13% and have grooves, fronts are still at 34%. I also did a tranny fluid change at 50k km. It was dark and low from the factory. I also put in a tranny thermal valve bypass to lower the temps. It did help but it can go over 220f when towing at slow speeds. Thinking of adding some fans to the tranny cooler. I've also been doing the oil changes earlier than what the OLM says, usually at around 25-35%.

 

[6716]

Interesting, that product website recommends a hot flush and filter change every 25k miles. They definitely don't think much of GM's work on this transmission. For some reason the electronic shifter version is $150 less, which is good for me.

I did the separator plate and pistons and a few other things on the Trailblazer, this reads like a similar procedure. I was hoping a brand new vehicle would mean I wouldn't have to work on it for a bit. Oh, well.

On the DEF, I don't have any experience to compare it to, but it has been something to learn. On the first leg of my first big trip towing moderately heavy the DTE for DEF came on and then dropped like a stone. I'd read that it would go into limp mode at a certain point. So I finally got to a truck stop, and it wasn't even half empty. Something is not right with the sensors or the math it is doing or something. I now just try to keep it topped up.

I got my first oil change at 6k miles, I might go to 5k, even though the recommendation is 7500.

 

[Mooseman]

25k miles comes to about 40k km, which is 10k km less than what I'm doing. I didn't do a flush though, just a pan drop and replace whatever came out. If done often enough, I think it's not necessary to flush.

 

[6716]

Not only does the LZO drink the DEF towing, it freaks out almost immediately and lies about being empty. I don't have anything to compare it to but towing into a headwind in the Dakotas where I am getting sub 10mpg I get low DEF warnings with 4.5 of 5.5 gallons still in the DEF tank. Fortunately in the US DEF pumps are easily accessible at a lot of truck stops, which is a lot less expensive than buying the boxed containers. When I was towing in Canada last year it seemed like the DEF pumps were only available to commercial rigs with commercial cards.

 

[Mooseman]

Check out Demonworks on YT. He is the guru on these engines. He recently came out with info on a bulletin with an ECM update on this issue.