What did you do to your GMT today? [Part II]

[Mooseman]

Yesterday was time to give some love to the TB. Replaced the rear brakes with the rotors and pads I had kept from the Saab as they were basically new ACDelco when I scrapped it. The truck would pull to the left when the brakes were applied and the right rear rotor showed uneven rust on the contact surface. The pads were just worn halfway but I think all the sitting around for two years just rusted them. While I was at it, I also installed the winter tires and greased and checked the front suspension and brakes.

Then tackled the rear hatch license pocket/handle as the lower plastic standoff broke off again and the whole thing would flex when the hatch was opened. So much so that external plastic was cracked. And ware is also getting in as the rear floor cubby is full of water. Not just the lower standoff was broken but two others had broken off again that I had repaired with JB Weld. I had another one I picked up from the yard but I had pilfered its standoff bolts and the lower one was also broken and the colour is not quite the same. Put it all back together as I want to go to the yard to find one of the same colour with hopefully intact standoffs.

Also tackled the left rear backup light. I had put LEDs but that one wasn't working. Well, when I took it out, it fell apart. Put a regular bulb for now until I decide to get another LED or just go back with regular bulbs.

Today is raining so no trip to the yard . Also wanted to try and scope out some rear frame crossmembers for my son's 2011 Silvy that are rusted out. His gas tank and rear shocks are basically hanging in the air and his tailpipe broke off from being unsupported. I have found one supplier in the US of new parts however would be over $1000CAD not including tax. Craziest thing is that he's still making payments on it and can't drive it.

 

[aaserv]

Had the tires balanced and the locking lugs put on and drives a lot better now. Doesnt ride very well at all but with 4 yr old cheap tires I guess thats to be expected. Looks like Ill be keeping them. Shocked to see the amount new tires cost for 22" though. A good set of 4 will run me around $1600. The cost of luxury I guess...lol Brought back the door rattling problem though so thats something to work on..

Speaking of luxury , my daughter in Omaha, Neb is looking for a car and I found a top of line 05 Envoy there with 177K on it for around $5k out the door. Looks great and has every feature available but talking a kid into driving an 05 model is a job in it self.
BTW if anybody reading this lives around Omaha or might know a good mechanic there who could ck it out please get in touch with me. I dont particularly care for 4 wheel drive models but I guess its useful there with all the snow and such. Shes not very mechanically inclined so I kinda feel bad about sending her to ck out a used car on her own. 14 hour drive from here so hard for me to break away and go up there. Her experiences with the few mechanic shops she's tried so far tell me shes not very good at selecting shops

 

[flyboy2610]

I live in Lincoln, NE. I take my business to one of the Graham Tire locations near me. Always have had positive experiences with them. They don't have any Omaha locations, though. The closest would be in Fremont, about 30 miles or so west of Omaha. I have a brother-in-law (2, actually) that lives in Omaha. I can ask my wife to contact him and see if there's anyone he would recommend.

 

[flyboy2610]

Got ahold of my brother in law. The place he used to go has really declined in quality of service, and it takes a long time to get anything scheduled. He said he takes everything to the dealer now.
Sorry I couldn't be of any more help. I hope someone else can come through for you.

 

[Mooseman]

Back at the TB. It was making a moaning/groaning sound in the rear at low speed. Something with the brakes. Take them apart again and the parking brake shoe are cracked and worn. I had another set in my pile of parts. Made sure that one side was "backwards", as in has the long shoe on the front so that they grab in both directions.

Checking some more, found that the transfer case makes a scraping noise when the driveshaft is turned forward but not backwards. Kinda the same low noise when the brake pad wear indicator is scraping on a rotor. It's coming from inside the case. It works fine otherwise. Figured I'd replace the fluid. While I was at it, also replaced the rear diff fluid.

Finally, checked the u-joints and the rear one is showing some play so that will be the next thing along with the front diff fluid. At least I'm catching all this before the snow flies.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Three year ago I purchase a set of 4 Saab silver painted wheels, with tires that I could not break loose from the rims with my Harbor Freight tire changer. So last week I took them to a local Les Schwab tire dealer and had them remove and get rid of the tires. Yesterday I got the pressure washer out and super cleaned the wheels. Today I polished then ceramic coated (Turtle Wax) and installed new set of TPMS. My 17" Saabrolet wheels with 235/65r17 Nokian R2s are down to 4 32nds and the snow flake is gone so now I'm checking out some Nokian R3s 245/60r18s in a couple of days. The old ones are on for now because of the weather but they won't make it through a kind of real snow. Only 1 of the 4 Saab center caps is nice looking... I'll have to find some more....

 

[Mooseman]

This should be the "final" on the TB for now. Replaced the rear driveshaft u-joints. Nothing out of the ordinary except to heat up the ears with the torches to soften up the original nylon retainers. ACDelco were cheap with the grease so added some more in the hollow part of the trunion. Re-added some grease to the slip yoke to avoid clunking.

Then changed the oil in the front diff. Nothing out of the ordinary there. The small magnets I added to the fill and drain plugs did pick up some black shmoo but is typical of diff oil. The oil itself was in pretty good condition. Did add some Red Devil leak stop as there was some sweating from the axle.

 

[azswiss]

Heard a subtle but distinct ticking noise when I pulled into the garage last night. Checked things out with a stethoscope and traced it to a noisy injector. Checked again this morning and the noise was gone; no misfires or codes either. One more item on the list of things to monitor!

 

[Mooseman]

Today was the Sierra's turn. Replaced the rear shocks for a pair of air shocks. They're the same as the ones I got for the Avalanche. Put the air valve inside the fuel fill panel. Needed them to help level the truck while towing. They won't need nearly as much pressure as the Avy did. Test drive was good. They're a bit stiffer than the original probably because they have to have a minimum of 25 psi, which is fine with me as I didn't like the bouncy feel. Will be taking the RV this weekend to North Bay to fix my son's Silvy so we'll see if this helps with the pourposing. May spend the week there. I can't stay in their house because I'm allergic to their cat.

Then rotated the tires and re-learned the TPMS sensors. I took out the spare so I could take the truck to the oil spray but when I got there, they were closed due to illness until Monday. Put the spare back up in its place. I'll have to go when I get back from North Bay.

 

[Sparky]

I kinda hate to say it, but I traded it in.
Hah, first vehicle I have not driven until the wheels practically fell off.

I replaced the LCA forward bushing which did fix 95% of the banging I had. Then the exhaust fell off so I replaced it with factory-ish type setup (I wasn't gonna dump a bunch into it). But the issue still remained of 2 big car seats in the back of an extended cab and a 3rd kid on the way...

So a couple weekends ago, we bought a 2015 Odyssey minivan

Yeah, not so cool a vehicle, and yeah, no more 4x4. But, it has SO much more space inside for kids n stuff. And it isn't rusty either! No pickup bed for project materials and dirty stuff kinda sucks...

Anway, not that I've been on here very much at all (been WAY busy with life I just don't have time to dedicate to forums But I'll still try to pop in from time to time. And maybe, if the economies don't totally implode and we turn into some 3rd world craphole, when it is time to replace the Civic sometime in the next decade I can get another GMT. We'll see.

 

[Blckshdw]

Somebody's been busy! Glad to see you're still alive and kickin up there though.

 

[Sparky]

Not hard to keep busy when the wife is crazy hot

 

[krunal88]

I replaced a radiator on the TB. Not too bad of a job when the fan clutch nut finally cracks loose. I had my old radiator cap break inside the new radiator’s filler neck however. The bottom part of the cap anyway. This ever happen to anyone else? I haven’t messed with it yet. I just put the cap back on until I can pull out the remains of the cap later.

 

[Matt]

Not hard to keep busy when the wife is crazy hot

Oh WOW!

 

[TollKeeper]

Not hard to keep busy when the wife is crazy hot

Thats how I ended up with #2 myself... Went to the Vet to make sure that dont happen again.

 

[Mooseman]

At least put a GMTN sticker on it just so that... (replace the word "me" with "us")

 

[northcreek]

Took the wife's 2015 Nox in for wiper recall fix. Was going to wait but, the linkage fell off the other day so.....
Nice to have the dealer fix something for free....

 

[flyboy2610]

Took advantage of a really nice day yesterday and installed the new front axle disconnect. It's a Dorman 600-115XD. Dorman puts a forged aluminum shift fork in it instead of the cast aluminum fork in the OEM part. Wasn't too bad a job to do. The part I was most worried about was getting the old one out without breaking off the inner housing and leaving it in the oil pan!
I jacked up the truck, put it on jack stands and removed the 4 bolts holding the housing to the pan. Next, I removed the "skid plate" from the bottom of the truck. This gives clear access, at least on the 4.2, to the back of the disconnect housing. Tap the housing up on one side, then tap on the other side, repeat the process a few times, then give the back of the housing a few taps, then the front a few taps to push it back in, tap it out a bit more, etc. Came right out!
Before I installed the new one (which had been disassembled, the 'grease' flushed out with brake cleaner, and a generous amount of red Mobil-1 synthetic grease installed), I g[ICODE][/ICODE]ave the rear of the housing a coating of nickel anti-seize.
Today I started tearing down the old unit. I expected to find some carnage, and I was not disappointed.
This is looking down the CV axle side of the disconnect. The seal shows some wear, and while the bearing isn't factory fresh it's not too bad.


This the debris I dumped out of the front side of the disconnect.


Separated the two case halves, and this is what was left of the butterscotch pudding that GM calls grease.


As Ernest would say "Eeeeewwwwww!"


The rear (intermediate shaft) gear came right out, no problem. The front (CV axle) gear was another matter. It would not come out willingly! I used a 22mm socket, a punch, and a ball-peen hammer to get it out! This is what was left of the bearing:


The gear is toast. There are severe wear grooves on it.

I don't know what the condition of the shift fork and sliding collar is yet. I'm all out of brake cleaner, gonna have to get some tomorrow.
Rebuild kits are available for these, so after I know the extent of damage/wear I'll price all the parts I need and decide if it's better to buy a new one or rebuild this one. I would like to have one on hand as a spare, as the wife and I both drive TB's.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Got my new Nokian R3s from Amazon via Fedex. All 4 are now mounted and balanced (LOL) close for now... Sitting in the garage now with 45 psi until tomorrow late morning and I'll put them on the Saab.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Update new tires and wheels installed! Also cleaned up the shop so I can get both cars in again... winter is on it's way!

 

[aaserv]

Ordered the new vapor canister. Got it ultra cheap on EBay. Crawled under yesterday and I cant find it anywhere. Im seeing a lot posts saying some are on top of the gas tank but if it is I may have the wrong 1. This thing is HUGE! like 4.5" deep and and probably 8 x 10 inches square. How is that going on top of the tank????? The tank on this truck must be 5ft long, going to be a "B" to drop so I want to make sure I have the right 1 and its up there before I drop it. Ive got Google all over it and coming back with nothing on the location for a V-8 model.

While I was under there I noticed the rear seal on the tranny is wet so there's another project Ill be months getting to. There is a tranny shop not far from my house, hopefully if I drop the tail extension they won't charge me a Yacht payment just to knock a new bushing and seal into it.

 

[Blckshdw]

@aaserv Pulled this from GMSI, looks like you need to drop the spare tire, and it's tucked up there somewhere?

 

[Eric04]

@aaserv Pulled this from GMSI, looks like you need to drop the spare tire, and it's tucked up there somewhere?

On my 2004 4.2, I can confirm the canister is located there. Hard to believe there's room above that tank for anything but moisture particles to rust the top of the fuel pump.

 

[Reprise]

While I was under there I noticed the rear seal on the tranny is wet so there's another project Ill be months getting to. There is a tranny shop not far from my house, hopefully if I drop the tail extension they won't charge me a Yacht payment just to knock a new bushing and seal into it.

I did this recently on my Sierra (yes, it's a 4L80). I replaced the bushing, because 'it was advised to', while you're in for the seal.

BUT -- after doing it, I'd not do it again if the bushing didn't show any / much wear.
Reason: The bushing is staked in -- if it's the same on a 4L60, the 'staking' will gouge the housing when it's driven out (there's no access to 'unstake' the bushing first, only drive it out)

I used some JB Weld and a grinding stone afterward, got it nice and smooth, and then put some orange Loctite (stronger than blue, weaker than red) around the outer circumference of the bushing, where it met the housing, and gave it time to set, as I noticed the new one was a little bit looser fit. No problems since then.
Oh -- make sure the holes on the new bushing / housing match up, if you have them -- that's an oil lube hole.

If you are comfortable replacing the seal on your own, I'd just do that, if the bushing is still good.
I'll spare the National part #, as yours will most likely be a little smaller than mine.

 

[Blckshdw]

Finally got around to taking it to a tire shop, and getting the front end re-aligned. Meant to do it after replacing the LCAs due to the bushings on the strut yoke being wrecked, but other things got in the way. Noticed a bit of extra wear on the outer edges of the tire, and since I had the day off today, went 1st thing this morning to get it done.

When I do all my fluid maintenance this winter, I may rotate the tires and put the fronts in back.

ETA: For the most part, the truck drove just fine, but in tight turns (close to locking the steering wheel), there was a wobble in the handling, and the tires would squeal slightly, that's gone now

 

[Mooseman]

Well sh!t! My front diff has a good leak and seems to be coming mostly from the axle seal since I would fill it and it would leak out to the bottom of that seal and mostly stop. I had cleaned all of it with brake cleaner to see exactly where it was leaking from and it also seems that the filler plug seal seems to not be doing its job neither. I ordered both. The drain plug seal I'll replace with an aluminum or copper washer instead of that nylon one.

And today, was also greeted with the soothing sound of the hum of a wheel hub. Sounds like it's coming from the left also so I can kill two birds with one ratchet swipe. I'll likely rent a bay at the DIY garage since it's too cold now to do anything outside.

 

[Blckshdw]

I guess misery loves company... I just went out and had a look under mine, and the rear diff is all wet, especially at the bottom of the cover, but no drops on the garage floor. I remember when I changed the fluid the last time, and ordered a Fel-Pro gasket, I got the wrong one and couldn't use it, so I reused the old one. I guess that borrowed time ran out... One more thing to the winter maintenance to-do list.

 

[Blckshdw]

And the dark cloud over the EXT continues to follow me. Halfway through the morning stop and go commute, it felt a little sluggish as traffic pulled away from a light, and then the engine seemed to kick in. Strange, and then the CEL started a slow blink. As I slowed to idle, it began to run rough, so we all know what that means.

At the next light, opened Torque on the HU, pulled up a blank page and added all the misfire counters. Guess we know what I'll be doing when I get home this evening... I've got a couple of spare coils, hopefully that's all it is.

 

[Sparky]

Or water in the well. Did it rain hard recently?

 

[Blckshdw]

Or water in the well. Did it rain hard recently?

The EXT is finally a garage queen, so while we did have that tropical storm pass through last week, she stayed nice and dry the whole time. I want to say the old aftermarket coil I replaced somewhat recently was on #4 (it coulda been #5), but the OEM coil I put in place was new to me from a former member. No idea how old or used it may have been before I got it. Will have to swap a couple when I get home.

 

[Hawaiianbasshead]

Saturday I put subs, amp and baby Yoda bass knob, in the 07 ext this video is also from Saturday. Box is full epoxy coated

 

[Blckshdw]

The drive home was smooth, which was unexpected given how rough the idle was getting to work this morning. Kept an eye on Torque and the misfire counter popped on #1, but nothing else. Historically, Torque has always shown me misfires randomly even when everything was fine, so that's my grain of salt to take.

It wasn't until I was almost home, that I felt some hesitation with the gas, and when I pulled into the garage, the idle started to act up, but not enough to throw a code again. So that tells me it's going to wait until it's good and warmed up before the problem sets.

Popped the hood and indeed it was #5 that I had replaced previously, as that coil was visibly newer than the rest.



Looked in the spare parts box, had another Delphi coil, and a new aftermarket one. Swapped the other Delphi in place, marked the one I removed with a piece of red tape for identification. Let the truck idle halfway in the garage until it got warmed back up. Revved the engine a few times and watched the misfire counters. Nothing too helpful, it pinned some numbers on #1, #3, and #5 that didn't change, unlike this morning's drive, and the idle felt good. Each of these is about 1 minute apart.



Tomorrow morning, have a Dr appointment that's post-rush hour, so won't get a good test in there, but will be heading into the office after lunch, so the drive home is what I'll really be paying attention to.

 

[NJTB]

Been getting to know my 2015 Acadia. Aside from the surprise of having too Google the battery location (behind the passenger seat). I am impressed that there's 2 bolts in the engine compartment for jumping a dead battery, clearly marked.
I just watched some videos on thermostat replacement (have to pull the intake off) and water pump replacement (have to remove the fuse box???).
Not sure what I've gotten myself into.
Checked out Acadia owners forum, lots of posts, not many replys.
Wow do I miss my TB. Seriosly considered buying another one, but the work I would have to put into it deterred me, and those intermittent electrical problems that come along were worrysome.
The Acadia is a cream puff, I'm just hoping it sticks together without me having to put a ton of money to repair it down the road.

 

[azswiss]

Drain & refill the transfer case.



Old fluid was clean, still had that nice blue color.

 

[TollKeeper]

You Smurf Murderer!

 

[Mooseman]

Took the TB to the DIY garage and replaced the left front axle seal and the wheel hub. That seal was a biatch to pry out. Got the new one in with a block of wood. The old seal was completely thrashed. The inner seal separated from the rest of the seal and was spinning. The hub I used was an old one I kept from either the Saab or the old EXT. The one that was on there was a cheapo AutoShack one I had. It wasn't even rusty and it was bad. The used one I put in was still in good condition. No more hum.

Oh, and while it was on the hoist, I did a quick check of the front end and the R lower balljoint is worn. These were the Mevocrap TTX that everybody raves about that I got in Dec. 2019. Well I'm not raving now and are now on my shit list. Gonna have to figure a way to get a replacement and return this one but since I bought it from RA and sent to a US address, they won't send me one. However, they said to buy a new one and return it on warranty but on warranty they don't refund, they just send a new one. And I have to pay for shipping the bad one to them. I guess that'll be OK since the other one will also likely fail. Or I buy one locally and just warranty the other one when it fails? Or just buy something else? Moog isn't what it used to be. TRW? ACDelco? I've never had good luck with ball joints no matter the brand. In any case, it'll cost me to rent the garage again to do this

 

[Blckshdw]

No staged pics, but swapped out 7 quarts of oil and a new filter this morning. While I was at it, went to address the rear diff leak, or so I thought

On closer inspection, not only was the bottom of the pumpkin oily, but the entire assembly, both axles, and the front of the diff was oily too. I wouldn't think gear oil would spread all over everything like that, if the seal was leaking, especially flowing forward. Put the passenger side of the EXT up on a jack stand so I could roll underneath. With some cardboard under the diff, pulled the fill plug, which fluid promptly started coming out of, so I put the plug back. I checked my previous diff gasket order, and it was in 2017, so if it was leaking for a considerable amount of time, the fluid level shouldn't still be at the fill plug level (after sitting parked for 3 days) should it?

More recently, I swapped the transmission pan to one with a drain plug, and didn't tighten it enough, which resulted in a spray of tranny fluid all over the undercarriage. I sprayed degreaser all over everything followed by a rinse to clean things up, but I don't remember if I went all the way back to the diff or not. But leftover tranny fluid spray makes more sense than a sprawling diff fluid leak, unless anyone knows of something I may have missed?

 

[TollKeeper]

The only other possibility would be a brake line, but I would think you would have other symptoms there.

 

[Mooseman]

Just do like I did and hose the whole diff with brake cleaner until it's dry and then watch for wetness to show up. Basically how I confirmed my front diff axle leak.

I'm still using the original rubber diff gasket. And if I encounter a diff with a regular gasket or RTV, I replace it with a rubber one. No more gasket or RTV scraping. I'll use RTV if I can't find a bubber gasket.

 

[flyboy2610]

Bought 7 qts. of oil, an oil filter, and an air filter. Gonna do the last oil change before winter. Probably do it Friday afternoon.