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

[Matt]

Likely it's just the secondary lock that's stuck. You might be able to get it to drop by putting a pry bar into where the secondary lock is and prying or hitting it. We also have a whole section in the FAQ about it:

FAQ: Technical Discussion

This sticky is for links to the most asked about questions, info, specs and general knowledge regarding general Technical Items not covered by a specific section. If you see a thread that should be considered to be added here, click on the button with a note indicating that it should be added...

gmtnation.com

I beat the crap out of mine so it's permanently unlocked.

 

[Matt]

Putting in all new coils this morning. I had a bad miss on #4, moved it to #2 and it followed, so I thought I should just replace all 6.

 

[Mounce]

Mode door actuator on Silverado. Topped off oil, found heater core connector leaking, will get around to that soonish.

 

[Mooseman]

Brought it back to the shop for a re-alignment. It tracked straight but the steering wheel was canted a bit to the left.

 

[TollKeeper]

Yesterday..

Uninstalled the USASpec bluetooth module from the Envoy, and installed it into the Escalade.

Cleaned out the Envoy (amazing how much stuff I had in that truck)

Moved baby seat and RSE from the Envoy to the Escalade.

 

[BrianF]

Just used my Trailblazer to drag a round bale out for the horses. My wife was none too pleased about the door......

 

[Blckshdw]

Packed all of this.... And this...



Into here....




Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

 

[NJTB]

Going to try to get the spare down. The things so gooped up with the oil undercoating I suspect a biblical mess. I'm using an angle grinder and hacking away at it until it comes out, then a new spare tire hoist.
I do wish it came down enough so I could get a cable cutter on it but no go.
Anyone got a suggestion on a good brand of hoist?

 

[Mooseman]

Review: Dorman now has spare tire hoists (NOT RECOMMENDED)

There seems to be other aftermarket ones however seem to be copies of the Dorman part. If using any of these, I would add a chain looped tight around the spare and the frame. found this one on Amazon:

Amazon.com: Spare Tire Hoist - Replaces 924-509, 25911640, 15247311, 88940274, 924509 - Fits Chevy Trailblazer, EXT, GMC Envoy, XL, Isuzu Ascender, Buick Rainier, Oldsmobile Bravada, Saab 9-7x - Rear Tyre Holder: Automotive

Buy Spare Tire Hoist - Replaces 924-509, 25911640, 15247311, 88940274, 924509 - Fits Chevy Trailblazer, EXT, GMC Envoy, XL, Isuzu Ascender, Buick Rainier, Oldsmobile Bravada, Saab 9-7x - Rear Tyre Holder: Spare Tire Carriers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[LovingmyXUV]

I have spent the last 48 Hours getting this thing in clean and pristine shape. Now that I got help from another member here and all works it was time to get her feeling good about herself. Looks amazing. New Led lights inside, Headlights, Corner lights, Fog lights, Tail lights, and Reverse lights! Gonna try to restore the headlight bezel now!

 

[Mooseman]

Finally wired up the fan on the aux tranny cooler. Will be needed when towing the RV in hot weather.

My son was towing his (our old) RV yesterday loaded with his 2011 Silvy with the 6L80E. Calls me in a semi panic when his tranny temp went above 95c (203f) on the highway. While we were talking, it started coming down a bit so he felt better. I will suggest that he add a 4" fan or two to the puny aux cooler GM puts on these trucks. They're about 4"x8" only. If not then put a larger cooler like mine with a fan to match.

 

[NJTB]

Got the spare down yesterday. Went to HF and bought an angle grinder, spent about 20 min. overthinking the job, strapped the tire up with a ratchet strap and cut the bracket on the hub of the tire. That took about 10 min.
Spare came right down, then I removed the hoist. Surprisingly, after spraying the bolts with PB Blaster, they came out.
There was more rust above the spare, I'll wire brush it and paint it with Rustoleum black semi gloss, then maybe rattle can undercoat it.
@Mooseman-thanks for the suggestions on the hoist. Spent several hours searching for one that's NOT made in China and has a SS cable. The sites don't give alot of information on this, although I did find a couple that did.
Wound up ordering a APDTY035610 and crossed my fingers. Most of the ones I looked at don't have the secondary latch which would be a plus, but I wasn't spending over $200 for it.
Now I just have to figure out a system that will secure the spare tire up that I can remove quickly in the cold/rain/snow. I don't want to be the guy that noticed the spare is missing on a long road trip and wonder what happened to it.

 

[Mooseman]

Drove the Avy to the cottage about 1.5 hours away yesterday. No problem there. My youngest son used the TB to tow his boat to the cottage and told me that the steering is very hard turning left, no problem turning right. From research, this is supposedly a problem with one of the valves in the R&P itself and the whole thing has to be replaced. I'll probably try flushing the fluid first just in case it's just dirt or something. Checking prices, RA is out. Amazon only has Cardon't for $460 and ACDelco for your first born. Detroit Axle is attractive at $216USD ($260CAD) but they don't seem to ship to Canada. I could use MyUSAddress to reship it to me since I can't cross the border but that would incur at least another $29 just for the service not including shipping to my door since I can't pick it up at their warehouse until around June 14 when the current lockdown is lifted. None of them give a different part number for TBSS or EXT which would have been nice to have the quicker ratio. Another option is to scope out Kenny U-Pull for a decent looking unit. That is always a risk as well as the extra work of taking it out. I'll check my local parts house tomorrow since everything is closed today for Victoria Day holiday.

 

[TollKeeper]

Sunday..

Got my sunroof half fixed on the Escalade.

Crawled up under it.. Another rust free speciman!

 

[Mooseman]

After dinner and our walk, thought I'd flush the TB's power steering to see if that could help it with the hard to turn right issue. So far, nada. While stopped, it's practically impossible to turn the wheel to the right. It does help to rev up the engine but I can distinctly hear the pump whine. Not loudly like it has totally failed but enough to hear it. I will probably try to swap it out with the rebuilt one I had in the old '02 that I kept as a spare before I tackle the R&P swap.

Then wanted to replace the winter tires and rims with the summers. That went OK except that I noticed that the rear brakes were worn and that damned squeak was still there, which is the end clips rubbing on the rust on the rotors. Had a set of old but good pads to throw on there. Did a quickie pad replacement and hammered the rust off the circumference of the rotor on the left side. It got dark so didn't do the other side. I'm not worried about doing a proper brake job since I am planning on replacing the diff with the one from the Saab with the 3.73 gears.

Did some research in case I need to replace the R&P. That quicker ratio one I spotted at the U-Pull is attractive. I'm checking to see if it's easy to replace the seals on it as this is where they usually fail. Seal kit is relatively cheap at $35. A rebuilt I can get for $352 but is likely the slower ratio. If I can get the used one for $35 and put in new seals, I'd be happy with that.

 

[TollKeeper]

Hey @Mooseman , quick question, I thought I remembered that the 4.2 ECM were locked on trying to regear a truck. I'm a remembering correctly? Or even to resize rotations per mile for a new tire size?

 

[Matt]

@TollKeeper early years, yes. Specifically my 02 can't be done at all so my taller tyres throw the speedo off by about 2mph.

 

[NJTB]

Received the spare tire hoist yesterday and put it in.
Checked the lift cable with a magnet for being stainless, and it is, but the cheap stuff. Just barely magnetic. Used to work with this stuff on sailboat rigging, and questioned the manufactuer, yes it's stainless. Was looking for completly non magnetic.
Couldn't find a country of origin anywhere on it.
Works fine, crossing my fingers it outlasts the car.

 

[Mooseman]

Hey @Mooseman , quick question, I thought I remembered that the 4.2 ECM were locked on trying to regear a truck. I'm a remembering correctly? Or even to resize rotations per mile for a new tire size?

02-05 can't do it but I had speculated that programming it with a VIN from a truck with the proper gearing would work. Never had a chance to try it or had a need to do it. 06-07 IIRC can be programmed. 08-09 definitely can be.

@NJTB , could you write up a review of it with where bought, price, specs, etc? I'll add it to the FAQ.

 

[Mooseman]

Busy day today. Took the Avy to Quebec to pick up a set of pool stairs that someone was selling on Marketplace. And since I was already there , picked up some cheap beer (low carb of course) and headed to Home Depot to get the stuff I couldn't get here during the lockdown. My credit card is still smoking 😊 . 18L of concrete epoxy paint, 2 gallons of deck stain, rollers, brushes and a pole. Also succumbed to temptation and bought a new brushless Ryobi mid-torque impact and two 18V+ 4ah batteries. These batteries are supposed to give the impact extra power. My old Ryobi impact has served me well but is starting to get tired and making bearing noises. Read lots of reviews and videos about it and is a close contender for the Milwaukee mid-torque. And since I'm already into Ryobi tools, only made sense I get this.

Get home, finished the quickie rear brake job on the TB. The steering is still stiff. So decided to try and throw in the old EXT's pump. Since it was an EXT, it also had the smaller pulley and I didn't have the shorter belt but I was doing this as an experiment. The return hose nipple on the EXT pump had broken off so I had to swap the tank from my original one. Even though I sucked out all the fluid out of the tank, it still made a mess. Start it up and the belt is squealing from the lower tension of the longer belt. However, the pump made no difference. Turning right is still stiff, turning left is fine. Looks like a R&P R&R is in order. I think I'll just grab the one I saw at Kenny-U-Pull with the quicker ratio and put it in as-is unless I find it has a bad leak inside the bellows. At least I'll have the proper pump and pulley installed for it. I'll have to run to the parts store for the proper belt first. At least I'll be able to test out the new impact

 

[Mooseman]

The Avy's turn today. Installed a new 7 way trailer receptacle in the bumper next to the license plate to replace the one under the bumper. Also put a eyelet bolt instead of one of the license plate bolts as a handy place to hook the breakaway cable.


The backup camera had stopped working. Tried a few things to be sure it wasn't my Android HU acting up. Reconnected the original Nav unit, nothing. Check the continuity of the wires from the tailgate to the module and power to the camera and that seems fine (some wire colours didn't match up with schematics but figured it out). So figure the camera itself is dead. Take it out after removing the plastic spoiler/handle moulding. OEM Replacements are expen$ive, even used, but I found one I had that fits the hole perfectly. Minor issue is the original camera runs on 6V while the new one is 12V. Just wanted to be sure it would work so I temporarily wired it up at the tailgate and I can't get the image to come up. Tried bypassing the module, nada. Wire the camera at the module connector to the radio, it works. So now I'm thinking the video feed wire is shorted between the tailgate and module. Gonna have to check further tomorrow. Hope I can use the new camera as the old one wasn't really clear and dark.

 

[Mooseman]

Well, I think I found the problem:


Fix that up. What were they thinking using bare wire? So next decide which camera would be going in. The old one was tired, had a dark image and not clear. The new one was much better but has grid lines that can't be turned off so I can't use the HU's guiding lines that turn with the wheel. I jumped the reverse signal to the power feed wire to get 12V instead of the module's 6V and it worked like a charm. Fit right in too.



Then in the evening, decided to pull out the cluster and change the gauges appliqué from US to Metric as the MPH was throwing me off for what speed I was going despite km/h also being there but smaller. I picked it up at Kenny last time when looking at the Avalanche there but someone had already taken apart the cluster leaving the appliqué. Sweet. My only regret is that oil pressure is now in kpa but I know that each line is 20 psi with straight up being 40. Temp I actually prefer °C. Water boils at 100 and freezes at 0. Who came up with Fahrenheit? A drunk?




Thought about the R&P R&R work coming up on the TB. Decided to rent some time at the DIY garage with a lift. I could do it in my driveway on jack stands but I just need some comfort nowadays. And I also have a pesky neighbour that ALWAYS shows up while I'm working outside so it's a way to get away from him. He's nice and means well but I don't like an audience or help unless I ask for it, and he doesn't understand the concept of social distancing while believing vaccines are made with baby DNA

 

[Reprise]

Temp I actually prefer °C. Water boils at 100 and freezes at 0. Who came up with Fahrenheit? A drunk?

You could always use the visual confirmation method... if the puddle outside has liquid water, it's above freezing. If it's covered in ice...

Worse than a drunk... the inventor was German... LOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gabriel_Fahrenheit
(and I'm part German, so if anyone's offended... oh, well)

 

[northcreek]

Worse than a drunk... the inventor was German... LOL

And..... "Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit began training as a merchant in Amsterdam after his parents died on 14 August 1701 from eating poisonous mushrooms."
So maybe a little loopy from eating magic mushrooms like his folks..

 

[Matt]

Got my "new" rear doors from the body shop and put on. Only problem is the door checks. The new doors have a new style that just wouldn't work because they have 1 less bolt hole than the originals. The originals I can either bolt to the door or frame but not both at the same time, which I just don't understand. So, I'm running them checkless for the time being, not like I use the rear doors that often anyway.

 

[Mooseman]

Loaned the Avy to my son as his car is in the shop getting tinted. I looked at the gas gauge and told him I'd like it back at least where it is. He said he was just going to work and back. I laughed and said "6.0L gas 6000 lbs truck my boy!". He drives a Diesel Passat

 

[Matt]

Took the front door bump strips off yesterday. They peeled off fine but I had to hit the foam tape with a hair dryer to get that crap off...blisters on both thumbs from rolling the tape off after heating.

 

[coolride]

Removed the spare tire lifting mechanism and the heat shield. I'm in the process of de-rustifying the underside and this stuff is in the way. I bought the TB with no spare, it looks like the lifting wire was cut.

 

[Matt]

I actually washed it yesterday. Also got the door checks reinstalled on both rear doors. Turns out you can't have them fully extended when you put them on.

 

[Mooseman]

Friday, The Avy towed our ~6500# RV and loaded truck bed to North Bay. It's a hilly highway about 340km away. It was around 30c during the drive so she got hot seeing 235f engine and 200f tranny temps at their highest after long hill pulls. Temps averaged 215f engine and 85f tranny. The tranny aux cooler with fan were working great but it throws a lot of hot air into the rad. Oil pressure is still a concern with only 30psi while the engine is spinning at~3000rpm running hot and heavy. It ran great and able to pull the trailer.

Saturday, under the RV's awning due to rain, we worked on my son's '11 Silvy to replace the tranny cooler and do a flush. The older Burb's cooler went in fairly easy after removing the original cooler's plastic mount. Just bent the lower mounting flange 90deg and bolted it to the crossmember after drilling a couple of holes. My son didn't have any metal strapping so we just double zip tied the top of it to the hood latch mount. Lines went in unmodified. Then the flush. I scolded my son for letting it go so long. Pumping it out, it was BLACK! I don't mean a dark brown but black like overused diesel engine oil. I had never seen tranny fluid bad like this before. It didn't smell burnt though. Then the pan drop. Thank you GM engineers for putting the exhaust Y-pipe in the way! Unbolted the tranny mount, jacked the rear of the tranny high and wedged a small bottle jack between the driver side Y-pipe and the floor to push it down just enough for the pan to clear the valve body. It can be done! Next challenge, the filters I got from my parts store were not for this tranny (6L80E) at all but for a 4L60E. I should have clued in when he asked if it was a deep or shallow pan. Call and run to the local Parts Source, which was the only place open, and get the right filter as well as another gallon of fluid given how black the fluid was. Pan and fluid go in and the first pump is still black. Took four flushes to get all that nasty crap out. In total, used 4.5 gallons. It shifted much better and he said that it was also running cooler than before. Hopefully it will survive. Let that be a lesson to you kids, DO YOUR MAINTENANCE!

Sunday, towed the RV back home. Pretty much the same as the drive up but it was hotter at 33c but it was less hill climbs. The engine stayed below 235f but the tranny got to 200f again.

So future plans are to replace the oil pump, do a coolant flush and add some Water Wetter. Will also look at moving the tranny cooler to someplace that won't dump all that hot air into the radiator and condenser. Also thinking of bypassing the rad's cooler.

 

[gmcman]

I beat the crap out of mine so it's permanently unlocked.

Before I replaced my hoist, I flipped the spare over so the latch wouldn't raise high enough to catch. Never had an issue, always stayed snug against the body.

 

[gmcman]

Went to Costco and ordered a set of 22" Defenders for the Yukon, ouch.. ...can't find that NSFW emoji..............

Just a heads up, if you need tires, I'd plan sooner than later. I remember hearing of possible tire supply issues and when I was at the counter, the clerk stated he needed to check to see if he could get them as Michelin is starting to see availability problems. A long minute later he said all was good, but just a heads up. Not trying to start a panic buy, but that's the info given to me.

 

[TollKeeper]

I have also heard that from our Continental Tire vendor, and our General Tire vendor hinted at this, but didnt say it outright.

 

[aaserv]

I originally bought the Envoy because several times a year I drive a few hundred miles out of town and putting all those miles on my Van didnt seem like a good idea. Well 3 yrs later I STILL hadnt driven more than 120 miles or so on 1 trip and that was when I 1st got it and the clutch fan failed on the way home. Been working on it ever since.
So this past weekend I said F it....its time to get it on the road. 3.5 hours each way to North Mississippi in the middle of nowhere. If it broke down out there it would probably be as cheap to just pull the plate and start walking. Leave it where it lays.
Filled it up w non ethanol and hit the road. Cruise Control works great, thats what I missed the most. My legs kill me after a 4 hour drive on the gas pedal. Wish the seat would go back just another 1/2 inch and it would be perfecto. Figured Id be stopping for gas every hour but shockingly I think I got 16-17 miles a gallon. Cruise on 72 for the most part and all highway driving.
105 miles in I look down and oil pressure is pegged at 80!! I know that not right but I pull over and ck it out. Got a new oil press sensor (AC Delco) so no idea whats happened but no knocking and the oil is full on the stick so back on the road. Light rain the entire way so no overheating problems with anything. A/C blew like an Ice Machine. I did notice it sails a lil bit on the hilly country in Mississippi. Might need to look into new rear coil springs.
About 275 miles in I thought i detected a slight miss, pulled in to top off the gas and ckd everything. Found nothing and kept going. Made it in great time to destination.
Saturday morning I took 1 sip of casino coffee and headed out to buy a coffee maker and supplies.....This guy dont function on crap coffee! Pulled out the dollar store and got on it a lil bit, looked down just in time to watch the Tachometer swing up about 1500 rpm on the 3-4 shift....O God Im going to be walking home I can see it now. Talked to a few guys who were heading home the same time I was and had plenty of them watching for me to be parked on the side of the road with a trail of transmission fluid leading to my car...
Headed out Sunday afternoon planning to get home before dark if I had no problems....which I was sure I was going to have. Stopped and filled up, went to auto parts and got a bottle of Lucas Trans Fix , the 150 wt transmission fluid....lol Ckd all the fluids though and didnt need anything. Oil was maybe a 1/4qt low but its got 204k on it thats to be expected. I hit the road. Cruise on about 74. Seems to drive fine in OD, its just going thru the gears thats scary. Thankfully I went all the way home with hardly a downshift needed. Cruised like a dream. Rain was a lil harder on the way home and I think that saved me. Lowered the temps on the motor and tranny and actually i think I got a tad better gas mileage coming home than I did going.
All in all I thought it did well, i knew Id need a tranny 1 day soon so no surprise there. Oil Pressure gauge wasnt expected but if I can drive this baby 550 miles and only come back with a bad pressure gauge I think we can call this trip a success!!!!!

 

[Mooseman]

Sunday, towed the RV back home.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that on our drive home, when we stopped for a dinner break, I noticed that the trailer cord was dragging and broke most of the wires. For I don't know how long, I had no lights. The only wires that weren't broken are the brake and ground. I cut the broken part out and patched it using butt connectors. And I lost my favourite Kershaw Spring assisted knife, which I can't replace because they are illegal here now

I'll be replacing the cord and plug with a new one that has a junction box to make replacements easier in the future.

 

[Martyelzz4]

This was sort of a week long project.. It started out as both rear axle seal suddenly decided to leak.. mostly on the passenger side. I decided since I had some other new parts that I'd been putting off installing .. rear swaybar bushing endlinks and New Arnott air bags. I thought I'd do the easy part first... replacing the airbag as I'd done in before on my previous 05 Buick Rainier (Which had NEVER been in the rust belt!) I was not as easy in the Saab that had spent 8 years in the rustbelt before I purchased it. The bags were NOT easy.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Now part 2 was the new rear swaybar bushings & new rear swaybar end links. I only had a problem with one nut on the top passenger side which I had to break the nut with a nut breaker as the allen hole that became round just as the nut was about off.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Then I got to the rear axle seals. Which I only have a picture of the differential as I was getting tired by this time only working until the garage getting too hot in our 3 days of 97 F. I also had to clean the rotor, brakes, inside of the wheels and the outside of the passenger side wheel.

 

[NJTB]

This was sort of a week long project.. It started out as both rear axle seal suddenly decided to leak.. mostly on the passenger side. I decided since I had some other new parts that I'd been putting off installing .. rear swaybar bushing endlinks and New Arnott air bags. I thought I'd do the easy part first... replacing the airbag as I'd done in before on my previous 05 Buick Rainier (Which had NEVER been in the rust belt!) I was not as easy in the Saab that had spent 8 years in the rustbelt before I purchased it. The bags were NOT easy.
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FWIW, back in the day we used to run a vacuum line from the engine to the bags and then start the car. Collapsed the bag and it literally falls out.

 

[Martyelzz4]

Now part 2 was the new rear swaybar bushings & new rear swaybar end links. I only had a problem with one nut on the top passenger side which I had to break the nut with a nut breaker as the allen hole that became round just as the nut was about off.

AC Delco end links.