autumnrstarr

I'm not the type usually to want to put a lot of money into older vehicles but it doesn't really look or even feel like an old vehicle to me. And if the shop calls back saying i need a new tranny asap, i'd hesistate to do it, but i may still want it. TC and rear end, we definitely need. I just dont want it to be junk and be that person to dish out $$$ just to keep it running. I have a feeling this isn't that situation though.

falconbrother

We have a 2000 model LT. I bought it with a new-ish engine (40,000 miles). The body had 219,000. My wife test drove it because I couldn't get time off of work. She didn't hear the sound from the differential. So, we bought it and I had to have the differential rebuilt. That was spendy. I took it to the most expensive mechanic shop around here..stupid. But, they use high end parts and they warranty everything. I can trust it. I replaced some speakers and had to solder the tow/haul wire back together. I had a couple of bulbs out on the instrument cluster. Pulling that takes less than five minutes so, it was an easy fix. The dealer had the driver's seat leather re-upholstered and new brakes and new tires installed. I had a very small freon leak and had to replace a valve. That took a few minutes. I tow a travel trailer with this burb. I added Sumo Supersprings. I serviced the transmission and filter myself. The shop wanted $650.00 to do that. Crazy talk. It's a very comfortable ride and I would drive it anywhere.

autumnrstarr

You make it sound worth it! Now that you mention it, we have had some connection issues with our trailor lights before, possibly loose so we may need to check into that--put not that serious because we don't tow often. It's only a 1500 and it struggles going up the mountains with a 17ft trailer lol. Going downhill, obviously no issue. Sound system is still great, Bose. Love it. I'd like a new DVD player but what we have works still. I did have to buy new headphones but that was because I had two little guys at the time who abused stuff. I've tried changing all of the fuses for everything hoping it would be simple to fix the issue with the seat, and instrument cluster but it didn't so I'm thinking the actual cluster is out. Online it seems to be incredibly common. Still, not a huge issue, yet. I can throw a seat cover over my driver seat because the leather is jacked up a bit, also a very common issue. We may or may not have a leak in the AC, my husband put freon in it the other day but said it needed more. Front AC was cold consistently driving it afterward but he says when you turn the truck off, it has a hiss for about 10 seconds. The shop said it's pretty common so he'll check that out today. We will need new front rotors and probably new tires soon though. We had Goodyears on it when we bought it and they lasted at least 4 years! Then we got the AT tires and they only lasted a year. I'd rather spend a little extra for good tires to last longer. We have a few small dents and dings here and there, and tiny scratches and the clear coat is wearing in small spots but overall, it's still great. I also forgot, one time we ended up getting bad gas from a small gas station so we had to replace the fuel filter but the pump is still great!

falconbrother

There is a small valve on the line that connects to the dryer on the firewall. It's a real common leak issue on these things. Here's the part:

https://www.1aauto.com/a-c-service-v...FdlMDQodgQ4IXw

As long as you leave the cap on it it will hold pressure much longer. Take the cap off and it will bleep off over night. I changed mine out myself. It fixed the issue. Gotta really pay attention when you replace it. Look at the new part real well before twisting on the old part.

autumnrstarr

Awesome. Thanks. When we hear back from the shop to see what ultimately is wrong with the truck, I'll make sure to show this to my husband if it's an issue. Where do you typically buy your parts from? We shop around, but it seems like we kind of linger around rock auto and occasionally amazon for free shipping!

If it were up to my husband, we'd be a damn junkyard but I made him get rid of most of the vehicles. We currently have a 95 honda civic he uses (by the way that little thing is 100% reliable and dirt cheap) and we currently have an '05 F350 super duty blah blah blah diesel in the shop...we can do gas vehicles but not much knowledge on a diesel. I'm a chevy girl he's a ford guy. But we have never used a shop for anything but the diesel because the low and high pressure oil systems went out. We will try to do everything ourselves to keep costs down.

falconbrother

Parts? Well, if I need it right now there's a NAPA warehouse up the street and that's where I go. If I'm not in a hurry it's RockAuto. If it's in the middle I go to Autozone, O'rileys, Auto Zone. For oils and filters I get them at Walmart. Dex-6 is 4 bucks a quart. My wife says we have too many vehicles as well. Last year we had a motorhome, two motorcycles, a van, and two cars..for two people. Now we have one motorcycle, three cars and a travel trailer. Can't do nuthin with a redneck.

autumnrstarr

We haven't needed many parts but we have an advance auto nearby for immediate stuff but Rock Auto seems to ship within two or three days for us so that's usually what we use. For the burban, we try to get AC Delco for parts because we really try to treat it well. We haven't exactly done tune ups as often and followed the typical maintenance schedule as recommended but so far it has been pretty good to us. I feel better spending a little extra $$ for the burban than i do for any other vehicle we've had. Mostly because we bought it with a car note. It's the nicest thing we've owned haha.
we have yet to get a van or a motorcycle and i doubt we ever will. But we've had 5 jet skis at once. Had an ATV, jeep cherokee, another stupid ford truck, dodge ram, mustang, a galant, ugh. We just need my truck and whatever ONE vehicle he needs to putt around in. This was all in the past 8 years we have been married.

So, i guess i'll sit and wait for the results and ask questions later tonight. Thanks for your help!

falconbrother

RockAuto is bloody hard to beat for prices but.. I bought some anti-sway bar end links for my Honda CRV from them, I got the cheap ones. They suck out loud. They are worse than the worn out OEM ones that were on the car. They squeak %100 of the time. So, when I order parts for the burb, or my wife's Town and Country I go with the more expensive, better quality parts. We're still paying on the Chrysler so, I keep it as like new as I can. It's been a very good car.

Let us know what the verdict is.

autumnrstarr

***UPDATE*** So, my husband is on his way to go pick up my truck from the shop because I NEED it for tomorrow but we will be dropping it back off on Sunday! The shop got back with us and told us everything wrong with it.

1. We need new front rotors and brakes (we may do that ourselves)
2. Need new rear brakes (we may do that ourselves...and may change rear rotors as well)
3. Need new inner tie rods on both sides (this could be why we got uneven tread on tires
4. Needs to replace an o ring for the oil cooler or something like that-easy fix
5. Replace rear end
6. Replace TC
7. Replace some tire sensor on the right side for ABS
8. Replace some encoder module for the 4WD

We can most of that ourselves...but, the shop said if he fixed ALL of that, he would only charge $2k. I think that's a good price. I don't know if and what exactly we will get the shop to do but we like to save $$ so we may do some stuff ourselves. So what do you guys think? It's worth it to fix, right? Nothing wrong with AC and nothing wrong with tranny!! That is also pretty good news. But, I know it'll happen eventually so we will continue to save $$ on the side and keep our eyes for another one just in case.

falconbrother

I spent $1400 on my differential. 2k on all that works sounds reasonable.