skycries57

Hi guys I have 04 suburban 4x4 1500 w 160k miles, what are first and second signs of pump going out? I have a faint grinding/rotating sound in that area and though it was my fan clutch cause sound goes away when I accelerate AND THEN comes back when coasting foot off pedal and no sound when parked. Could this as well be the rear differential bearings, can't be the front if you have it in 2wd right?

I drove w/o a fan for 10 min in cold weather and sound wasn't as harsh but it still was there, could be bearings going out in water pump before weeping through hole? I replaced all pulleys and tensioners,etc. and new ac belt and main belt. I dont think it was the ac compressor clutch,etc. due to "the grinding/rotating" sound was deeper in sound and not high pitch like ac sound issues that I replaced last week in ac.

thanks!

cleveland63b

usually if the bearings are bad you can feel/see play when you wiggled the fan or there is a leak at the weep hole

skycries57

So that is probably why I'm nothe thinking it's the water pump, no play and not leaking. Gonna take off front tires and look at brake area to see if anything there is causing the grinding rotating noise. Gonna do front and rear differential fluid changes tomorrow and see if the noise goes away

skycries57

well checked all heat shields and no rattling, did find the front differential fluid was bone dry, gonna fill up tomorrow and see if that makes a dif. does it move a little even though 4x4 is not engaged? saw a bit of water under water pump but dried up fast, could this cause faint rattling, no signs of over heating,coolant,etc..

skycries57

well if anyone cares, I brought my burb to my local mechanic that was voted best shop in the county and they said it was the rear differential bearings going out, and the dude said it only took 15 minutes with a stethoscope and a quick drive. he said he gets chevys in once a week with this issue and they always have bearing kits stocked up because this is a normal thing every week. They quoted me $1000.00 incl tax,labor and materials. He also quoted $400 to replace entire rear brakes that were rusted to the bone and locked up, good deal cause it was 300$ in parts from autozone and only 90$ hr labor at a discount. fluid or not, bearings go out between 100-150k miles..

Time for a Magnaflow 18" cat-back after this to make me feel happy again after dropping 15 into the diff and brakes..

cleveland63b

must be differentin your area they aren't very common failure around here

skycries57

What is the common failure in your area w 100k + miles?

cleveland63b

depends on the issue and symptoms I guess but I haven't had to do many differential rebuilds on that era unless the g80 exploded or it ran out of fluid, not saying its not possible just seems odd that he's supposedly doing 1 a week.

skycries57

funny, I just had two buddies from work with suburbans as well that had their work done too from same tech and same rear dif issue? weird..