Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I'm looking at buying a 03 tahoe lt with leather third row seats, in the dark grey slate color. It's pretty clean, it's a one owner vehicle and has a pretty clean carfax, no accidents etc. I'm just worried because normally I thought 86k is too much for one of these vehicles especially when I'm paying $13k for it.

I've owned 2 toyota 4runners in the past, I had the first gen which was an 88 and now own a 97 which is a third gen. The 97 has 133K miles and runs great, this kind of mileage is not much for these vehicles but what about for the tahoe. I want to buy it for my wife, I understand there are a lot of variables such as the maintenance the previous owner did or did not do. I also know a guy who owned a 01-02 yukon and blew the head gaskets at 60k, he beat on that thing though. So I'm just trying to get a feel for the durability of these trucks without issues. Any input would be appreciated.

 

a well maintained rig will go for 200k miles or so, if well maintained. one owner is a plus as long as that owner treated the rig right. 86,700 miles is about 12,400 a year, not bad at all. national average is somewhere around 17k or so a year. you can check NADA and Kelley Blue Book as well to give you a reference as to average mileage and price. doesn't sound too bad tho.

 

If you get it, I would complete a full service on it. Who knows how it was treated prior to you. Some ppl just abuse vehicles.

 

What's the full service your referring to? I plan on changing the oil when I get it and taking it to the dealer to have the tranny serviced. What's the Recommended oil weight for these engines with that kind of mileage.

 

5-30 same as when new.

i bought an 03 in September, with 82K on it, for $12k.
LT slate grey too.

Solid vehicle, some wear on the drivers chair and the rest is like new.

 

Everything depends on the original owner. Do they have service receipts? Did they tow? Offroading? Anytime I buy a used vehicle I do a full service on it because you don't know what the previous owner did. For this truck, I would do the following...

Change transmission fluid - No flush chemicals or detergents, just change the filter and fluid.
Oil Change
Brake Fluid Change
Radiator Flush
Change gear lube in both diffs and the transfer case
Change power steering fluid

I use a MityVac fluid extractor to change many of the fluids. If you use quality fluids, you will be able to 50-100K on the new fluids with the exception of oil.

 

Well I ended up getting an 04 suburban instead. It's what I was originally looking for anyway. I checked the carfax on it and it had the service records and was totally cleaner than the tahoe to begin with. It's a one owner, with 79k miles and an lt with autoride and has full time 4wd. It's also got leather, rear buckets and dvd. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the color, white. Other than that it's perfect.

So far I've changed the oil, I use synthetic in all of my vehicles. It took 6qts, and I bought a k&n intake for it. I plan on taking it to the dealer to have the radiator flush done as someone mentioned and the tranny serviced. Also I'd
like to get flowmaster with the single exit for it too. Thanks for the input folks, I'll try and get some pics up of the burb once I take them and as I
progress with mods and such.

 

I wasn;t crazy about white either... but it is a LOT less work to keep clean than red, blue, green or black.

Keep an eye on that autoride Those are some expensive components to replace.

 

I also own a white vehicle... Can't stand it.

 

Think twice about the Flowmaster. The PO of my 'burb included one with the new exhaust. I don't know which one it is but it's too loud for my taste.
Find out from someone who has a similar setup before you commit