Steering shaft issues
CF Beginner
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 9
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From: Minnesota
Update: Had the intermediate steering shaft replaced, no more noise or feeling the "clunk" at all. Feels very tight. As far as I know, they put the same style back in, obviously just a brand new one. Same part # Brandon has listed above.
Side note: The rear engine area oil leak that they thought may be an out-put shaft seal leak was only a oil pan gasket leak. They also installed an AFM oil deflector because the engine is starting to burn oil, they did not clean out the cylinders as the bulletin recommends because the carbon was not that bad. I'll have to keep an eye on the oil consumption to see if the rings are shot. The dealer I use is not repalcing pistons and rings if it gets to that point, only doing new engines.
Side note: The rear engine area oil leak that they thought may be an out-put shaft seal leak was only a oil pan gasket leak. They also installed an AFM oil deflector because the engine is starting to burn oil, they did not clean out the cylinders as the bulletin recommends because the carbon was not that bad. I'll have to keep an eye on the oil consumption to see if the rings are shot. The dealer I use is not repalcing pistons and rings if it gets to that point, only doing new engines.
CF Beginner
Joined: Feb 2008
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Steering shaft and oil pan gasket comment
I just had the steering shaft on my 2000 Yukon replaced, after only 189,000 miles, lol. The bumpy, clunky steering won't hurt anything, I was just tired of putting up with it after all these years. And I just gave the Yukon to my daughter so I thought it would be a nice thing to do for her.
And yes, I definitely had the runaround with the oil leak also. When I replaced the transmission at 145K, I thought it would be a good idea to do the rear main seal also. Unfortunately my mechanic didn't have the special tool that inserts and lines up the seal, so it made a tiny leak very bad. We finally got the Chevy dealership to lend him the tool and he put in a new seal and all was fine there...but I still had an oil leak! Turns out it was the oil pan gasket. It was probably the oil pan gasket all along, if I would have known how technique sensitive it was to install the new rear main seal, I would have left it alone when we did the new transmission.
And yes, I definitely had the runaround with the oil leak also. When I replaced the transmission at 145K, I thought it would be a good idea to do the rear main seal also. Unfortunately my mechanic didn't have the special tool that inserts and lines up the seal, so it made a tiny leak very bad. We finally got the Chevy dealership to lend him the tool and he put in a new seal and all was fine there...but I still had an oil leak! Turns out it was the oil pan gasket. It was probably the oil pan gasket all along, if I would have known how technique sensitive it was to install the new rear main seal, I would have left it alone when we did the new transmission.
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From: Bowie, MD
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 9
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From: Minnesota
Brandon, It stands for "Active Fuel Management". Basically, if your not familiar with it, it enables a V6 or V8 to run on 4 cyinders when 8 are not needed. I'm not 100% sure the purpose of the deflector but here's my take on it. The deflector they add prevents the oil from reaching or spraying to a certain area of the internal working parts of the engine. I believe the issue is when the oil is sprayed (as normal lubrication) up to the bottom of the cylinders that are not being used when AFM is on, it creates a state when the cylinders are/may be cooler and allow for carbon build up ( above/below the cylinder, not sure) and slowly degrade the rings. Thus resulting in increased oil consumtion and in less common cases, the need to replace pistons/rings. This deflector is around $3.00, haven't seen it in person.