I've looked at a couple recently, good size, Atlas I6 or 5.3.
What's with the 4L60-E? Not IF but WHEN it's gonna blow? Expensive to fix?
I've looked at a couple recently, good size, Atlas I6 or 5.3.
What's with the 4L60-E? Not IF but WHEN it's gonna blow? Expensive to fix?
My buddy has one with the Atlas and his trans took a dump at 150k.
It was pretty reliable otherwise.
ive had very mixed results. I still like them better than the s10 blazer, but don't think i'd buy one unless it was a super deal.
my wife has an '03 I6 - so far at 75,000 it is good.
a friend has the '03 EXT V8 and he towed a camping trailer all across the USA the part 11 years and at 199,000 miles his trans won't shift out of second gear. he was quoted $2200 to fix.
Most I see have grenaded front differentials(aluminum housings).....stupid GM with their "Lubed for Life" proclamations and leaving no way to service things.
ebonyandivory wrote: I've looked at a couple recently, good size, Atlas I6 or 5.3. What's with the 4L60-E? Not IF but WHEN it's gonna blow? Expensive to fix?
The trans is the best part of the truck. The magnesium rearends suck and tend to egg out the bearing race bores, the front suspension sucks, the brakes require constant repair, the trans and power steering lines both rust out rapidly AND are total nightmares to change, the electrohydraulic fan clutch tends to fail, coil packs fail, replacing the valve cover gasket is a lot mroe difficult than it should be, head bolts snap and sometimes the NEW ones snap when installing, etc.
I wouldn't buy one with someone else's money. It's all a shame because they are pretty nice driving vehicles.
yamaha wrote: Most I see have grenaded front differentials(aluminum housings).....stupid GM with their "Lubed for Life" proclamations and leaving no way to service things.
You can drain/fill the front diff no problem.
R&Ring the diff, on the other hand, is another story.
So upping the ante to a GMT400 platform is a better idea? Same trans though. Can't get past my fear of the transmission.
In reply to Knurled:
Well, in fairness, best we could figure out, the cause is more the unservicable bearing on the input shaft to them. That goes bad, boom.
ebonyandivory wrote: So upping the ante to a GMT400 platform is a better idea? Same trans though. Can't get past my fear of the transmission.
With ownership of these trucks, you should budget a transmission rebuild. If you search hard enough, you will find rebuilt units for ~$1k. You should be able to find someone to do a R&R for $500.
The sunshell cracking is by far the reason why the tranny explodes. Most of the rest of it is "good enough". We put 550,000kms on one and 400,000kms on another with zero issues and no rebuilds (and both were used for lots of towing). YMMV!
The 4L60 is nothing to be afraid of. Just don't be a dumbass by towing in overdrive. If you want to tow at 80mph lugging the engine in OD then you shouldn't be in a half-ton (or smaller) truck anyway.
Do these have electrical systems built to cost and not to quality like a lot of other GM products of the era?
The only major electrical issues I have seen with them are related to the instrument cluster. Backlighting goes out, gauges flip to the wrong side of the stop pin somehow, speedometers quit working, etc. We have a guy who can repair them instead of throwing money at the problem. (IIRC these clusters have non-servicable backlighting. I think. I know SOME General Motors products do)
All the same, it seems like every time one needs servicing, it's $1000+ for brake and frontend work. That alone turns me off of them.
No towing, just a daily for a growing family and Depot/Lowes runs. Need the lockable storage space that an suv provides.
Just not convinced I need the size. Awd-4wd is a need as I have a "I don't care if there's a hurricane-tornado-blizzard, I'm driving to work" job.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
Up above you said they were "good size".
I think what you're really looking for is a Subaru.
pres589 wrote: In reply to ebonyandivory: Up above you said they were "good size". I think what you're really looking for is a Subaru.
This. Depending on what "growing" means, but jeez those Crosstreks look nice.
I'm in the $4k bracket. And I'm way too scared of Subarus (I wish I wasn't cuz I love em).
Also I need three shoulder belts in back.
Edit: and auto is almost a foregone conclusion due to wife and I swapping... Cars.
I was just reading about the ss trailblazer in an old 2006 magazine....are these vehicles to stay away from?
pres589 wrote: Do these have electrical systems built to cost and not to quality like a lot of other GM products of the era?
changing the battery reset the HVAC actuators on ours and I tried to change out 2 of them and never got them reset correctly. the forums stated $1000 to pull the dash and fix.
Any more opinions on these? Looking for a cheap 4x4 commuter/tow pig (4000lb camper) that gets better than 12mpg, lots of decent looking examples (I6, SWB, 100-150k miles) on CL in the 2-3k range.
IMO, if you need something like that, buy a ZJ or WJ Grand Cherokee. They're a bit simpler to work on and I'd say they're a little better built overall. Most of their issues come from stuff just getting old and wearing out, not being poorly designed (with a couple of exceptions).
And they're usually cheap to buy too. And if cared for, they're decently rust resistant (more so the ZJs than the WJs) compared to a lot of other American SUVs of that era.
In reply to rslifkin:
This is replacing a rusty 4.0 WJ that exploded the #6 piston. She also never really liked that one for other reasons, for one example it didn't handle the trailer all that well.
4.0 WJs are the exception to the bad design thing. Occasionally they break pistons or crack heads for no reason.
What was the issue with it and the trailer? Nothing of that size is a great tow vehicle, but it should be adequate for 4k lbs if it's all set up well. IMO, ZJs tow a little better than WJs due to the different rear suspension design.
IDK, I never drove it with a load behind it. She seemed to think the overloaded Grand Caravan she was using before was more stable in general. In any event I don't think I'm talking my mother into another one, especially not a ZJ, I doubt there are any left out here that aren't rusty and/or molested by the off road crowd anyways.
In that case, it sounds like she needs something a big bigger / longer for her to feel like it's stable. Any short-ish SUV is going to have the "tractor pulling a bus" feeling even if the combo is actually stable (and stability will be a lot more sensitive to proper setup).
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