Oh great GRM. Teach all you know about Suburbans in particular ones from '97 with a 350. Are there any major problem areas? And are there any things that are expensive wear items?
Oh great GRM. Teach all you know about Suburbans in particular ones from '97 with a 350. Are there any major problem areas? And are there any things that are expensive wear items?
Great, reliable, utilitarian vehicle. Not too good on gas.
not really - it's a chevy truck so everything is cheap.
my daily:
So I am guessing they will go 100s and 100s of thousands of miles.
A friend of my mom had one from the previous generation when I was a teenager. We call it the mothership.
They have their own gravity.
I don't go for such new vehicles....my inlaws have one, mid to late 90's vintage and its a lemon, just a big pain.... go older, like my old 89 Suburban 4x4, much cooler.
I had a 99 for many years. Never tow in OD. There are some crappy plastic coolant fittings in the intake that can give you fits. Also, all of the heater hose fittings are crappy plastic and will eventually leave you stranded. The a/c dash controller is cheap crap and gm wants $300 a pop, went through 3 of those. If you tow, the brake rotors will warp every 8-10k miles. When vortecs get up in miles, the oil pressure will drop, so anything over 150k, I'd run 20W50 oil. Make sure the tranny fluid gets changed about every 30k. Other than that, they aren't bad. I put over 200k hard miles on mine.
In reply to 93EXCivic: My 99 Sub is 4x4 and has 281K on it. We bought it new and it has been a DD and tow vehicle. Other than tires and brakes we had to replace the cat convertor and rebuild the trans. I get a good solid 15 - 16 in normal driving but I do drive it easy. I have averaged above 19 - but - not 20 on trips to PHL from ATL. When I'm towing it drops to 10 - 12.
Great ride
Paid $1600 for my '96 2 years ago and now at 225K miles it still doesn't use oil between changes..... Maintenance costs over the last 2 year total $184.00. Hard on fuel in town not bad (18-19) on the highway. Two wheel drive will have better mileage and lower operating cost. Vortecs are prone to coolant leaks from intake but a can of your favorite snake oil repair seems to fix it. The earlier series are more prone to rust but simpler and DIY friendly.
Just bought an 04 2wd with 116k miles on it. It was a TX truck up until about 3 months ago when the seller moved up north. So far I love it,and I am averaging 18mpg according to the on board computer on my latest tank which has been 90% secondary roads. My guess is it may go up a little bit on a mostly highway use tank. Very smooth ride,and feels way more capable than my last vehicle which was an 01 Dodge 2500 full-sized 8-passenger van. Mine was only $6000 by the way which was a good but not great deal in my opinion. My kids like the rear DVD entertainment system.
Chris
Problems with a canoe?
The wife and I have an '01 and we LOVE it! The only drawback to owning one, that I can find, is the city driving gas mileage. But it's actually not that bad for such a massive vehicle.
The Gen III v8's seem to get better mileage, but I see where you're coming from in wanting the old tried and true 350.
How much would you pay for a 97 2WD fully loaded with towing package and a towing brake controller with new tires and well maintained? 195,000 miles.
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