New To Me 98 Tahoe, Green

[OR VietVet]

Sounds pretty good to me. My 05 gets that average around here. Best I ever did was on my big trip last July and got 18 mpg once but mainly stayed around 17 mpg, but that was all highway cruise speeds.

 

[east302]

Sounds normal for me, I round up to 13.

 

[Mean_Green]

The luster is coming off a bit. It was sort of cheap, I guess. Adding on shipping made it less so. It's in overall good condition, probably better than average for age. Needed a bunch of little stuff, but so far nothing major.

Gas mileage isn't good, but I sort of expected that.

One thing I didn't expect was the insurance hit being quite so much. My agent wasn't real helpful there, only showing me the difference for the last month or so of the current policy period. New bill showed up for the next full six month period and this is almost three times what either of the other cars on the policy were. I'm on extremely low rates due to age, location and driving history and typical annual mileage, so it isn't horrible, just more than expected. Had I seen this, would I have still bought? A question that now can't be answered.

Picked up some metal roofing the other day. Seven foot long panels fit inside just barely. Ten foot drip edge fit once I angled them a bit and laid the passenger seat back. Also got some eight foot 2x6s and other boards fully inside a few days earlier, but they also had to be angled. That's part of the reason I got this ... not having to drag a trailer around all the time. Deck is high enough to reduce some of the lifting involved with my low utility trailer.

Easier to get in and out of than a car. A bit of a step up rather than getting down into a car.

I guess the insurance issue is related to it being called a 'truck'? I just consider it a bigger station wagon.

 

[Mean_Green]

Started out to town today. ABS light came on. It's done that before, but went out a short time later. Today, it stayed on for quite a while. Owner's Manual didn't seem to make it a huge issue '' you'll have brakes, but won't have anti-lock " which doesn't matter on clean, dry, warm roads. Light went out after a few miles.

So, what causes it to come on? Manual does not say. Is something going bad? During wheel rotation a couple of weeks back, the front pads looked OK, probably 50% or so. They did not pull the drums to check the shoes.

 

[Scott in AZ]

Mostly simply stuff so far. Couple of lamps out, so I'm swapping most to LEDs. Trailer connector has some rotten wires, so I'll be replacing that. Pulled the rear seats out since I'll never need them. Might consider selling. Swapping headlight assemblies for crystal style instead of cleaning the hazing and yellowing. All four side door courtesy lights and both license plate lights had issues, so they'll be replaced with aftermarket LED units.


Issues I'm seeking advice on.

Clear coat is bad in a couple of places on the hood and roof. Looking for options to deal with that.

Headliner is falling in a few places, but generally clean and intact. Need ideas on dealing with that before it gets torn.

Blower isn't right. Seems to only work on High, but may be running, just too slow on lower speeds. Resistor?

Rear A/C. There's a hand written note on the firewall saying the rear AC has been blocked. No idea why. Did they have problems with leaking?

Rear Barn Doors. Is there really no way to open them from the inside? I climbed in and close them to check on something and had to go out the side door. Is there a retrofit handle?

Driver door is drooping just a bit. Opens, closes and latches/locks fine and window works. Hoping it can be shimmed.

Only one remote and it works, but buttons are trashed. Have new ones ordered, but will need to figure out how to program. Got spoiled on the door mounted keypad on my Fords. With that was available on this.

One button on the 4WD control is damaged. Will check salvage for one before ordering.

Grille is cracked in a couple of places. Salvage say they have a couple for $50, but I might be able to JB the one I have.

Cruise control doesn't work. Fuse? Something else simple? Not something I'll use much, so don't want to go to much expense.

Not sure what else I'll find.



This is just sort of a punch list. I may open threads in more specific topic areas later.

Nice rig.


If your cruise control doesn’t work it may be because you switched tail lights to LED. There’s not enough resistance in the brake light circuit. Switch back the brake lamps to new 3157 incandescents. Same on the amber colored flashers. Best to stick with incandescent. I replaced my tail light assemblies with Dorman (pic below) and used LED for the reverse light but kept incandescent for the other two bulbs.

Blower not working ? Maybe not. Maybe the HVAC door vent actuator (pic below) is failed and you are blowing thru your defroster dash vent only. The HVAC actuators fail on these at 125K - 175K miles. Also, check the cabin air filters (pic below), go ahead and change both. But swapping the blower is not hard if you need to. It’s under the pax side dash. 7mm hex head screws x 4 to remove the kick panel for the cabin air filter and blower fan (Kick panel in pic under the cabin air filters). Access the left most screw from the drivers side with a 7mm long throw socket. Or probably that screw is anlready gone, nobody ever puts the left most screw back in. You can see the location for 2 of the 4 screws in the pic with cabin filters.

I have fairly recent threads up on all this above with pics. Mine is a 2001, later generation but I think all above applies.

Remote programming is pretty straightforward. I bought 3X new and programmed all at same time, old one is now retired.

ABS controller, mine failed years ago and it was an $800 replacement, but I’ve heard you can solder repair these controllers. I’m glad I spent the money to replace …. A few years later I absolutely needed the ABS. Best eight-hundy I ever spent.

See you out there!

 

[OR VietVet]

Started out to town today. ABS light came on. It's done that before, but went out a short time later. Today, it stayed on for quite a while. Owner's Manual didn't seem to make it a huge issue '' you'll have brakes, but won't have anti-lock " which doesn't matter on clean, dry, warm roads. Light went out after a few miles.

So, what causes it to come on? Manual does not say. Is something going bad? During wheel rotation a couple of weeks back, the front pads looked OK, probably 50% or so. They did not pull the drums to check the shoes.

Intermittent ABS light like that typically means a sensor problem. Could also be connection problems at harness and/or module. If was a tone ring or gap problem, IMO, that would be a more constant thing.

 

[east302]

It will likely have a ABS code stored that will point to a diagnostic procedure in the manual.

 

[Mean_Green]

Cruise was out before i changed to LEDs.

Blower doesn't blow much of anything and rattles like it's maybe rubbing something. Will try to pull it one day and check.

No code reader. Yet.

 

[Mean_Green]

Freakier than freaky.

Some months back I got 'invited' into a program Amazon has where you can request stuff to review at no cost. They track the value of items and send you a 1099 at the end of the year that could increase the taxes you owe, so not exactly 'free'. I didn't ask for it, they offered.

You have a special website to browse items available in the program. Most it is kind of junk like, but I've gotten a few decent things. Mostly outdoor yard lighting and a few vehicle type things. Several LED lamp units I've used in the Tahoe interior.

If you've been reading other threads, you'll see that I've had what I though were blower issues that turned out to be other things, one of which is a blend door actuator motor. I had kind of resigned myself that I wouldn't be bothering with that.

Well, today I'm browsing items and guess what ... that blend door actuator is available. AND, so is the 4x4 selector switch with Auto. Mine is partially busted, but not bad enough to pay for a replacement at this point. But hey, for no upfront cost, why not?

 

[djfive45]

4x4 button ch

Mostly simply stuff so far. Couple of lamps out, so I'm swapping most to LEDs. Trailer connector has some rotten wires, so I'll be replacing that. Pulled the rear seats out since I'll never need them. Might consider selling. Swapping headlight assemblies for crystal style instead of cleaning the hazing and yellowing. All four side door courtesy lights and both license plate lights had issues, so they'll be replaced with aftermarket LED units.


Issues I'm seeking advice on.

Clear coat is bad in a couple of places on the hood and roof. Looking for options to deal with that.

Headliner is falling in a few places, but generally clean and intact. Need ideas on dealing with that before it gets torn.

Blower isn't right. Seems to only work on High, but may be running, just too slow on lower speeds. Resistor?

Rear A/C. There's a hand written note on the firewall saying the rear AC has been blocked. No idea why. Did they have problems with leaking?

Rear Barn Doors. Is there really no way to open them from the inside? I climbed in and close them to check on something and had to go out the side door. Is there a retrofit handle?

Driver door is drooping just a bit. Opens, closes and latches/locks fine and window works. Hoping it can be shimmed.

Only one remote and it works, but buttons are trashed. Have new ones ordered, but will need to figure out how to program. Got spoiled on the door mounted keypad on my Fords. With that was available on this.

One button on the 4WD control is damaged. Will check salvage for one before ordering.

Grille is cracked in a couple of places. Salvage say they have a couple for $50, but I might be able to JB the one I have.

Cruise control doesn't work. Fuse? Something else simple? Not something I'll use much, so don't want to go to much expense.

Not sure what else I'll find.



This is just sort of a punch list. I may open threads in more specific topic areas later.

Check Amazon for switch, rear ac most likely had a seal leak. Mine cost about 600.00 to fix. Driver door needs new pins.