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The truck was burnt beyond investigation itself. Any wire left was bare and tracing it down would have been a nightmare, likely. On top of it being difficult to examine, it’s a relatively small claim to expend the kinds of resources you’d need to get to the bottom of it. Because a truck started on fire in the driveway with no apparent reason, the owner becomes the focus of the investigation. Having the footage showing nobody and nothing had been near the truck just made our lives much easier. They sent the release for what they’d be going after (taxes, bank accounts, phone records… on and on) and I asked if it would be helpful to see the security footage. That sped things along, by a lot. I don’t think they ended up needing the other info in the end. After it was all said and done, I think they sold it at copart for $250. It was a good truck and it sucks it went like that. But it’s an important lesson. The flames spread fast. It’s not like gas or anything, but had it gotten to the house, we’d be homeless right now, if not worse. It was close. I’ll definitely be watching this kind of stuff in the future much more carefully.

I went ahead and put a Timelapse on YouTube for those that might be interested. I tried adding background audio using the YT editor so it wasn't just dead air. I lowered the audio mix level to just above zero. Youtube "fixed" it for me. There's no info in the audio, so feel free to mute.

Hot it was. Beyond melting the siding, it helped with the snow too. Due to the proximity to the house, we ended up evacuating to our other truck and watching from the road while we waited for the fire department. It only took 15 minutes or so for them to get there, but the truck was gone. Much faster than I ever would have thought. In the end, another lucky thing was having the cameras. First, that's how we found out what was going on. Second... The insurance investigator had a lot easier job, which made our life much easier as a result.

So, my truck burned to the ground this past February. Long story short, at around 5:30am, my wife was woken up by some noise and assumed our 2 year old daughter was up. She checked the cameras and by chance saw light out front. She went and looked, and weird enough, the truck was on fire. She came and got me, where I ran outside barely dressed with a fire extinguisher. The extinguisher lasted all of 20 seconds or so, and did next to nothing to this fire. It was too far gone by this point. I'm lucky I hadn't parked in the garage the previous day, as we'd be homeless, if not worse. In hindsight, I'm glad the extinguisher wasn't able to stop the fire... I can only imagine how this truck would have been "repaired." What woke her up was the tires blowing out. I got to the fire as it was starting to go up the tailgate and into the bed. It was winter in Wisconsin, so using a hose or things like that weren't options. They'd all be frozen solid at this point. What I know: The fire started in the rear, either at or very near the bumper. It wasn't in the bed, or engine bay or anything like that. I have the entire thing on video, and I can see it starting at the back. The truck hadn't been modified in any way in over 6 months. Driven daily, and never abused. The truck had very few modifications to the rear end. It had a topper, and that's pretty much it. The power lock for the topper was tied into the tailgate, but those wires are so small, there's no way they could carry the current needed to start a fire like this. There was a 7-way T-Harness used from Leer for the topper to have the CHMSL work, and also provide 12V in the bed. All of this was fused at the topper, but was just a T harness at the 7 way to provide those functions. There was a small converter box on this harness that took the rear lights to generate the 3rd brake signal. What I suspect: The only thing with that much power in the rear of the truck at that area is the 12v power wire for the 7-way. There just isn't that much stuff at or near the back bumper that could cause something like this. This wire is always live. Either a rodent or something got up there and was chewing the wires, or something went wrong with the T-harness converter box. Those are the only options I could come up with. I don't know why a fuse wouldn't have blown before something like this would be able to short like this... but that's the only thing I can think of. The topper had fuses at the topper, but that's after the T harness. There should have been a factory fuse for the 12v line under the hood, I believe. The fuse was never modified in any way. There was nothing really left... The insurance investigation couldn't really find what caused the fire. Looking at the photos, you can see that all of the wiring was reduced to copper. All in all, I'm really lucky nobody was hurt. We easily could have lost our lives. The insurance company was fair with the truck value... It totaled the trailer in front of it and melted most of the front of my house... Even warped the garage door. All of which I'm still dealing with. I've since gotten a new truck, but most of the other repairs are essentially waiting for contractors to have time. I was pulling chunks of aluminum out of the driveway for weeks after this. They eventually had to re-pave the driveway.

I used Arnott in my '11 Navigator to delete the rear air ride. The shocks work great, and it rides like stock. Their customer service over there is also fantastic. This was done several years ago, so take this for what it is: I'm not on my first set. Or my second. I'm on my third set. Each time, one of the shocks would eventually develop a creak or something. I'm 2 years in with my current set, and all is well. And, as I said, their customer service is excellent. But, they cover the part. Not the labor. So to swap these shocks 3 times isn't great. But at least they stand behind them, (this may be a Navigator/Expedition only issue, but it's the only experience I've got.)

I've had a vent plugged in the past. (on an '07 Pathfinder) If it gets bad, it'll continually stop the pump from filling... You have to keep starting the pump up. Endlessly annoying. Towards the end of a fill, it'll overfill like you're describing. Maybe yours is partially blocked? Either way, it's a trip to the dealer for you. They told me (fwiw) that mine got plugged from me topping off the tank. I still do this, and haven't had issues in years. Who knows.

Unfortunately, I’m headed to Ramsay MN this weekend. I live right off of a trail here in central Wisconsin, so when I get home and the cold snap is over I’ll get out here. The trails just opened this week. When I go riding “up north” here, I usually head to the Mountain, WI and Lakewood areas. But, I’m planning on setting something up with the brother in law over in Minnesota. Maybe Ramsay, MI would be a good place to head. I’m easily convinced by a great restaurant. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This is all going to be stuff you already know... I’ll just play out how I’d think about it. If you don’t have a really compelling reason to keep the truck like towing a boat or something, it’s mostly a numbers game. Same goes for the other vehicle. If you are working towards a goal, see what gets you there faster. If you can come out with no payments on your car, that’s always nice. What is that car worth after paying it off? How about your truck? Are you losing a ton trading? I assume a lease has no real value locked into it besides you knowing the history on the vehicle. Your truck may have enough to purchase the leased vehicle. But after the deal is done, where are you left? Is owning the truck a better store of money than the car? I’d be looking that up. If the truck is worth 25k outright and the car is 20k.. you might be over paying for the car. On the other hand, if they’re pretty equal, maybe it makes more sense. If you’re trying to hit financial goals... Write down the numbers and look at it like a business decision. Sure, the other car may get better gas mileage. But if it’s only 5mpg, will it pay for itself very quickly? If it’s significantly cheaper to keep the truck, keep some of the money set aside for repairs. That can pay off too. If it’s cheaper to buy the leased car, maybe that’s not such a bad idea. You might even be able to sell the truck on the private market for a bit more. I haven’t been shopping lately, but I have heard there’s not a lot out there. I don’t know about the reliability of the transmission. If it was done right, I’d imagine it’s just as, if not more reliable than another one since it should have newer parts and fluid. But that’s a luck thing too. You could keep the other car and at 61k the tranny go on that too. Or the truck could go again. Or they both last to over 300k. You never really know. The third option is to get rid of both and find something even cheaper. I don’t know what kind of situation you’re in, but don’t let a vehicle control your finances. It’s all business. Who cares what you drive as long as it meets your needs? Make the cuts where you need to and get what you want again later. Good luck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I did the same exact thing. I was able to find the plastic piece that broke and super glue it back together. It’s been holding for 8 months so far. I imagine you could just make the piece out of something else if you had to. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I’m headed your direction this weekend. Ramsay area. Not thrilled with the cold snap. But hey, I should be able to break the snowmobile out on Monday! But, back to the lights. I will say that the quality is mostly very good. It’s not without fault though. I don’t like the adjustment screw position. It’s on the back of the lights instead of the top. No problem for the driver side, but the passenger side is a pain with the air box there. I ended up using a flexible screwdriver. I’ll also say that the trim on the oem is stuck on like nothing else. This is not quite that. They’re on there decent, but I feel like I could add more 3m tape to make it a little more solid. (Talking about the black trim, it’s removable like on the oem) The output is decent, and the cutoff is really good. It’s not perfect. I don’t know though, it could be on purpose. There’s a tiny bit of glare that goes upwards a little bit. Maybe it’s to light signs. That’s what I’ve noticed. I don’t really see it otherwise. You can see it on my garage photo, but not really in the trees. I don’t have a picture of the high beams, but those are good as well. Overall I’m pretty happy with them. I don’t think they’re worth 1400 compared to my stock HIDs, but for 700, sure. I should also say I tried the morimoto d5s bulbs before this. I had problems. I don’t know if it was my truck or the bulbs, but I never had any luck with them. I had them on the truck for a week, and now they’re back in the box on a shelf in my garage. This is much much better than that. One wouldn’t fire intermittently, and even when it did, I didn’t see a massive difference. Maybe I’m blind, idk. Anyway, if there anything specific you’d want me to check or try, let me know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It’s freezing outside and I can’t seem to get away from the snow. I pulled the truck out of the garage to get some photos. Sorry they’re not the best. I won’t be going back out tonight. Does anyone have something specific they’d like to see? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

My truck is a lot cleaner since the last picture I posted. I have a siren red truck with the z71 package. So no chrome on the front. I bought the non chrome version that includes trim that can be painted to match the truck. I didn’t end up doing that. So I have the headlights with black unpainted trim on them on my truck. They look decent, but they’d probably look better if the paint matched. I’ll try to get some shots of the output tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You guys must be talking about the HID kits or something. I was talking about the full replacement headlights with 3 led modules. It replaces the whole housing, not just the bulbs. Mine has led turn signals, no fast blink or errors. If there’s something else I should be looking for, I’m not aware of it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was on the retrofit source mailing list. That’s where I found the codes last time. Since I bought mine, I haven’t really been watching, but they often had them for 20% off or something. Not sure as of late. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I’m hoping these are more reliable than the normal kits. Since this is the whole assembly, and it feels decent in my hand, maybe it’ll last longer. I’ve gotten them installed, and the output seems really good. It’s been snowing here, so they won’t be clean, but I’ll edit this post in a couple minutes with a picture. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That could be the bcm I suppose, but it’s more likely the igniter or ballast. In these trucks, the igniter and ballast is integrated into the bulbs. They’re d5s bulbs. One thing you could do is swap the bulbs from side to side. If the problem moves it’s the bulb, or if it doesn’t, it could be a ground, relay, or something else upstream. Or, as you said, perhaps the bcm. I’ve never heard of it doing that though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Ah, I think this only works for the Silverado lights. It was working as late as last night. Actually, there’s a few other ones it works for, but I don’t think Sierra is one of them [emoji853] I’m not sure how much longer it will go, since they’ve been advertising as a Christmas promo. I tried to post sooner, but there was something up with the site when I tried. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Not sure how much longer this will last... But for some reason theretrofitsource.com allows stacking coupons, and there's two 25% off coupons. A little over $700 out the door. https://www.theretrofitsource.com/chevrolet-silverado-xb-led-heads-B-LF542?quantity=1 Promo Codes: xb25xmas xbmadness Mine just arrived, so I can't comment on quality yet.

Ive actually had this happen as well... Mine would “pick up” when I hit the button, but never hear or understand me. Really annoying. So it’d be telling me what I can say, go ahead, etc... I’d be yelling at my truck. Handsfree calling still worked, so it wasn’t the mic. Brought it by the dealer and after 30 minutes they came back and said it was fixed. They had unplugged my dash cam and it started working. I’m not one to argue with success, but I ended up plugging it back in after leaving and I haven’t had a problem since. Who knows. I think it’s likely a coincidence that it started working right then. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Does the voltage change at the motor when you change the fan speed? If so, it would seem like it’s working. I would guess full speed, the motor should be reading somewhere around 12-14 volts. Just from what you’re saying though, if the fans getting power and isn’t moving, unless there’s a fuse on the fan, I’d guess it was toast. Could be wrong though. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The outside mirror is tied to the interior auto dimming mirror, I’m pretty sure. It’s an electronic dimmer, kind of like an lcd screen. When power is applied, via the sensor in the mirror, it darkens. When it’s unpowered, it’s nearly invisible. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like they're getting rear air vents! Even with the jump seat.

Hey Dave, I wouldn’t count out a power problem. I don’t believe the power for the heat powers the motors. Could be a fuse problem, but if the dealer couldn’t find that... hmmmm.. This is normally covered under the 3/36 warranty. I assume this has expired? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Andrew from Stevens Point area.

If I'm really honest, you're probably better served using your phone as a hotspot or purchasing a mobile hotspot. You'll likely get better speeds and it's upgradable in the future. Some have the ability to add external antennas if that's what you're thinking. If you're dead set on getting the GM hotspot, I'm afraid I can't help there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk