asilverblazer

Not my car, just one I'm servicing for family. Good to know.

Why are you raising the front? Its sounds like you are spending a bunch of money to correct the resulting problems from lifting the front and 'wishfully' improving the ride at the same time. Especially since your concerns seem to stem from the rear - at least that's what you talking most about. The trucks are very heavily sprung - and the jounce bumpers in the front (on the lower control arm) are not strictly bump stops but have a role in suspension too.

I am ignorant and oblivious to the Gm Ecotec I-4, however, I'm working with an Ecotec LE5, in a relatives car. (2008 Saturn Sky, base model, automatic with about 90k on the clock. reasonably regular oil changes at any quick lube joint.) Where is your Dizzy experience documented for review? What else is it based off... I'm trying to find where all the gremlins of this I-4 hiding? I've done a VVT solenoid on it and a vapor canister replacement (along with fuel delivery clean out and inspection). It has a very coarse idle (not missing) gravely, growly, but otherwise runs well enough, gets decent mileage. Not very powerful at top end.

Ditto, makes you realize how poor the factory camera is.

Noticed that too - but since I kept my factory HVAC controls and rarely adjust them, it hasn't been something that concerned me.

Here is what I went with and my experience: I prefer the smaller screen because it fits better in the dash. Carplay for me has been pretty consistent, fast to connect, no delays, audio is good. Randomly, I run into connection issues... less than 5% of the time. Still annoyed with the forward backward track buttons on the steering wheel not being right. My other annoyance was loss of exterior temperature display, but I 'resolved' that by adding it on my Banks iDash.

That's the guarantee. That's an expectation - and I would venture to say that it has not been legally established as reasonable. Ahhh, a "reasonable expectation". There is a difference between the two and lawyers and courts exist to determine that difference. YOU can take GM to court and determine if YOUR expectation is reasonable and that GM should be liable. The GIANT recall ONLY exists because PUBLIC safety is at risk, it has absolutely nothing to do with value or being cheated. The government is not responsible for telling anyone how long a product should last, nor its value. The government does have a role in ENFORCING correction of public safety defects. My ONLY point is that despite having an expectation that the engines should last longer than the powertrain warranty. If one (or all of them) doesn't, you weren't cheated and GM doesn't owe you anything. Until a court of law finds otherwise.

A couple points regarding most of the measurements and body builder data. Generally, there is no "level" on the trucks or data. There are some common measurements though. If memory serves, most height measurements are taken from a common height on the side profile - typically the center of the hubs - elevation 450 (mm). From that line they measure up to other points on the frame and/or body. The resulting measurements would not necessarily be accurate to any particular truck due to a variety of other factors, weight, usage, age, etc. I would call them 'design' measurements. How to tell if your truck is low, too low, etc? Compare your truck to as many others that are configured as close to yours as possible. The easy measurement would be from ground to fender line. Better would be from top of axle to bottom of frame, which would be common between Chevrolet and GMC.

Vegas, LA...

Follow up to some of the finishing touches I added. Simplified some of the air fitting coming from my main air line to the height control valve and from the valve to the air bags. Also added and electronic pressure sensor on the air bag line so that I can monitor air bag pressure. I replaced the mechanical air pressure gauge with an electronic one that can read/display two sensors pressure readings. I can no monitor system pressure and air bag pressure both at the same time. Whether by gauge discrepancies or other factors, rear air bags are running at about 20 PSI. I could adjust my linkage that determines ride height to fine tune the pressure/height/comfort level but I'll run it here for a while to see how I like it.

To whom, your "false... fairytale" God?

But the price though?! I'd be interested to compare our ride quality, I aslo wonder how much the added wheelbase would help. If I had to replicate what I've done (which, I wouldn't buy the Airlift kit) I think it could be done for well under $2K including adding the on board air.

I undertook some significant adjustments to the rear suspension of my truck, a 2018 Silverado 3500, 4x4 with diesel engine. This is on a 1 ton truck with the extra 2 leaf overload springs on top of the spring pack. The truck is a crew cab, standard (short) bed. It already was equipped with what I am reasonably certain to be a Loadlifter 5000 set of airbags, shocks are Bilstein 5100. The bottom line is the truck rides too rough for my needs. Comparing the truck to all the others I've driven it is significantly more uncomfortable; mostly 1/2 ton trucks, but a few 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks. For reference the best ride and my target for comfort was my 2015 GMC Sierra, crew cab, short bed, 1/2 ton, 4x4, Z-71 with Bilstein 4600 shocks, Sulastic shackles, 20" BFG All-Terrain KO2's in factory size. This truck was exceptionally comfortable, comparable to some of my Cadillacs, albeit with too much motion while towing (I wish I put the 5100 shocks on). This truck is only tolerable on the smoothest of roads, annoying on most and uncomfortable on rough. There are two competing systems to make the ride more comfortable I need to remove spring rate and the only option without modifications is lowering air in the bags. This allows the truck to hit the air bag bump stops and is VERY harsh, to resolve this air has to be added to prevent bottoming out but the spring rate goes up and ends up harsh anyways so that there is no middle ground to be had that results in a comfortable ride. If you are loading 5000 lbs in the bed of the truck a compromise might exist; unladen it is impossible. Prior to starting I typically ran with only 5 PSI in the bags, as a recommended minimum and to avoid increasing the effective spring rate unnecessarily. This still relied on the trucks springs which of course are rated very high and occasionally still bottomed out on the air bags. I decided to try to lessen the spring rate more and use the air bags to make up the difference by removing some leaves from the spring pack. I removed the two bottom springs, the bottom one typically described as an overload and the one above it. This required removing the axle U-bolts and the bolt through the center of the spring pack. I ended up replacing this bolt with shorter ones (a regular grade 8 with the head rounded off to slip in the locating pin on the axle). I reused the U-bolts, there was just enough threads on them to take up the now shorter spring pack. This effectively lowered the truck 1-2" (the thickness of the removed leaves) and exacerbated the bottoming out problem. With the clearance between the airbag mounts now less by the same amount the truck was riding on the bump stops inside the air bags. An additional piece of information - the truck is nowhere near contacting the spring perches for the factory overloads on top of the spring pack. In other words, I don't think a condition would ever have existed where the overload springs are engaged before hitting the air bag bump stops. Well, that's stupid. I ended up putting about 40 PSI in the bags at this point to get the truck up off their bump stops, which worked, but defeated the purpose of taking out the extra leaves, the added air pressure raised the spring rate back up to an uncomfortable level. I needed to increase the distance between the air bag mounts (bump stops) so that I don't need so much air pressure to lift the truck off them. I added some cheap lift blocks from Amazon to mount under the (shorter) spring pack to get back closer to original ride height and increase distance between the air bag mounts. At this point, with about 10 PSI in the air bags the truck was riding far more comfortable. I could stop here and manually add air into the bags when the truck is loaded. Since I have a robust on-board air system I decided to go a step further. Since I am relying more on the airbags to be a more integral part of the suspension load capacity, I added a height control valve similar to Haldex type CR, mounted above the rear axle with a linkage to the axle and plumbed it accordingly. Add weight to the truck, the linkage activates the valve letting air from the on-board air system into the air bags, raising the truck back up. The converse is true, remove weight, leakage activates an air release and the truck lowers to its original state. I am using the "10 PSI ride height" to determine the neutral position on the valve. I have some final clean up and fine tuning to do on the system. I'll be adding a pressure gauge to monitor air pressure in the bags and cleaning up some fittings that I don't like. The goal of improving the ride comfort was a HUGE SUCCESS! In hindsight the airbags were probably the biggest culprit, there is no way you could install them and maintain the original amount of suspension travel. If you are trying to decide if adding them is a good idea - don't. Also, the lift block kit I bought, I was able to use the block, but the U-Bolts wouldn't fit over the spring pack, they were too narrow. Lastly, no need for "you shouldn't have bought a heavy duty truck..." I bought my truck to serve ALL my needs, towing large trailers AND riding comfortably. I could get used to the ride but my family matters too and they complained a lot.

What are you detaching? Knuckle can usually be left alone.

Then what are you expecting/asking for? And for free? Is this a guarantee or a warranty? Are you willing to pay for that with REAL money? Are you sure everyone else is willing to spend more for a longer guarantee (or are you going to start your own car company that makes products for the greater good of humankind vs profit)? A capitalist society is a race to the bottom of cheapest product for the highest price. There is no moral high ground here, businesses that build products that cost more for no tangible benefit (good luck justifying a higher price on the unproven idea that your new product costs more because it will last longer) inevitably will fail. How many businesses that DID are still around? It is unfortunate that GM build an inferior product that didn't meet collective expectations - our recourse is simple, don't buy them or take the risk they'll make the next product better. Of course, you can always whine on the internet too...

How exactly were you or other people cheated? What value were you promised but did not receive? You should have expected a product to last 3 years or 36000 miles whichever arrived first or be repaired by GM. That is the only thing your REAL money paid for. Anything beyond that is only worth... I guess imaginary money and you taking your opinions (I believe the going rate is $0.02) to another brand. Be advised - they only deal with real money too and the guarantees are quite similar.

An article on gm-authority about 40K discounts... PLUS no more production for the rest of the year, yeah its not doing well.

My 1999 1/2 ton 4.8 2wd, 1999 1/2 ton 5.3 4x4, 2007 1/2 ton 5.3 4x4, 2015 1/2 ton 5.3 4x4, 2016 1/2 ton 6.2 4x4 and my 2018 1 ton diesel 4x4 all get 9 mpg towing: Large pontoon boat 2 horse trailer 3 horse trailer 27' travel trailer 35' travel trailer 16' utility trailer with tractor, loader and implements 22' gooseneck car hauler with cars 16' utility trailer with hay My father in laws Fords all do the same too.

You have to acknowledge that you are 4 YEARS outside the warranty period, and you DESERVE NOTHING. So, your demeanor and tact will matter more than anything try to get the dealer on your side to advocate to GM for you too. I'm not trying to be a jerk, just trying to illustrate the disadvantage you are at... HOWEVER - In my opinion the mileage helps your case, do you have maintenance records? Some careful strategic questions along the lines of, "Would this have been warrantied 4 years ago?" (Yes, of course) Followed up with, "How has the amount of time that has passed contributed to the failure?"

My experience, with Michelins has been poor, so they are a no go for me. Conversely - I prefer BFGoodrich, All Terrain (up to the KO2) and swore I wouldn't ever use anything else on my trucks. I haven't used the new KO3, but the tighter tread pattern had me questioning them for my needs. Instead, I put HD Terrain on my last purchase. I wouldn't recommend them for a light duty highway tire. I know Michelin and BFGoodrich are same company. All that said - circumstances required us to put new tires on the Yukon Denali and it was a rushed situation where we couldn't really put the tires I WANTED on it (the KO2's aren't in production anymore either and didn't want to rush the decision on the KO3). Its usage is more similar to yours anyways. It currently has a set of 'Ironman' something or other on it. It's a 20" all season-ish tire, that only cost $700.00 for the four. For the money - I can't complain - and wouldn't hesitate to mount them again.

Have you changed out the rear shocks? Has one of them seized?

I had a car that would randomly be a no crank, no start - acting like a very bad battery. After an extensive amount of battery and starter swapping, finally managed to determine that it was actually a poor ground condition from the engine to the frame. A cheap ground cable fixed that. IT WAS INTERMITTENT.

I like chrome, but that's going away. I don't like 'upscale' colors with black trim. An 'upscale' color to me is a burgundy, maroon, navy, dark brown, cream/pearl white. Typically, these 'upscale' colors would be more metallic and are better suited to chrome trim. Likewise, the more 'blue collar' colors, plain red, blue, tan, (summit) white, gray, less metallic colors are better suited to black trim. This is of course my very subjective opinion. I'm also tired of the overwhelming majority of cars being white, black or something in between. Be different! My truck is white BTW My next one will probably be red or gray

I'd try talking to the tuner, to see what changes were made that might slow or eliminate detection of codes that would illuminate the MIL. Expect a canned response that assumes NO responsibility... so you would have to carefully exercise your tact to get a constructive discussion. Only other problem I've heard of or experienced that resulted in similar problems was the purge vent valve solenoid... or something along those lines on the 3.6l V6. This resulted in a crank no start condition BUT ONLY after fueling. I saw that on a 2014ish Buick Lacrosse AND a 2009 GMC Acadia. No codes on either of those.

If I could afford a third car for commuting duty, I wouldn't mind electric. But since it would only be for commuting it would have to be at a price point. Instead, the pricing structure on EV's is at the other end of the spectrum. They can't be the everything to everyone kind of vehicle because no one wants to sit for hours at (unreliable) public chargers while on any drive that doesn't end at your home that night. It is NOT range anxiety - its who has time for this?