New To Me '03 Z71, Asking For A Littel Input

Chris03Silver · February 28, 2010

Evening Fellow Silverado owners,

i am a proud owner of a '03 Silverado 1500 Z71! Price was amazing just high milage of 150k miles, I love the truck and this forum has been a TON of help since getting it this past friday. The truck wont win a beautfy contest as i think it was a work truck but overal the driveline seems pretty strong. Thou i have some concerns.

First i did a oil change was pretty nasty probably havent been done in some time it wasnt black mostly a dark brown color. I did notice that right above the oil filter mount there is something right above that is leaking oil. I am not sure what this is. That the oil pressure sensor since the oil gallery is right there?

second i did a transmission and fuild change of just what was in the pan. I read a few topics of disconnecting the oil cooler line and running a qt out at a time till fluid was normal color. Since im kinda on a budget and didnt have somebody to assist with the cranking i just did the pan and filter. My question well actually have a few. I found that the installed magnet has a grey silver goo.. almost had the texture and all of antisieze. Any idea any concern? The fluid was a deep red, not brown and didnt smell burnt, truck shifts great with just first to second being firm most the time other then that shifts like a new truck in my opinion. How soon do you think i should do another fluid and or filter change? Oh one more thing about the transmission since this is my first auto. But when i put the fluid in the trans. i filled it to the cold lvl on the dipstick. Drove it around for about ten-fifteen mins got back and it was no where near the hot range. so i put another 1/2 qt in it and its now 1/4 into hot range on the dipstick. Think i caused any damage for driving it low? That left me scratchin my head. was kinda confused...

Also i have a ABS light that comes and goes. What reader do i need to catch the code it is tripping i have a reader but seems to work only for the Knock sensor that i plan on doing soon as funds allow. a P0332 but have read the threads on that and will be doing both sensors and the harness since i will already be in there. we took the truck for a decent road trip this evening. We found that if we turn the wheel to the left all the way or hit bumps the ABS light comes on and you hear the door chime, but if you turn it to the right it will clear its self.... so tomm im going to dig into it but looking for any ideas on this too...

Thanks for you help ahead of time...

Chris

700 sportsman · February 28, 2010

it could be an abs sensor, or part of the abs sensor harness.

As for the tranny, if it hasn't ever been changed, I would say some shavings on the magnet would be fine, from breakin

Chris03Silver · February 28, 2010

thanks sportsman. Im guessing it was never changed just from the looks of the fluid... and the gasket was the thin paper type that didnt wanna come off the trans. pan

Thanks again!

DarrinDuckworth · March 1, 2010

i did the maintance thing on my 03 z71 on Friday Feb 26, i had the transmission services at Dale Earnhardt Chevy and i had the fuel filter changed. Everything went good, and my tranny seems to actually be shifting much smoother now. I bought my 03 in June of 09 with 120,000 miles on it. I keep the oil changed every 2 months regardless of mileage. After every oil change i either add Lucas Fuel Treatment or Slick 50 Fuel Treatment, Both of these give you very impressive pick-ups in economy and throttle response. My main questions is my next project with be the Radiator, Im thinking about having it flushed and the hoses and thermostat changed. Anyone have any suggestions to this ???