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Posted

After reading a lot of these posts it seems that some owners like myself got a great truck out of the box and yet there are lots of complaints of vibrations, leaks, poor fits and other problems. Before I bought baby I test rode many other Silverados to get the pick of the litter and none of them exhibited vibrations or other apparent problems. This contrasts with the '07, '12 and '13 Avalanches I've owned over the years which developed mechanical issues and worse, numerous leaks soon after ownership. I always attributed the leaks to the crappy sealant and sloppy way the panels were sealed....one even had a chunk of sealant the size of your fist globbed under the bed mat which certainly wasn't done by any robot......in contrast the sealant used on the panels of the Silverado, Traverse and especially the Malibu is precisely applied. The main difference I could see is the the latter were manufactured in US assembly plants, while the Avalanches (like many Silverado/Sierras) are manufactured in their Mexican plant. Noticed an article stating that GM is moving a portion of their Silverado 1500 production from the Silao, Mexico plant (3 as first # of the VIN) to the Flint, MI (1 as the first# of the VIN) plant were my Silverado was born.

 

http://www.trucktrend.com/news/1606-gm-reportedly-moving-more-truck-production-from-mexico-to-michigan/

 

Every one of those Avalanches leaked like a screen door in a submarine, door leaks, sunroof leaks, bed leaks, tailgate leaks, CMHSL leaks, roof rack leaks and my favorite failure to properly seal the roof panels.

 

Could be that the reason GM's transfer is for political reasons like the article theorizes or it could be that the GM 1500 series trucks (and the 8 speed trannys) out of the Silao plant are coming out as crappy as my Avalanches. That is primarily why I chose a #1 Silverado and why I chose the optional US built 2.0T in the Malibu.

 

Might be of interest when someone posts that their new truck is a lemon that they indicate which plant it came from.

 

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Posted

Mine came from Indiana, fort Wayne plant.I bought mine had 7 Miles on it. I never even test drove it.lol went out on lot and picked the one I liked. I guess I got a good one because mine has 0 issues. Plus I did not discover this site until after I bought it. Mine is 2015 GMC Sierra z71 sle.

Posted

1st digit is country code, but not plant

 

1st digit 1=us, 3= mexico

 

But the plant location is the 11th digit.

 

F= Flint, Z= fort Wayne and G= Silao

 

 

 

FWIW, the Avalanche was base on an SUV frame, not a pickup frame.

Posted

My truck was built in Mexico. - fit and finish is excellent and runs flawlessly. I prefer my vehicles to be assembled in the USA or Canada but not because of quality concerns.

Posted

This explains why my blinker spontaneously turns on every time I pass a Taco Bell...

Posted

Flint, Mi, about 5 miles down the road from where I was born. Drove by the Flint plant about 2 hours ago on my way to work, the back lot is full of new truck waiting to ship

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